Divine Drama – Dr Shailesh Srivastava
As I began to pen down and express my thoughts, I realized that Swami had already given a very profound message just before He decided to make Himself apparently distant and physically uncommon in April 2011. The more I think about it the more I feel that this message is relevant to all.
It was the month of February 2011, and the XII standard students were preparing for a ‘Gratitude Program’ to be put up in His Physical presence in the Kulwant Hall. Around that time, one of the very senior elders had asked the Principal to include a Skit/drama as part of the program, instead of the usual ‘song & speech’ program. I happened to be In-charge of the XII standard students in the hostel and I prayed to Swami to guide us as to what we can put up that would be appropriate for the outgoing students of the school. Little did I realize that a new script, a divine master plan was unfolding itself bit by bit, ever so gently and ever so unassumingly yet more forcefully than ever before.
I got a ‘Divine indication’ that we should enact a chinna katha narrated by Swami to us many a time in Trayee Brindavan. This story of perseverance and determination was most appropriate for outgoing students, and had a beautiful plot. It had all the elements of suspense and thrill and I began to write and discuss the outline of the script with the students. However, as I discussed the details of the plot with other teachers I started feeling uneasy.
Those were the days when Swami’s physical condition suddenly seemed bad and He was rarely coming and sitting on the dais in Kulwant hall. On some days, He would not come for darshan; on some, He would give darshan sitting inside the car; one some He would come after few hours of Bhajan singing, take Arti and leave. For many days there were no programs. The group that came for the Chinese New Year celebrations could not stage the programs as planned. None could even think of asking Swami for permission. We were told to prepare, and wait for the right time. To top it all the story of the drama had certain elements that seemed inappropriate, especially at that time.
The Divine director within was however urging me stronger than ever before to prepare ourselves for the drama. So it is that we got ready with the skit. The message and the theme of this story got memorized and went deep within, as time passed in a seemingly endless wait.
Hopes started dwindling and soon the board exams started. Swami was however gracious to bless the special pens and vibhuti packets prior to the examinations. This He did most unexpectedly on a Sunday morning, (towards end of February) as He went to the Hill view stadium and returned. That was the only consolation for the students. Swami very strangely went up to the Hanuman statue and made His compassionate gaze fall upon the entire terrain of Puttaparthi as it were, apparently for the last time in that physical frame of His.
Some students of the XII class had their last board exam (Sanskrit) on the 11th of April and they had a long Gap of 21 days before that. We had therefore prepared them for the drama so that we could even offer the program towards the end of March, in case we did not get the opportunity earlier. From the 20th of March the students again started sitting with the program card waiting for some opportunity.
Before proceeding further let’s look at the plot of the little drama that was to be enacted (we may possibly get a glimpse of the big Divine drama).
A young lad goes to a master and pleads for a mantra to get ‘moksha or liberation’. The guruji accepts the sincere request and asks the boy to come to his hermitage for getting the mantra. With full faith and trust the boy goes to the hermitage.
The great master does not however grant the boy any mantra. He instead asks the student to perform household chores like watering the plants and cleaning. Days passed into months and months into years. Swami said ‘the boy never lost heart in spite of all this. He had full trust in his master and he persevered with patience and determination to please his guruji and reach his goal.’
12 long years roll by and one day the master summons the boy and expresses his happiness over the boy’s sincerity. He takes the boy to the river bank and tells him that he would grant the most coveted mantra after the boy finished his holy bath in the sacred river.
As the boy is gone the master says to himself that the time had come for him to leave his physical frame. It was indeed the most auspicious moment, a moment that should not be postponed. Keeping up his promise to the young boy, the master writes the mantra on the sands and leaves his body. Meanwhile a lady dancer passing nearby notices the strange happenings and the writing on the sands. She writes the mantra on a leaf, erases the writing from the sands, and puts the leaf as a part of her ear ring.
The boy returns full of excitement only to find that his master is no more. There was no sign of any mantra. He laments that his guruji has left him at the most needed hour. Swami would tell us, ‘yet the boy does not get frustrated, for he fully believes that his master’s promise must come true, his will must prevail’. Seeing the lady dancer nearby he enquires whether the master had given her any message for someone, a mantra for which he had sincerely worked for the last 12 years, a mantra for liberation itself.
The lady dancer tells him what had happened and asks the young boy to accompany her to get the coveted mantra. The boy accompanies the dancer. He serves her and plays Khanjira for her dance performances, in spite of the ill treatment that she gives him. The boy perseveres with patience and determination, for how else could the mantra reach the lady but for his master’s all powerful will. Such was the faith of this young lad. 12 years of serving the master and now he was serving the world as it were, but the goal inside was just the same. Nothing else mattered to him except pleasing the lady to obtain the mantra, all for reaching that supreme goal of liberation. Swami said, ‘12 more years rolled by like that’
There lived in that kingdom a king and he wished to know who the most sacred and pious person in his kingdom was. The king was finally advised by someone that the he should invite all the citizens for a feast to his palace. When the most pious soul begins to partake of the food, the temple bells would ring automatically. The king follows the advice but the temple bells do not ring. At the fag end of the day as all leave the palace and the king is lamenting over his misfortune, the bells begin to ring automatically. The guards then find this young man eating from the leftovers of the feast, outside the palace. They bring the alarmed young man most respectfully to the king’s presence, and the king learns the entire story of perseverance and patience of this frail yet firm young man.
The king gets a brilliant idea to help out the young man. At this point Swami would always show child like excitement at the beauty of the king’s plan. Thus, as per the plan, the king invites the lady dancer to the palace for a dance performance and at the end of it he claps in applause of her performance. He then gets big gold earrings for her. The lady dancer at once throws away the coveted ‘leaf- mantra-ear ring’ from her ears, lest the king notice the strange thing. The young man immediately picks up his life’s most desired object, the leaf and opens it. Even as the man begins to read the mantra, he gets liberation.
Swami said that he did not have to chant the mantra even once, for he had already become ripe for that final leap from bondage to freedom.
Swami would ask ‘you may wonder why he had to wait 24 years!’ He would Himself explain “It was because so many events had to happen before that. The boy had to work out his past, the lady dancer had to be served, and the king and the kingdom had to know of the boy’s greatness!” “God always waits for the right moment and then accomplishes many tasks at once”, He would add with a chuckle!
We had in our rendering of this story introduced the word “Mahasamadhi” and were showing the guru leaving his mortal coils in a mysterious symbolic manner. As far as the ‘liberation’ is concerned we were depicting it by showing Lord Krishna coming and physically embracing the young man.
On 23rd March 2011, we finally got an opportunity to show the ‘program-card’ to Swami. Most amazingly Swami directly asked ‘is there drama?’ This was a big surprise as we had not been doing dramas for the ‘Gratitude –programs’. The boy with the card explained to Swami that we had prepared a drama based on a china katha that Swami had narrated. The boy even narrated in very brief the outline of the story and Swami said ‘drama cheyali’ meaning drama should be done. Though we did not get any further message we came prepared for the program the very next day. Swami did not however come out. One day passed and two days passed and Swami did not come out. Little did we realize then that the Lord had already started our drama. He had in fact become an actor in our drama which had begun that very day. Had he not said ‘DRAMA CHEYYALI’?
Isn’t it a surprise that he is making this drama known to all as it involves everybody in different ways? I never thought of writing this down even though I have spoken about it. Yet after all the script is His, the suspense and the thrill are also in His hands. Amazing that He chose to give this message on the very last day of this Avatar’s physical darshans. The last words, in general, to His beloved ones!?
One thing is clear from the story, whether it was serving in Swami’s physical proximity then or whether it is later now, our goal should remain the same. Let us not worry about what He is going to do and when, rather let us think about what we are supposed to do now. Let us not worry about what is going to happen, let us rather think about how we can make things happen, for what needs to be done, must be done.
The path may appear hazy,
but let our thoughts remain centered on Him,
and ever busy.
Circumstances may appear different,
but let us not become indifferent,
for He is still and forever here,
Though not so clear, He is very near.
Let us persevere and remove all fear.
Many times we feel, we are waiting for Him,
but the eternal truth is that He is waiting for us.
What would it do to us a ‘SECOND COMING’?
If we were not ready to receive that mighty power
By OURSELVES ‘BECOMING’!
While man waits for God to come,
God waits for man to ‘BECOME’!
For every problem however rock solid there is a solution, a solution into which everything else dissolves. Yes pure love for Him is that alchemic solution. Let us pray for it with faith, patience and determination, towards the goal that he has given for each one of us. Let us march on boldly and become the heroes of this drama.
