Stranger: The silence here is so loud! And of all great men, you are reading?
Siente: Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.
Stranger: Thoughts. Without them there are no feelings! You read to keep yourself young, isn't it?
Siente: Can I serve you some more tea?
Stranger: But the cup is full and is overflowing.
Siente: Like this cup you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I fill you unless you first empty your cup?
Stranger: I, then, empty my cup between my lips. Positive thought inside by emptying the negative thoughts.
Siente: Tell me what is Positive and that which is Negative. Is "All that I know is I know nothing" a negation as it holds "nothing" in it? Unless you define what is positive and what is negative, you can ignore none. People tend to advice without definitions, and those who follow the halfwit go through a tough time. Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self-control to understand what is said and not said.
Stranger: I understand that if I talk about good and evil as illustrated in faith, I would have to listen to another lengthy sermon.
Siente: Polar opposites. Good and Evil. Positive and Negative. If One needs to decipher the Map of Life, he has to go through both the opposite ends. After the travel, he shall realise that they both are equally glacial. In that coldness he shall define them as agnate siblings. Oh! Stranger, listen to me when I speak, the end is for you to decide:
Garuda (large bird with eagle-like features) and Sesha (a thousand headed giant snake) are agnate siblings.
Their origins began when Rishi Kashyapa married sisters Kadru and Vinata. Kadru gave birth to a thousand black serpents while Vinata had a son Aruna who grew up to become the Sun's charioteer. On a sunny day, the sisters witnessed the celestial white horse Ucchaishrava flying in the sky. They admired the horse while commenting about its beautiful tail. Vinata praised Ucchaishrava's tail as white as the snow to which Kadru disagreed. The sisters entered into a wager. If the horse's tail was black as claimed by Kadru, then Vinata will serve her sister and her siblings for the rest of her life.
That evening, Kadru asked the serpent sons to hide under the tail of Ucchaishrava so that it shall look black. When the serpents refused, Kadru threatened them that she shall cast a curse on them to burn alive. Sacred the black snakes obliged and hid under the white tail of the celestial horse. The inspection that was carried out the next day proved Vinata wrong, thus, she served her sister and the serpents ever after.
Kadru spent her entire day by idling away the time while Vinata did the household. Vinata's closeness to Rishi Kashyapa yielded her a second child. As soon the baby was born, it swore high up in the sky flapping its white feathered wings that looked like flames feasting the wind. Looking at the beautiful child with fair feathers the Angels named it Suparna.
Suparna went in search of food for the whole family every day. He saw his step-mother and his step-brothers doing nothing but only his mother toiling hard. Upon enquiry Suparna learnt about the bet his mother had lost to Kudra.
Suparna spoke to his serpent brothers and asked them what he could do to release his mother from the contract. The serpents were always scared of their mother Kudra. They knew that their mother would burn them alive if they disobeyed her. So, they asked Suparna for immortality that could set them free from their mother’s clutches. They informed Suparna that with the power of his wings he could reach the God's Palace and bring them the divine nectar of immortality - The Amirtha. They warned Suparna that the palace shall be heavily guarded and that with his mighty shoulders he could shatter any obstacle.
Thus, Suparna travelled to the God's Palace fighting away many hurdles on the way and reached the room where Amirtha was stored. Suprana crossed all the barriers smashing the mechanical defence systems and finally fought with three Nagas who protected the Amirtha. The Birdman flew away with the pot containing the divine nectar.
The Palace was at chaos and the Gods ran to Lord Vishnu. Hearing that the Mysterious Bird did not consume Amirtha but was carrying it away, Lord Vishnu knew that the bird served a higher purpose. He appeared before Suprana who immediately subdued himself before the Supremo explaining to him his suituation. Pleased by the selfless act of Suprana Lord Vishnu offered him a boon of his choice. Thus, Suprana asked to be in an eternal position and to became the guardian of Lord Vishnu. The Supermo blessed Suprana as his vehicle and named him Garuda, the Agent of God.
Garuda defeated Lord Indra and his Dadhichi Vajra (an awesome weapon made out of Rishi Dadhichi's spine) who tried to stop him on his way back without taking any damage. After victory Garuda informed Lord Indra that he would shed a feather to honour the Great Fight. Moved by the greatness of Garuda, Lord Indra offered his help to liberate Vinata. Garuda requested two benefits from Lord Indra who readily accepted them: One, Garuda wished to take his vengeance by feeding on his serpent brothers. Two, as soon as Garuda puts down the pot in front of his serpent brothers, his task shall be complete irrespective whether they consume from it or not as they have asked only to bring the pot and not to wait till they taste Amirtha. Then, Lord Indra shall strike at the speed of a lightning and take the pot back to the God's Palace before the serpents could place their hands on it.
When Garuda put the nectar pot on the ground few drops of Amirtha fell over the Dharba grass. He asked his brothers to free his mother and then, do the rituals before consuming the Amirtha. Garuda left with his mother Vinata. While the serpents were getting ready, Lord Indra took the pot away. When the serpents returned after the ritual to consume the divine nectar of immortality, they were shocked to notice the missing pot. But they saw few drops of Amirtha over the grass. They tried to lick it from the grass with their tongue. Amitha made the Dharba grass strong that its rigid sharpness cut the snake’s tongue, thus, the serpents got split tongues. After returning his mother to a safe place, Garuda returned to massacre the serpents.
Garuda fought and killed all his nine hundred and ninety nine serpent brothers and left in search of the eldest, Sesha.
While all this was happening, Sesha, the eldest of the serpents, went to the jungle to penance not tolerating the cruelty done by his mother and brothers towards his step-mother and his agnate sibling. He was blessed by Lord Vishnu who accepted his plea to be the bed of the Lord floating over the ocean. The Supremo blessed Sesha as a spiritual being and Sesha sheltered the Lord with his thousand head.
Garuda could not touch Sesha. Being with the Lord revoked Garuda from killing Sesha. Since then, Garuda and Sesha wielded an unspoken war as whose devotion to their Master was greater. Lord Vishnu favoured Sesha that angered Garuda who considered his serpent brother evil and even after killing all his brothers, Garuda claims himself to be good.
Stranger: Positive or Negative. Good or Evil. The Self is the One that determines the polar opposites. A Judge of Self reasons the existence of the agnate siblings through the Trail of Life. None else can decide rather than the One who is the creator of the Self.
Dedicated to Uncle Stan (Stanley Martin Lieber 28/12/1922 - 12/11/2018).
The more you read, the better you’re going to become as a storyteller – Stan Lee.
Last edited by mappi; 15th November 2018 at 07:43 PM.
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