Varanasi Again – 7: The Adi Yogi

I looked at him wide-eyed, mouth open in wonder, unable to comprehend what he wanted me to do.

There came a pause, a hiatus in time as I remained frozen, kneeling on the steps of the ghat, staring at the tall ascetic with the blue throat, and the Adi Yogi, the one with three eyes kept staring back at me, intently, speaking to me through his eyes only, willing me to do his bidding.

But what? I could not hear him yet, could not understand.

The Yogi looked deeper into me, into my soul, and then beyond it, reaching out to the singularity, the consciousness that lies behind it all, that unites us all, that is the essence of all creation. When this consciousness is stoked, is stimulated or touched, the physical, mental, and temporal barriers cease to exist. This consciousness is the brahman in every one, everything living and non-living, animate and inanimate. It is the cause and the effect, and everything else that lies in between. It is this singularity which was there before there was creation, before there were Gods, before there was the Big Bang. It is this consciousness which pervades the universe, which will remain when all else is gone. This consciousness is called Shiva……..

This time I heard him.

Listen carefully, he said, listen to the sound of the universe. Listen to the truth, listen to the brahman. This is the truth that liberates, that frees the soul, that shows the path to the singularity, he said. And I listened, carefully, intently.

I listened while still kneeling on the cold stone steps of the Lalita ghat. And he showed me……..he showed me the beginning, and the end, and the middle. He showed me the dance of the galaxies, the cycle of creation and destruction, of birth and death. He showed me the primordial pillar of fire, which was Rudra, and then the ball of fire that the wise call the Hiranyagarbha, and that science calls the Big Bang. He showed me the past and the future, and he bid me listen. And I did……and then I heard it…..!!!

The Omkar, the Pranav, the Aum, the sound of the universe……I heard it, and I knew…..knew what he wanted me to do…..what was the right thing to do…..what was the truth……what way was ‘THE’ way……

Come, he said again, and I got up and followed him. ………….

More of this later.

Till then –

Shivoham – I am Shiva.

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