God’s Command Fulfilled

J.L. Narasimha Rao

It was 1999,the penultimate year for the dawn of the 21st century and the birth of the year 2000, but that one year seemed a distant dream  as the world had lost its reason and plunged into turmoil.

*************************************

  The sky was dark and ugly like a monster. The intense heat of the atmosphere was such that people were panicked as if the clouds were raining fire.

  Everything on earth, trees and plants, animals and birds and the once green fields were scorched as black as coal. Rotting corpses and carcasses were littered in the dried fields.

  People thought that it was the end of the world and accepted their destiny stoically. The desperate conditions drove many people to crime and violence and they indulged in looting, arson, rape and killing.

  Could it be the end of the world really? If so, why does God, who created this beautiful world of myriad wonders as his divine sport, sing a dirge to it.

  No! It cannot be. It must be the wrong interpretation of the theologians. No artist destroys the beautiful painting he has created.

  Count it be that the Almighty who has created the world out of himself is withdrawing it into Himself again.  

  Acharya Ananda was troubled by these thoughts at his ashram at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Sarawati. He was in deep meditation in front of the large bronze image of Lord Shiva - Nataraja in the dancing pose. As he passed through the five levels of awareness and entered into deep consciousness he experienced strange vibrations all over his body. He knew by intuition that he would receive a divine command shortly.  He opened his eyes and beheld the image of Lord Nataraja. It was no more a bronze image. It was God Himself. The brilliant divine light flooded the ashram for a full minute. Gradually the effulgence became a small spark and it circumambulated thrice round the image of the God. Then it entered Ananda’s head.

Now Ananda had become aware of the divine command imparted into him.

  Anand was the only son of Ramananda, a middle class orthodox brahmin, who taught Sanskrit and the  basics of shastras on a raised platform in front of his house. Though it was a small household school, it was considered to be a seat of good learning for brahmin children in the village because of his vast erudition of the Vedas and Upanishads.

  Anand, the apple of the eyes of his parents, was brought up with great love and affection. But the parents doting on the boy did not come in the way of their stern discipline in learning and performing religious duties.

  When Ananda was eight years old, his head was tonsured, with five small tufts round his head and the sacred thread marriage (upanayanam) was performed. 

 After upanayanam, he was initiated into the perusal of the holy scriptures and when he was fourteen, he had mastered all the shastras by the grace of Goddess Saraswati.

  Now Ananda assisted his father in running the home school.

  Thus elapsed fifteen years and Ananda was about to be betrothed to his maternal uncle’s daughter, who had bloomed into youth on an auspicious day.

  When Ananda’s father was looking into the almanac to fix an auspicious date for exchange of betel leaves in acceptance of the marriage proposal, came the command from the pontiff through a messenger that Ananda be initiated into the religious order which preached  that the universal soul and the individual soul were one.

  Ananda’s father accepted the command stoically as ordained by God Shiva. He felt an intuition that his son was born for a divine cause.

  But it was a sentimental blow for Ananda’s mother, who wanted the house to be filled with half a dozen noisy grandchildren and a dutiful daughter-in-law to look after her in her old age. Alas! Ananda should remain a celibate if he was initiated into the Advaita order.

  But Anand was Sri Rama in obedience to his father and eventually he found himself in the presence of the Pontiff in flowing saffron robes.

  From his childhood Ananda was always perturbed by the plight of the poor and the diseased.

  At the tender age of seven, he was seized with the burning question that if God were the creator of this University, why should He create the ugly along with the beautiful, the pauper along with the prince and the barren land along with the fertile one.

  Unable to contain his troubled mind any longer, he expressed his doubts to his father. His father sat him in his lap and kissed his forehead.”Son,”he said, “the mysteries of creation are not to be questioned. The humble human being should accept whatever comes across the path of his life, as ordained by God. Even those great savants who could churn the four Vedas, the one hundred and eight Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita into a glassful of water and drink it in libation, are unable to realize the inscrutable will of the Almighty. So my dear little son, do not trouble yourself with such profound questions.  Pray the immortal One for salvation. Proceed that way. Do not question the wisdom of the Sastras. It’s time for you to offer obeisance to the setting sun (Sandhya Vandan). Go and perform it with deep concentration. my son.”

  But Ramananda’s exhaustive answer could not clear the philosophical doubts of Ananda. He thought that his father gave the same answer which the scriptures say time and again.  These burning questions made Ananda realize later that he could no longer confine himself within the four walls of the center of the religious order.So with the permission of the Pontiff he left the center. He established an ashram at Triveni Sangamam.

  “Yes! Now I have found the answer” Ananda said to himself.as he opened his eyes and came into the physical reality, from meditation. 

  “Man suffers from an innate weakness to do wrong. If wise counsel prevails upon him to do the right then he will be a good person and a child of God.”

  “Man is a spoke in the wheel of birth and rebirth which goes on rotating  as long as the past deeds have a sway on the present life of a person.”

  “Yet man is endowed with discretion. By discrimination the wrong from the right and by deep meditation on the Eternal Consciousness, one realizes that he is none but the universal consciousness (Aham Brahma). With that enlightenment, one should help his fellow beings to attain the same supreme bliss and encourage them to follow their profession with the greatest possible work culture.

  With this divine message on his lips and with an ethereal  light glowing all over his body, Ananda left his ashram.

   Ananda, now the messiah of God, was treading the lanes and bylanes. He was visiting the houses of the poor and the rich alike. Just by the magnificence of his presence, the rich realized their follies and parted their excess wealth to their poor brethren.

  There was death in a house. Ananda’s discourse about the perishability of the human body like an earthen pot, brought solace to the grieving family. 

  There was a wedding in another house. Ananda blessed the couple and enlightened them with the knowledge that the wife and the husband are two equal halves of a single soul and they should pass through the various phases, their attention constantly fixed on the Almighty.

  At another house, a young bride was being burnt.by their avaricious inlaws for not bringing enough dowry. Ananda made his way into the house through the crowd that gathered outside. Ananda rushed to the kitchen and cast his spiritual glance at the bride, who was set on fire. The flames on her body disappeared and she felt she bathed in cool, scented water. Ananda casts his benign look at the villainous bridegroom and the inlaws. Then it dawned on them that a daughter-in-law was part and parcel of the family and should be treated affectionately like a daughter. They prostrated before Ananda in repentance and Ananda blessed them with long life and prosperity. Ananda kept walking through villages, towns and cities. Sometimes he appeared like a miniature being and some other times he was a macro being. While he walked, his pace had become superhuman. Sometimes a single pace of his foot covered hundreds of miles.

  By the touch of his blessed feet, the barren fields turned lively green and the dried river beds became moist and were soon flowing with water.

  While Ananda was walking a sea of humanity was following him. As he crossed the Deccan plateau, a fierce communal riot was in progress in a big city. People who lost their reason and were intoxicated with communal frenzy, were cutting one another’s throats in the name of religion. There was looting, arson and killings everywhere.

  Ananda raised his hand and said ‘stop.’ 

  Suddenly all the lethal weapons in the hands of the hooligans slipped and fell down. The warring communities realized the essential nature of religion. A feeling of brotherliness dawned on them and all of them hugged one another like brothers.

  “Religion is nothing but a way of life that lays down social and moral codes for the well being of the people and ultimately prepares them to become one with the Supreme Spirit” thus  spake Ananda and move on. The gospel of Ananda put an end to the bloody wars in the name of religion and politics forever.  As Ananda reached the outskirts of Delhi, word reached the prime minister about Ananda’s arrival to the capital city.

  The Parliament was summoned urgently and the President, the Prime Minister and the opposition parties adopted a unanimous resolution declaring Ananda the spiritual, moral and political  head of the country. The President and the Prime Minister would rule over the country as Ananda’s representatives. 

  The President approached Ananda and prostrated before him. “Oh, the enlightened One!”he beseeched, “ War has become imminent with our neighboring country, which threatens the peace of the sub-continent. No doubt, our soldiers are valiant and we are sure to win the war. But the price is heavy and our future generations have to pay for it. The war will mostly be fought with nuclear weapons.

  “Fear not,”Ananda said and proceeded towards the frontiers of the country where the nuclear war was to take place.

  To keep pace with Ananda’s gigantic foot steps, the residual army in Delhi had to move in fast army vehicles in escort.

  Ananda’s blessed feet touched the battlefield where the conventional weapons like the battle tanks, cannons and the long range firing guns of both the sides were ready to plunge into action. 

  A little distance away, medium and long range missiles which could reduce their targets into ashes and asphyxiation bombs which could suck away life in the range of about fifty kilo meters were ready to be activated to wipe away the human race from the sub-continent.

  As Ananda stood at the center of the battlefield, the soldiers of rival countries witnessed nothing but Ananda and Ananda only. He was here, he was there, he was everywhere. There was little space left where there was no Ananda.

  By Ananda’s divine presence everywhere, the weapons of death and destruction were immobilized. News reached the president of the rival country who rushed to the frontiers of his country to see the wonder for himself. 

  Ananda cast his divine look upon the dictator and he realized his inner self  immediately. He avowed in the divine presence of Ananda that he would not wage any war, not only against India but also not against any other country.  In the same breath he declared Ananda the spiritual and political head of his country.

  Thus Ananda’s march of victory continued and country after country, continent after continent accepted his spiritual and political supremacy. 

  Wherever Ananda treaded, the touch of his blessed feet brought peace and prosperity to the region. Throughout the world people spoke nothing about but the divine name of Ananda because he was their Messiah who mitigated the suffering of humanity.

  When Ananda reached the statue of liberty in the United States of America, the people there were panicky. They were awaiting the arrival of Ananda eagerly because they believed that he might do something - some sort of a miracle to ward off a nuclear  conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The realization that the world was going to end due to nuclear catastrophe drove the people of the US, western and eastern Europe including the Soviet Union to commit all sorts of violent acts. The world was literally burning. Ananda stood beside the statue of liberty. A benign look from the kindly eyes of Ananda restored order throughout the world. The three commanders of the army, navy and airforce resigned to their posts and fell at Ananda’s feet. “Oh, enlightened One,”the three said in unison,”Our president and the president of the Soviet Union, gave commands to activate the most modern nuclear weapons to outdo each other in a fit of rage. The nuclear bombs were to be exploded in a matter of minutes. Only a miracle from you can save the world.”

  The multitudes of the people who assembled there were looking at Ananda with a desperate ray of hope. 

  Ananda invoked the mantras which bestowed the ANIMADi SIDDHIS (power to become a macrobeing  to power to grow into a micro being). Ananda was growing and growing into space.

  Now he was a macro being. The liberty statue and the skyscrapers of the States looked like tiny structures before his gigantic size. He raised his hand and stretched his palm, which spread the entire space.

  Now he had all the nuclear weapons of the big five countries in his vast palm which spread throughout space. He crushed all the nuclear arms in his palm, which turned into

Petals of roses.

  Ananda was everywhere. His macro being was a divine feast to the eyes at Lenin Square in Moscow, Trafalgar square in London and Eiffel Tower  in Paris at the same time.

  The numerous ecclesiastical heads of various nations arrived on the scene in their nuclear powered airplanes and declared Ananda to be the spiritual head of their respective seats. 

  The spiritual heads of the USA and the USSR also prayed to Ananda to be their spiritual mentar.  

  Ananda spake: I am with you. I am everywhere. I am with you and you are with Me. Man has an innate Godly spark in him. He should realize it through constant practice of  meditation on the Absolute. As the Supreme Spirit enlightens the individual, the individual should behold Him in every animate and inanimate things and serve humanity. 

  Whenever there is decline in Dharma I manifest Myself in any form and restore Dharma.”

  The people of the world listened to the divine revelation with rapt attention. 

  “  We thank thee, O Lord,” they prayed in one voice. “Thou hast led us to light from darkness. We humble mortals abide  by thy divine command.”

  Ananda blessed the world. Gradually the macro form of Ananda was reduced to micro form and disappeared. 

  Having fulfilled the divine command, Ananda found himself at his ashram at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. He sat in deep meditation before the huge bronze image of the dancing Siva.

  As Ananda gradually reached the first stage in meditation, the light of life departed through a micro hole in his head and merged in the breast of Lord Nataraja. Ananda’s mortal remains fell dead.

********************************

  This story is woven on reading about  the prediction of  Nostradamus  that a Hindu sage of South India unifies the world and restores order in 1999.

*********************************