Far, far away, in the far reaches of our vast roofless space, twinkled a zillion stars. Some were big, some small, some aeons old and some, only moments. Some were dim and hazy and some were sharp and bright. Nonetheless, they were all happy stars, living together, free, with no care in the entire universe. They lived only in the NOW and their star-minds never did house any memory of the past nor did they admit any query about the future. They simply lived their moments, twinkling in the sky, happy being just stars.
One day, a group of little stars expressed a desire to unhook themselves from space and explore worlds below. They imagined these worlds beneath them to be happy spaces, just as theirs. Little stars looked at the oldest star, Big Wise, for his approval. Big Wise thought for a moment and flickered a shiny beam, giving his consent to the great adventure. One by one, all the stars flung themselves into space, taking the plunge bravely, without a trace of fear. Their adventure, thus, began.
In the beginning of the plunge, the stars felt great excitement. The feeling of a free fall from the space they were used to filled them with glee. The little stars squealed with joy and the big ones let out peals of laughter and the rest grinned gleefully. It was the flight of their life-time. Without the slightest thought of their future, of what lay before them, the stars lived only in the NOW, absolutely free of care, absolutely gleeful, living every moment of their plunge.
And like that they fell from their heights, first gliding and gliding, and then falling, falling, falling through thin air, through freezing temperatures and through high and low pressure points in the space around them. Then, sometime later, at one point, the stars realised that all of them were headed towards one small planet orbiting in space known as Earth. There was some strange magnetic force that was pulling them towards Earth. Without the least resistance, the stars went with the flow, giving all of themselves to the plunge. Closer to earth, they found themselves accelerating in their speed. The temperature became warmer and humidity increased. A palpable change came over all the stars. They felt themselves shrinking. Their luster and shine were getting weaker and weaker. Their shapes and sizes were very much altered. However, none of them, felt fear. There was lots of goodwill in them. After all, they were stars. They only trusted in the Best, the Blessed, the Biggest and the Brightest.
In this state, they fell upon Earth, at a point 28° 37', North; 77° 13', East. At the point of their fall, they were looking very much unlike the stars they started off from the sky. However, although different, they retained a soft beauty about them, nevertheless. All the stars fell on a huge paradise garden. Helpless they lay, vulnerable and powerless, wondering about the NOW they were caught in. Around them, there was greenery. This space was filled with the happy chatter of birds and squirrels. Trees small and large stood here and there, sculptured beauties extending their green arms in graceful hospitality. Many shrubs there were, stout and steady, like staunch friends, adding tones to the green. There were flowers all around the fringe of the paradise garden, Nature’s crowning glory and gracious beauty. Some flowers were mauve, turning to bright pink, or purple, some were plain white, some flaming red and others white with streaks of yellow running deep into their hearts. Then there were those which were off-white and some that were pure white with a tube of princely orange. A sweet fragrance wafted across the paradise garden every now and then. This was the language of these flowers that glorified the paradise garden.
Many paths lay upon this paradise garden, cutting across one another at various points. The stars fell upon these paths randomly. Some fell on the Path of Progress, and some on the Path of Wisdom. Then ran the Path of Patience and then the Path of Perfection. Close to this path was the Path of Aspiration which received another batch of stars. The Path of Progress intersected at this point again, followed by the Path of Grace. On the Path of Grace, many stars fell, and strangely felt a kinship to that particular environment. The Path of Silence bordered the periphery of the paradise garden on which some other stars fell. The Path of Love united all of these paths. Those stars that fell on this path were blessed in a special way, as they would find out later. In one single and firm sweep of sweetness, this path alone united the various paths and led them to some magnificent point of concentration in the centre of the garden, a point where everything gathered on the paths were offered in simplicity. An unspeakable Silence was the one resounding response from this point, to anyone and anything that addressed it or sought its solace, companionship and shelter. This point alone worked like a magnet drawing one and all towards that centre.
Now, many beings walked on these paths. Their main aim was to walk their own paths and reach the centre. They were beings of light and were given names according to the colour of light they bore. Some beings were beings of green light, some bore red light, some blue and some others yellow, some bore purple light and some, mauve, and some were of pure white light and golden light. There were hundreds of beings who walked on these paths who bore the full range of shades of the colours mentioned and more. Once in a while, beings walked alone and their colours shone clear and bright. Very often beings walked in pairs and sometimes in threes. When in pairs and threes, the colours took on interesting combinations of shades. Most of the time, the combinations were beautiful combinations and exuded a graceful harmony on the rest of the beings and on the paths they were traveling upon.
The stars observed all these beings passing by. Many beings saw the stars lying on the floor and passed them off as grace flowers showered on the various paths by the grace tree. They left them unattended, ignored. Like this, many days passed. The stars were feeling a slight exhaustion coming over them. Even at this point, they had not one streak of despair in their hearts. They knew not fear, they only knew trust, and quietly, with no other care they lived, for they were only capable of living in the NOW. Many days passed with the stars lying unnoticed.
The wise old star that had fallen with the rest, Big Wise, had been quietly studying the situation. One day, he felt a strange light touch him from the centre of the paradise garden. He realized that there was one way the stars could be saved. The fallen stars had to find their way to the central point of the garden, to that point of intense concentration. How was this to be done? There were so many paths. Which path led to the centre? Who would carry them there? There were so many beings, but none would understand their fallen state and give them a lift! Big Wise conveyed a message to all the stars to gather all their strength and energy and aspire for their transfer to the central point of concentration, from whichever path they found themselves on. The intense aspiration began. Day by day, the aspiration intensified and eventually solidified into a mass of invisible, immortal flame, of orange hue.
It was almost magical, what happened next. Two beings, one of a soft, pink hue and the other, sky blue, were set upon the Path of Love in search of the most beautiful to bring over to the central point of concentration. They picked all the fallen beauties lying on the path, gathering them on a delicate leaf-boat and proceeded on the path. They came across the point where the stars lay. The two beings saw them as grace flowers and recognized also, some semblance to the stars that they see on the sky everyday, during their customary skyward gaze, and intuitively associated them with the stars. The beings decided that all the star-grace flowers, as they named them, had to be picked and offered at the central point, simply because they carried a beauty in them. And so the task began, of picking as many of the delicate star-grace flowers and piling them carefully on leaf-boats. They were carefully brought to the central point of concentration and offered at the altar therein.
Then, in the night of night, when all the beings had retired into their hideouts, the magic happened. One by one, the offered stars gathered strength and were lifted off from the central point of concentration and directed skywards. Their journey upwards towards their place of origin had begun. The glee the stars felt in the ascent was many times more than that of the glee that they had felt in the fall. Only this time, it was full of a quiet joy, complemented with an intense sense of gratitude. For the grace that had befallen on the stars was unspeakable. The aspiration of the rising stars for all their fallen star friends on the other paths to be lifted like them continued ardently and with greater intensity. Every night the two beings on the Path of Love would spend some time picking the star-grace flowers, form a pattern on the leaf-boats and carry them over to the central point. This ritual continued for days.
By now, everyone else passing on the Path of Love came to admire the beauty of the star-grace flowers on the leaf-boats that the two beings of pink and blue had gathered. The word on the beauty of star-grace flowers on leaf-boats spread like wild fire and in seven days time, all the beings of light, walking on the various paths, piled star-grace flowers on leaf-boats and brought them to the central point of concentration. They did this only because it was one beautiful activity that enthralled them. At the altar, the same magic happened in the night of night, when no one was watching.
In twenty-one days time, the entire paradise garden was cleared of star-grace flowers. On the night of the 21st day, the two beings on the Path of Love looked up into the sky. A golden moon was there, a crescent into its eighth day of ascent. Millions of stars swam around this moon, near and far. The night sky was shimmering with a new found brilliance. The stars appeared unusual also, as they reflected different coloured light, all those that were common on the paradise garden! The two beings on the Path of Love looked up at the night sky with wonder and smiled. Just then, a single ray from all the stars above touched their hearts. A bridge had been built. There was no stopping the stars from descending again, this time, well assured of an ascent back to their sky-home. The two beings glowed with joy. The rest of the beings on the paradise garden joined them and looked at the beauty of the night sky in arrested silence and wonderment.
As if a trail of disappearing starsThere showered upon the floating atmosphere
Colours and lights and evanescent gleams
That called to follow in magic heaven,
And in each cry that fainted on the ear
There was the voice of unrealised bliss
(Sri Aurobindo,” Savitri”, Book X, Canto 1)
A bliss is felt that never can wholly cease,
A sudden mystery of secret Grace
Flowers goldening our earth of red desire.
(Sri Aurobindo, “Savitri”, Book II, Canto XII)
- Jayanthy
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