The first thing Onish felt when he came around was itching all over his soul, and the first question that came up in his mind was who he was. Yes, he had forgotten his identity.
All the memories that he had accumulated vanished as if they got dissolved into the void. Bewildered, he examined himself. However, he saw nothing. As though he existed only in his thoughts, and even those thoughts were not coherent. Myriads of strange but vivid memories were flashing in his consciousness, making him feel dizzy. He had an odd feeling that these memories were accumulating all over him like dirt. Time ticked away.
The incoherent memories slowly got sorted, and soon self-realization dawned on him. He was Onish, the last disciple of Swami Anand Giri. When he was on his way to the Brahma Loka ( abode of all enlightened beings), someone had tried to crush him to death. He recalled his narrow escape, and the fear gripped him.
He checked his soul and left petrified to see his sukshma sharira ( subtle body) covered with cracks like a spider web. It meant his memories would be incomplete. Worst of all, he couldn't forge a new physical body using panch bhoota ( five elements ether, fire, water, and earth). How was he supposed to survive in this unknown world?
Nothing like this had ever occurred to any yogi. Onish's incomplete memories offered no cure. The gloom and despair began to cloud his mind. A sign that he had fallen again into the gutter he had escaped from.
What would he do now? He knew better than to roam without a physical body.
The fate of the discarded soul is eternal life without any end, haunted by hunger, thirst, and all the other carnal desires.
But worst of all, you can't satiate them without a gross body. This sort of eternal life is worse than any punishment that a soul may suffer in the nark (hell).
Many evil powers would be waiting to enslave his soul. Horrible tales that he had heard on earth began to surface in his mind. Stories wherein tantriks forced souls to do inhuman deeds and tortured them if they refused to comply. Cold fear froze his thoughts. He found himself sinking in a gloomy abyss of despair.
He tried hard to shake these negative thoughts, but they clung to his soul like a leech sucking out all the happiness he had.
Gloom and despair might have eaten away his soul had he not heard the sound of something cracking. The sounds shattered the invisible shackles that were binding his thoughts.
Onish looked up in the direction of the dim light, gushing in through a crack.
He was in a dark space filled with some strange energy unknown to him. However, his institution told him that he was in grave danger. So, he didn't hesitate to flee.
Outside, he saw millions of black pearls, placed neatly in a bowl-shaped chamber. Wraithlike creatures were gliding over them.
The sense of mortal danger, he had gotten earlier, was coming from these ghostly figures. Onish didn't want to linger with these creatures anymore. So he took this chance to slip away.
He rushed towards the thick black wall of the chamber. But, as he tried to pass through the wall, it seared him. Astounded, he looked at the black stone. The place where he had touched the wall was glowing red.
What the hell was that? Had it not written in the Geeta and other Upanishads that soul could pass through any matter?
Onish didn't have time to ponder the question as his attempt to escape didn't go unnoticed.
The wraithlike creatures turned towards him. Their red eyes were fixed at him.
Frantically, Onish swept his spiritual sense to find any exist. He didn't want to find out what these sinister beings were capable of.
The chamber had no exit, no window, and not even a crack. It seemed to be carved out of a single stone.
His heart sank. The creatures were rushing towards him, whistling. The shrill sound had some strange power to make his negative emotions flare-up.
Seeing himself surrounded, Onish flew towards the high ceiling, the only route he could take. The creatures followed him. Negative emotions were engulfing him again, but he didn't lose control this time. He tried using prapti siddhi ( power to travel at will again), but nothing happened. He had suspected it already. A flawed soul couldn't use siddhis.
The ghostlike forms were a few feet away. Onish could feel terror and hopelessness seizing him.
Quickly he plunged earthward. It was a risky gamble, but it worked, anyway. Onish swiftly veered towards the right and then plunged into the cracked pearl again.
The negative emotions began to cloud his mind again. But he started chanting the mantra in his mind to ward them off. A powerful tool for snubbing negative thoughts and feelings. His guru had given this mantra when he had accepted Onish as his disciple.
The raged storm of emotions receded gradually. Onish felt peace for the first time since he had regained his awareness. He didn't dare to extend his spiritual sense. He decided to wait and think of a way out of this damn place. He once was a yogi, and the yogis knew well nothing could be gained from panic.
The creatures continued to search him everywhere, whistling.
Onish didn't know how many days had gone by as he waited inside the cracked pearl. The whistling had stopped long ago. The evil creatures had abandoned the search.
Onish racked his brain, but he couldn't come up with anything to escape the place. However, he did find out what these pearls were for. All of them had a soul trapped in them, and the strange energy was modifying their subtle bodies. He had no idea how his pearl got cracked and why Prapti siddhi brought him here of all the places. Whatever might have been the reason, one thing was sure he had done for.
There was no concept of time in that confined place. So Onish had no idea how long he had been there, chanting the beez (seed) mantra.
As a result of prolonged chanting, Onish entered the
***
Almost three years later, a voice brought him back. Someone, who could speak, was in the doorless chamber.
"What were you all doing all the time? You haven't even finished one-third of the souls." A male voice thundered. The creatures whistled meekly in response.
Onish quietly floated out of his pearl. This might be his only chance. Surprisingly, his hosts didn't notice his presence. Perhaps they were too busy. Our mystic saw a black shadow as tall as a man, standing before the ghostly figures.
"You were disturbed? " The shadow appeared surprised at his minion's reply.
"By whom? No mortal can see this place. None but me can open the chamber."
The creatures whistled together.
Onish focused his attention on searching for the exit. He looked around, but there was none.
"A soul tried to escape. And you didn't even manage to find out where it had gone. You fools!." The shadow rumbled.
The shadow scanned the pearls, and his eyes lingered on the cracked one. He moved his hand, and the pearl flew into his hand.
The shadow scrutinized it with his fiery eyes.
"Strange, It is not here. Are you sure it got burned when it touched the inferno stone -wall" The shadow asked the wraithlike creatures. They whistled again in response.
The shadow scanned the chamber thoroughly. The fiery red eyes lingered at the place where Onish was hiding. The yogi smothered his arising fear. The shadow withdrew his gaze.
"I will come again after three years. Don't fail me. Or you know what I do with a worthless lot. " The shadow threatened the creatures. Then he turned towards the solid wall, folded his right hand in a mudra strange to Onish, and whispered something.
The air in the chamber tensed up, and the concrete wall twisted into a door. Onish didn't wait for an invitation. He rushed towards the door before the shadow could close it. It was his only chance. Within a flash, he was out. However, as he looked ahead, the sight froze him.
A three-headed dog as big as a bull was standing before him. Its glowing red eyes were fixed at him. Onish was sure the monster could sense him. The beast sniffed.
Onish suppressed his growing fear and fled as fast as he could without caring where he was going.
The shadow stepped out, and the door turned into solid stone. The monster whined as he saw the black shadow whose fiery red eyes looked in the direction wherein Onish had fled.
"So you sensed it, too." The shadow stroke the dog's back.
"A fish has really escaped. However, it doesn't matter. We will catch it again."
The dog barked loudly as it scratched the hard ground with its strong paws.
"Stop it. You are breaking the formation." The shadow scolded the monster.
"Go and wait for me in the palace. I have some tasks for you too. "The shadow flicked his hand, and a tunnel appeared in the air.
The dog growled as it walked in and disappeared with the passage.
"Now, let's see who you are." The shadow mumbled.
A gust of wind came, and the shadow dissolved into it, leaving behind nothing but a large black boulder lying amidst sky-soaring trees.
****
Onish fled, passing through trees and boulders, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone was watching him.
He saw many strange and fierce creatures rooming in the forest, hunting or sleeping. However, they couldn't sense him as he passed their dens.
The feeling of being watched was growing stronger with each passing moment. Onish knew shadow was getting closer.
The shadow must have some way to sense a soul without a physical body.
All things came down to this physical body. If he could somehow get a physical body, it would solve his many problems. Now he could really understand why sages used to say,
"Human body is one of the most precious and advanced creations of Lord Brahma. Even Devas who has eternal life want to be a human."
However, Onish knew too well his chance to forge a new body was zero to null.
What if he ...
He stopped himself thinking in that direction. The idea had formed when he had been thinking of a way to escape from the damn chamber. In reality, there was another way to gain a physical body without forging it. That was to enter someone else's body who had just died. But it was supposed to be a sin in yogic culture. No yogi would ever do this. There were some incidents in history. The recent one was of Adi Guru Sankracharya. He entered a king's body for some time. It didn't need any siddhi.
So even Onish, with his fractured subtle body, could do this. Logically it was the only way he had now. If he didn't want to live a life of a ghost.
Please do leave a comment anything would be appreciated ...
The story will pick up the pace after 30 or 35 chapters
Note: Story is a little complicated in the beginning, however, everything will sort out as you read. So have a patient, my dear reader...
Some basic information:
According to The Doctrine of three bodies in Vedanta, every human being has three vital bodies namely the Physical(Gross) body, Astral(Subtle) body, and Causal body. This doctrine of the trinity is an essential concept of Ancient Hindu philosophy that one needs to master to deeply understand the teachings of yoga.