Ecstasy
It was a nice morning.
There was clear sunshine, birds naughtily played around and the smell of
predators were, for a change, totally absent. I, along with my friend, ventured
towards the corner of the forest which contained the tastiest bunch of grasses.
And leaves of a particular variety of tree that contained small violet flowers
and they were my favourite. I took care not to eat the flowers though - they
were slightly bitter and also looked great on the branches. My friend, on the
other hand, did not thought much about the leaves but he savoured the grasses,
often closed his eyes while doing so. Moreover, he would follow me to almost
any place in the forest.
Thus, while we were making the journey suddenly my eyes caught the sight of pigeon with the blue chest. My heart leaped! Could it be one of our lucky day? My friend too looked up, following up my eyesight. Then, as if by design, we looked at each other. Unlike humans, we deers does not have much use for spoken words. Both of us realised the possible implication of the hurried flight of the pigeon with the blue chest. And, therefore we changed our path and hopped towards the direction to which she has just flew. Our heart was almost at our mouth - are we that lucky? Again?
The pigeon with the blue chest is extraordinary in many ways. She is slightly bigger than other birds of her species, her chest is blue while those of the rest are grey and she often flew to great heights without any apparent reason. Sometimes she is so restless that within a minute she would change her branches twelve times while at other she would sit quietly on a branch hours together with her eyes open but vacant. But above all, she has this special talent of knowing whenever He has stepped in the forest. Looking at her urgency we suspected today was one of those days.
We two were not the only ones to have suspected thus for on the way we crossed several other living beings making the same journey. The monkeys in the branches, the swans fanning their wings to ward away the water, a group of four rabbits jumping and stopping alternately - all proceeded joyously towards the great tree by the side of the river. Now I was getting the wet smell of the river and with that, sweet smell of the bodies of cows. Not that I like cows or their smell particularly but the smell of their bodies added confirmation to our suspicion - He is there!
And then all doubts ended and we stopped as if dead. The wind too seemed to have stopped blowing, the birds suddenly ended their music, the rustling of the tree leaves also was a thing of the past - there was only one sound.
His flute.
The next moment the forest danced in joy. Not to obstruct the greatest music ever played but to contribute in making it even more beautiful. I rushed ahead, forgetting where my friend was, faster than I ever ran. Even twenty tigers chasing me could not have induced me to run this fast - I jumped over the bushes, barely avoided collision with huge tree trunks, overtook many more animals running equally desperately towards the great tree by the river and finally when my eyes fell on Him I stopped to catch some air.
I thought I was amongst the first to get there but I was wrong. It seemed the most of the forest was already there before me. Of course the pigeon with the blue chest was there, sitting as if in trance on a low branch of the very tree under which He played His flute, there were His cows looking at Him with attention and approval, there were the cunning leopards looking as innocent as a lamb, some more deers were also there - proud for having made this long journey so fast and each moment more and more of us joined the herd.
Slowly I moved ahead to have a better look. I felt my friend too have arrived and was following me.
There He is! He has taken his usual posture - the flute on his lips, eyes closed, standing as if on one leg while the other wrapped around it to gently rest on the ground. A small throne made up of peacock feathers, five of them, was on his head, yellow robe concealed lower part of his body and a pearl necklace dangled on his chest. His friends were all there, some standing, some sitting on the ground and on the back of the cows and a few also on the branches of the great tree. All eyes were fixed on Him and Him alone, all ears devoured the melody created out of his ordinary looking flute, all noses tried to take in the smell of his body and all skins longed for his soft, caressing touch. His body radiated the colour of the sky above, His chest moved up and down as He drew breath and pumped air in the hole of his instrument and I could now even see small droplets of sweat on His forehead.
Then my eyes fell on a small group of girls standing behind a bush led by Her, the fairest of them all. Lo! She has started dancing! With one hand she slightly lifted her pink skirt, with the other she made divine postures - now imitating a peacock and the next moment an intoxicated snake. Her feet fell with the tune of the of the music and she looked now at the sky and a moment later at Her Krsna - as if comparing the two.
As if the world around her too was waiting for her clue and all started dancing. Boys and girls danced by making beautiful postures with their hands and feet, cows danced by nodding their head, lifting their tail and tapping their hoof, the dears danced by jumping in the air in great joy, the snakes danced on the ground, lifting and swaying their hood, the swans joined in by making small circles with their great white wings spread, the peacocks danced by spreading their magnificent feathers and even the tigers could be seen rolling on the ground in ecstasy.
The music of the flute, in the meanwhile, reached higher pitch - as if travelling to all corners of the forest and beyond and inviting all the living beings to join in this divine celebration. The birds of all varieties covered the trees and joined the chorus - each according to his or her ability. All thoughts of hunger, fear, enmity and differences had gone - there was only the wonderful sight of Krsna playing the flute and Radha dancing in bliss. The music of the flute was now complemented by melody of the birds, soft sound of rustling of the leaves, soothing rumbling of water flowing down the river and the sound created out of dancing feet. Oh what delight! What inexplicable joy!
Time had stopped and we all wanted it to stay here till eternity. Perhaps each moment we experienced eternity and had lost all sense of affairs that are essential for life.
Slowly the sound of the flute turned softer and softer - till it was barely audible. We all stopped our dance and tried to catch its dying melody. His finger was still dancing over it, but he was no longer pumping enough air in. And then finally there was silence.
We all looked ahead, stunned. Oh, it can't be over so soon. He had just stated. But deep inside we knew it was over for now. We also realised it lasted a long while for our feet were now aching and we gasped for fresh air.
Radha had fell down on ground - lying unconscious. Her friends sat besides her. The animals moved around uneasily, slowly becoming conscious about their neighbours. The wind was blowing slowly, the sound of water flowing down the river along with that of swaying of tree branches were the only ones that caught our ears.
Suddenly I became conscious of tingling sound that emanated from the foot ornament - becoming louder with each approaching step. I looked up and found loving face of Krsna looking down at me. Gently he placed his palm on my head and sat besides me with one knee on the ground. Now my nose was inhaling only his smell, eyes were only looking at His eyes, skin shivered on getting his touch and ears heard his soft breath. Not to deprive the tongue, I gently licked His hand. His smile broadened. I bowed my head, grateful for the favour received. He got up and approached my neighbour.
After a while we walked back. The day had made considerable progress and sun rays seemed no longer soothing. A tiger walked past me followed by a sambar. Now we will get busy with our everyday affairs of eating and running away from predators. But my heart was at peace. For I know that there will be another day like this again .
When the pigeon with the blue chest will guide us once more to the venue where the cowherd boy played His flute .
