27 Chetra 3000 PRAYAG
Prayag, a beautiful city situated on the bank of the holy river Ganga, is revered by the whole country. Every 12 years, when the biggest planet of this solar system, Brihas, completes one revolution in its orbit and enters the first degree of the Aqua constellation, a mega fair is organized, named AQUAS. It is considered that during this time the energy here is higher and helps people increase their power; thus it is considered auspicious. People from all over the world, too, come here to take a holy dip. This year is the same. The city is lively, and people can be seen everywhere. During the bathing sessions, not even a mustard seed would reach the ground if dropped on the banks of the Ganga due to the number of people present there.
Prayag, being a district, was divided into two main zones – the Eastern Zone and the Western Zone – denoting the land on the two sides of the river. During the AQUAS, a third zone, the Central Zone, was created by the administration; it's the main fair area, immediately next to the banks of the Ganga. In this zone, only saints and monks were allowed to stay in tents provided by the administration. The administration also used drones to announce missing people, the daily bathing schedule of the riverside, and to manage the crowd.
In the Western Zone, there are accommodations provided by the Ruler, and then there are private residences provided by different cults and merchants as a donation. The main road comes through this zone, then goes through the Central Zone, linking both banks with a bridge.
A green-colored bus was moving on the road which was levitating above the ground. A boy was sitting on the window seat in the front row, with black shiny shoulder-length hair, dark black eyes, a thin straight nose, and cupid bow lips neither thin nor thick. He was wearing a white dhoti and had draped another one like a shawl.
"There really are too many people here. Father did say that there would be more than 3 billion people visiting this city over the span of thirty days," he thought. "If the world is really this big, then I must travel across it one day," he thought. He was immersed in the chaotic world he was witnessing with open eyes.
"Come and take any utensil you like, just for fifty PANAs (currency)," a thin black man wearing a black dress was calling people to buy utensils.
"Buy any piece of clothing for just a hundred PANAs," another brown man, wearing a fancy beach shirt and Bermudas, was calling people to buy clothes.
"Buy cars as cheap as twenty. Of course, they are toys for you or children," the toy shopkeeper was trying to sell his bad jokes while the book owner was trying to sell books.
"You are in a land full of knowledge and holiness. Buy these books to increase both."
Different small shopkeepers were using God-given speakers while the wealthy ones were advertising using drones, big screens, and small speakers to sell their products.
"GOD IS IN YOUR BREATH." A big screen was displaying the exact text. "Come to find that breath" was written below it. Since it was a religious fair, how could cults stay behind in promoting their way to God? The same type of meditative programs, rituals, and principles were being sold through catchy advertisements. Some people wearing very distinct clothing were present at some of these cults and shops, trying to buy something native and understand native culture.
"People wear so many kinds of dresses. And those people are from some far land, it seems," he thought after seeing dark-skinned people from Kusha Dweep wearing different colored and textured drapes. He also saw the white people with light-colored hair and eyes from Yavan Dweep.
The bus stopped on the campus of a big red building. A red Swastika was on both parts of the yellow gate, and another was on the front wall, which had a portion painted specifically white for the red Swastika. Male and female monks were welcoming the people entering the building.
"Shambhu, what are you thinking? We've reached the Mutt we were going to," a stern but caring voice called the boy. He saw he was the only one remaining on the bus. He got up and came down. A brown-complexioned man of slightly above average height and bulky frame, and a fair-skinned woman of average stature and beautiful face were standing with a boy who looked the same as Shambhu but with brown hair and black eyes. Both of them had black hair and brown eyes.
"Father, this is different from what you taught me," Shambhu asked his father, Satya.
"There are many things different here from my teachings. Which one are you talking about, Son?" he asked.
"The female monks. You told me male and female monks shouldn't live together, to avoid attraction or any immoral conduct," Shambhu asked with curiosity on his face.
"Your curiosity about this contradictory behavior is right, but whatever I have taught you, Son, is our familial knowledge and beliefs. And the world neither follows us nor the knowledge and beliefs we have. I have brought you here for a final lesson which will answer this contradictory behavior. But before that, it is necessary that you get your sacred thread. What you need to know for now is that Dharma is a moral compass and conduct book provided by God."
"So what about those who don't follow it?"
"You reap what you sow. Karma always gives results accordingly, whether good or bad. We can't change the world, but what we can do is uphold our own Dharma," Satya spoke after a break with a serious expression.
While they were having this conversation, they had already moved inside the building. They entered a hall large enough to accommodate five hundred people. The yellow pillars with green and blue vine designs were supporting it. The vine designs on these pillars seemed to grow from the red floor and then disappeared into the red roof of the hall. On the far side of the hall, there was a reception counter. There was a fat man sitting on the couch, which was placed on the left side of the counter. He had a round face, a large nose, and big lips. He had neither hair nor beard nor mustache; it was all clean-shaven.
"Greetings, Satya and Savita. It's great to see you after such a long time. Are they your sons?" He got up and welcomed Satya and his family with a big grin.
"Greetings, Punda Mote. It's good to see you too, friend." Hearing the word friend, Shambhu looked at Punda and then his father, with slight surprise in his eyes. "We came here for the head-shaving ceremony of my younger son. But it's a good time to have my elder son's sacred thread ceremony too. What do you think?" Satya asked Punda Mote with a smile. While they were in conversation, Ananta, Shambhu's brother, was looking at Punda Mote and then the dent in the couch where he was sitting. Punda Mote gestured for them to sit on the chairs in front of him. Satya and Savita took different chairs while Ananta sat on Shambhu's lap.
"Why not? It's such an auspicious time period for such ceremonies," Punda Mote said in complete agreement. "I will have all the preparations ready by 7 o'clock in the morning. Be ready then because you know it's too crowded during AQUAS."
He then ordered the receptionist to have a room prepared for them. "You guys should rest now. It would have been a long journey," Punda Mote said with his signature smile while handing the keys of the room to Satya.
The next morning at 7 o'clock, Shambhu and Ananta were looking at the square fire pit, called Kundam, in front of them. It was filled with small branches of wood, and mango firewood was arranged in the pit to maintain airflow.
"Shambhu, you should come here and sit on the west side of the pit," Punda Mote, who was chanting some mantras and sitting on the southern side of the Kundam, called Shambhu.
Shambhu did as Punda said. Punda started chanting some other mantras and started the fire in the pit. After that, he gave Shambhu one plate of the havan materials, which were in front of him earlier. Shambhu followed what Punda instructed.
In the end, when it was time for the final oath to wear the sacred thread, Punda Mote asked Shambhu:
"Which class do you choose?"
"Isn't class supposed to be decided from birth?" Shambhu asked with curiosity and surprise visible on his face.
"You can choose whichever class you want and then follow its conduct," Punda Mote explained. "If you ever think that you should change your class in the future, come back and change your class with a ritual again."
Shambhu looked towards his father with disbelief, but his father had just a plain look on his face, no surprise, no anger, no opposition, no agreement. He told Shambhu that he should follow the procedures here to complete the ceremony. Shambhu again complied and chose to be a Protector and tied the sacred thread on his right hand.
Next was Ananta's turn. He got his head shaved, bathed, and then did the same rituals as Shambhu except for wearing the sacred thread.
After the ceremonies were completed, Satya went to buy some fruits because they were fasting. Shambhu, meanwhile, was sitting with a serious, thoughtful look on his face.
Seeing his son in deep thought, Savita asked in a sweet voice, "You seem lost in your thoughts, Son. Share some worries with me, too."
"Mother, did I do right by choosing to be a Protector?" Shambhu asked with uncertainty.
"Since when did you become such a worrywart? The decision has already been made. And moreover, your Father was present there, too. Do you think he would let you do something harmful or wrong in front of him?" Savita said while caressing his hair and cheeks with her hands.
"Your mother is right, Son. Why do you think I let it happen?" Satya said with a knowing smile while entering the room carrying some fruits in his hands.
"Eat your fill first, then we have the last lesson we talked about, or did you forget about it?" Satya spoke again, putting the bag of fruits on the table. Ananta immediately picked it up to take his share out of it. "Brother, stop worrying and be like me. Let's finish these fruits," he said in his playful childish voice.
After some time, Satya and Shambhu were sitting face to face on the balcony of their room while the mother and son duo were inside the room.
"So, Son, what have I taught you about classes and their roles in society?" Satya asked like a teacher interrogating his student.
"There are four classes into which humans are divided according to their innate nature, qualities, and works – SEEKERS, PROTECTORS, MERCHANTS, AND WORKERS.
Seekers seek knowledge and guide society with their knowledge and research. Protectors earn power and protect society. Merchants are the operators of trade and commerce in society. And if we go by the word, then everybody is a worker, but Dharma says that a person who does not fall in the above categories is a worker. They feed society, they make the raw products Merchants trade, they make the weapons Protectors wield. They are generally society itself."
"Second question: What does Dharma mean and how are these classes related to it?" Satya asked.
"Dharma is the duty bound to one's birth, originating from the very nature of that term. It could be class, position, or any general relation or role. Everybody should follow their own Dharma and thus serve it. A Seeker follows and serves Dharma by seeking it and its propagation, a Protector serves Dharma by protecting it, a Merchant serves Dharma by not letting money be a hurdle in others' service to Dharma, and a Worker serves Dharma by serving others in the form of producing the things needed by society." Shambhu again answered with clarity and calmness.
"So Dharma is the duty bound to birth, originating from one's nature. And class is divided based on one's nature and qualities. Then isn't the best way to serve Dharma by following the class you got by birth?" Satya again questioned.
"How? What if someone has a different nature from that associated with their birth?" Shambhu cross-questioned.
"The classes were made by God himself and thus carry inherent nature. One is born according to their residual Karma, which thus decides their nature and role in this life by birth. This makes it almost impossible to have a different nature than that of their birth class," Satya explained.
"But how do you know all of this, Father, and how are you so sure when nobody else believes in it?" Shambhu asked a genuine question.