'Senses are merging, what does that mean?' Shambhu was perplexed.
'Basically, I am gaining access to your senses,' Raktaa said in a slightly painful voice.
'Didn't you have it already?'
'Not to all of them. I could see and hear from your left eye and ear, but I simply couldn't merge with you completely because of the impurities in your physical vessel. Thus, no complete senses,' Raktaa said with a relieved tone.
'So now you have complete access?' Shambhu asked.
'No, it's neither complete nor permanent. It will be completed only if you complete the cleansing process,' Raktaa clarified.
'Okay.'
"Your daily schedule is here," a voice came from his I-band.
"Finally. Let's see what we have got to study," Shambhu said while slowly standing up.
"Hmm, just three other classes than Guru Rudra's during the whole week. It seems the academy really focuses on the training of students," Shambhu commented.
Shambhu then completed his daily morning routine and went out to the Ràkshá Kendrà. The class in the morning was for weapon-wielding techniques. They were in the yard again, but another 50 people were present there. They were there to help with the training of students without putting them against each other.
Shambhu just had gauntlets, so nothing new was introduced.
"Use the gauntlet efficiently, and you can just grab and disarm the enemy of its weapon." That's what Guru Rudra told him while teaching blocking and grabbing using the gauntlet. The weapon class ended in exhaustion, and after lunch, the meditation class was just like the first day; he had to pretend that he was meditating. The cleansing process was completely different both physically and verbally, so he couldn't disguise it as the meditation Guru Rudra was teaching. He did the meditation process at night, and it was an all-nighter again.
Four more days went by; Shambhu was following the same routine: all-nighter in the night and other classes in the day. He was determined to succeed in the cleansing as fast as he could, so that he would not be left behind in awakening Chàkràs. The meditation and cleansing process complemented his sleep, but the process itself was not showing much result, except for Raktaa gaining incomplete access to his senses after his meditation.
In the evening of the fifth day, during the meditation class, something happened.
One hour into the class, Daru almost cried and shouted, "Guru ji, my lower back and pelvis are almost on fire!"
The air was swirling around his lower back, and some dust particles were also part of the swirling pool of air. He was sweating, and his face had turned red.
"Don't worry and panic. This is the first awakening; your PRÁNÀ has now entered the Dhàritrí Chàkrà. Keep the meditation going and control and bind the PRÁNÀ in your Dhàritrí Chàkrà. Can you feel your Chàkrà?" Guru Rudra guided him.
"Yes, I can," Daru said with a groan.
"Then force the energy inside it and don't let it go rampant or ahead. I knew you would be the first. You had a high affinity with earth," Guru Rudra encouraged and guided Daru again.
Daru focused deeply on his Dhàritrí Chàkrà and used all his control over the Chàkrà with all his might to control the PRÀNÁ, which was rampaging inside him.
Just as he was done with his process, Sandhya felt the same sensations, and another awakening was witnessed. The students were in awe because half of them were not even clearly feeling the PRÁNÀ. Some of them had surprised looks on their faces, some had admiring looks, while some were jealous too.
Shambhu, on the other hand, was talking to Raktaa. 'Why do you think I didn't succeed in such progress? Is the cleansing process supposed to be slow?' He asked Raktaa.
'I don't clearly know. I know what cleansing is, why it is needed, and how to do it, but I still think something is missing,' Raktaa said.
"Haha, great, good progress," Guru Rudra said with a laugh. "It's rare to have two people awaken in one week."
"Now all of you need to listen carefully. Every human has 70,000 meridians called Naadi in his body. These meridians divide the seven stages of awakening and mastery of a Chàkrà," he said.
"Per 10,000 meridians, a new stage starts. And the first stage is called SPARSHA. It means touch or feel. This stage lets you sense and feel the element of the said Chàkrà. Your new goal is to raise your Dhàritrí Chàkrà's energy, which is earth elemental energy, up to 10,000 Naadis while merging it with your PRÁNÀ." He paused. "Do you understand your next goal, Daru and Sandhya?" he asked in a loud voice.
"Yes, Guru ji," they both replied.
"Then start the meditation and try to feel your Naadis," he ordered, which was followed.
In just a few minutes, both of them were able to feel their Naadis. Then Guru Rudra ordered them to visualize it.
"I can see them," Daru said after a few minutes.
"A DNA-like double helix is starting at the bottom of my spine, but the helixes are touching each other at a red sphere," Daru said. "And many vein-like things are spread in my body, going in every direction," he added.
"Good. The helixes are called Moolà Nádis. They connect one chakra with the other. Now you need to focus on the veins going inside the body and gather and send the earth elemental energy in them, thus raising the total PRÁNÀ and elemental energy your Dhàritrí Chàkrà holds," Guru Rudra explained.
The class continued, and in some time, Sandhya too was able to feel her Nádis. While all of them were happy, Shambhu was happy too. Raktaa had gotten a lead in this lecture. He rushed towards the Bhojanaalaya just as class ended and reached his quarters as fast as he could.
Around 7 o'clock in the evening, Shambhu was sitting in his yard again in the lotus position.
'So you are saying these Nadis are what I need to target for cleansing,' Shambhu asked Raktaa.
'Yes, both physical and spiritual vessels have the same amount of nadis, and the purity and strength of these Nádis decide how much energy you can have, and thus they directly decide your strength,' Raktaa was now cheerful.
'The last piece of the puzzle is that you need to spread your PRÁNÀ in all Nádis before you start awakening Chàkrà,' she said. 'We didn't see the result because we weren't focusing on the Nádis but taking the body as a whole.'
'Okay,' Shambhu nodded. 'So first feel the energy and spread it in Nádis.'
Shambhu started the process. He could already sense PRÁNÀ a little bit. After focusing for some time, he could both feel the Nádis and PRÁNÀ. He couldn't see the double helix though. Rather, he was seeing a white, slightly red-tinted, vein-like net in his body, starting from his spine and going to every nook and corner of his body. He used all his internal might and energy to direct the PRÁNÀ into his Nádis, this net system.
Around midnight, an excruciating pain surged inside his body, starting from his pelvic floor and the bottom of his spine. It was like a volcanic eruption had taken place at the bottom of his spine and his pelvic floor was filled with lava because of it. His body became extremely hot and he started sweating like he would create a fountain.
'Raktaa, is it supposed to be this painful?' Shambhu asked Raktaa while gritting his teeth and groaning in pain.
'According to my knowledge, yes. One creates one's spiritual vessel and merges with it when one raises one's PRÁNÀ and cleanses one's Nádis. The physical Nádis work as the foundation of your spiritual vessel. But when you create your spiritual vessel by cleansing, it first merges with mine which makes this vessel and its meridians immensely more powerful than normal. In return, when it merges with your physical Nádis and vessel it creates an overload which will make your physical Nádis become much more pure and strong too, but the process is painful compared to normal.' Raktaa was explaining. But suddenly she cried out, 'Ooooh God dammit, I didn't think it was this extreme. This is horrendous.' Their senses were merged now. She had felt a slight pain when their spiritual vessels merged, but once she could feel Shambhu's pain, it hit her like a whip.
'Haha, now you get it,' Shambhu laughed despite his pain. He was feeling her emotions, though very slightly, but he could. And the same could be said for Raktaa too. They were now in sync, though not a perfect one, yet.
'Laugh all you want,' Raktaa said groaning. 'I wasn't ready; otherwise, it would have been nothing. I am a warrior too.'
'As if it gave me an early notice,' Shambhu groaned, still hiding his pain behind a curtain of forced laughter.
Shambhu was clearly happy and he wasn't trying to control himself like he usually did. He had now succeeded in doing at least something. Time passed and the cleansing process continued. The pain which was excruciating in the beginning, lessened a little bit but continued for a few hours.
Now the sun had started peeking out from the horizon. The first rays of morning sun fell on Shambhu's exhausted face, who was lying on the ground in his yard.
'I think I should take a bath now,' Shambhu said.
'You definitely should. It's really smelly here.'
Shambhu had some sticky brown mud-like substance all over his abdomen and pelvis region. It had come out of his body during his cleansing process.
"Mitra, prepare warm water in the bathtub and a cold shower," Shambhu ordered.
'Do you really want to get ill?' Raktaa asked Shambhu.
'No, I need hot water to clean the body properly. And cold water to relax myself from this heated process,' Shambhu explained as if it was obvious.
'Okay, I'm going to take a nap. Do whatever you want,' Raktaa said.