Beauty and the Beast

6

"So, what? We wait till he decides to end his meditation?"

"You are Gandharvas, you are skilled in music yourself so try to wake him yourself." Narada offered.

Narada got up and offered his Veena while Garuda offered his tabla. The two gandharvas took their place.

They started signing. They sang ahead explaining him that this pain had far been too long and the suffering is unbearable. They urged him to wake up and heal them.

Even after a few minutes, there seems to be no response. He was still deep in his yoga dhyana.

The two, crying, look at Shesha and Garuda. Shesha takes pity and walked to them. "There is no one who can disturb him from his dhyana. Once he is deep in the yoga dhyana, he doesn't really have any sense of the world. He has retrieved into himself. Only one person exists who can reach out to him from that depth and bring him out of there."

"Sri Mahalakshmi. You ask her. Surely, Amma is a loving mother. Surely, she will heed to you call." Narada explained.

The two played the instruments. They reached out to Sri Mahalakshmi, asking her to help them from this suffering.

Chenchita stood there and the pain which consumed the two gandharvas disturbed her deeply. If that Simha-Hari was the only one who could cure them, he should be helping them. What use is all the dhyana in the world if it doesn't help another person?

Chenchita moved from the tribe and tried to walk ahead. "Chenchita, where are you going? What makes you think you can disturb him when even all the Rishis cannot?" Aja asked her.

"I don't know, Anna. Neither do I care if I can or not. I will not just stand here like this. Isn't their pain making you feel bad? 100 years of suffering should be enough for anyone to learn a lesson. Whether I manage or not is a whole different issue but I'm willing to try." She free herself from his grasp and walked ahead.

She reached up to the half-lion and half-man. She sound of her anklets rang in his mind. The touch of her fingers on his shoulders broke down the string of constant meditation. He opened his eyes to see all the Rishis gathered around.

A questioning look on his face. "I... I'm sorry for disturbing you saadhana but these two people here and all the Rishis and Sanyasis here have come to see you. I have heard that for people their meditation is most important but I really think you should help them here. Surely they have come from far away. Who was to tell when you would come out of you dhyana by yourself? So, I took it up to disturb you. I apologise of I've been wrong." She said.

Narasimha looked at the two Gandharvas sitting by the instruments. With a signal, he urged them to go on and sing. The two Gandharvas sang to please him. He closed his eyes as the music soothed away.

As the music reached his hearts, his hand started to tap on his thigh with the music. Playing the taala over his thigh as the two gandharvas played music.

Soon enough, the boils and injuries started to heal itself. The tribe watched in surprise at the healing. They had never seen such instant healing like that.

Narada walked to Chenchita and gave her the chambals in his hand. Chenchita was a bit surprised. She had no idea what to sing.

"Music doesn't come from the mind. It comes from the heart and soul. Ask your soul what it signs." Narada told her.

"He is Sriman Narayana. He is the source of Veda, he is all the Vedas." The Rishi's words rang in her heard.

Narada just smiled at her assuring her that everything would be alright.

She clanked the chambal in the taala. Naturally, the words flowed out of her tongue. The songs she never learnt but somehow she knew.

All of the tribe was surprised. No one ever taught her any songs about Narayana but she sang like she knew the words by heart.

Virasana : One of the yoga Asanas that are used for meditation. The person sits with folded knees on their feet.