The Enchantress

8. Guru

"Come on, you don't have to do this again," Indrayani whispered, blushing as Mahesh lifted her to walk the first eleven steps.

"Nope, my daughter must know that his old man is still strong," Mahesh said, winking at Mahamaya, making her giggle.

They had come a long way. It was about a distance of five hours. Her father had driven the entire way before the car had reached their destination. However, only the car had reached the destination. Mahamaya had a long way to go.

They ascended the stairs. Mahamaya felt something pulling her closer towards the temple. It was her first time coming here. She was supposed to come here after her marriage with her husband anyways but as fate had it, she was here before that.

Finally after they were up there, the daughter of the house took out her purse and removed some money. Mahamaya had lots of change in it for the occasion. She went ahead and distributed fifty bucks to every beggar sitting on the temple campus. It was the money from her own earnings. Finally after she was done, the family bought a plate of sweets, garland and other praying material required with it.

Stepping inside the temple, she sensed like she was in the right place, like she finally was at peace but she felt that way inside any temple she went to. However, here, that experience was much more intensified. The family went ahead and gave the plate to the Pandit Ji, the temple priest, before joining hands to the Khandoba, to their Shiva (destroyer deity). However, her eyes were transfixed to Mhalsa.

She bowed to the Pandit Ji, who was transfixed as soon as he saw her. He mumbled, "I have never seen someone as glowing and beautiful as you."

Mahamaya felt disgusted as she tried to step back but he spoke up, "No, don't take it in the wrong way but it was said that only Mhalsa looked that beautiful. After all, she had the face of Mohini."

This made her stop in her tracks. The others behind her kept pushing them so that they could get a chance to get a glimpse of the God who was seated on a horse.

Mahamaya felt her head spinning as she asked the Pandit Ji (priest), "Where can I find my answers?"

The Pandit Ji (priest) looked at her sympathetically. He had no answers to her questions but offered, "The only thing I can tell you is that no mortal human can guide you with this. If they are female, they would be overcome with jealousy, no matter how much they try to mask it and if they are male," he didn't continue but she understood what he meant. They would be too distracted by her enchanting beauty.

"It means an immortal has to come down on earth and guide me," she mumbled.

He shook his head no, "There are also immortals on Earth, immortals who have been celibates from birth."

"HanumAn," she whispered. He is a BAl BrahmachAri. Brahmacharya didn't only mean celibate by actions but also by thoughts but Hanuman, a devotee of Sri Rama took it to another level by being a Baal Brahmachari. He wouldn't touch women at all since he became an adult, except his mother.

The Pandit Ji (priest) shook his head, "You are forgetting someone else. Hanuman Ji would be hard to reach."

She thought hard, before whispering, "NArada Ji..."

A wide grin took over his lips as he smiled at her idea. Before she could ask more, she was shoved away by devotees who wanted a glimpse of their deity. She wanted to go back but she knew that she had already taken most of his time. Besides, she wasn't sure if he could help her at all. He was a Pandit Ji, (priest) neither a mystic nor a tantrik (like an occultist). He wouldn't know the method to call heavenly beings.

Narada is a Devarshi, sage of the deities. He is son of Brahma (creator deity) and while he was one of the first people on the Earth and his duty was to have kids and populate the Earth, he chose the path of brahmacharya, being a celibate all his life as he devoted his life to serving Sri Vishnu (the present deity).

"What did he say? We couldn't stand there because of the crowd," Mahesh asked.

Mahamaya looked at him, her eyes glazed as she wanted to cry so bad. She now had more questions than answers. She shook her head no as she mumbled, "He said he couldn't help."

The parents nodded. She mumbled, "Let's forget about this. I wouldn't die if I won't marry anyways."

They understood her turmoil and didn't say anything but the truth was, she was their only child and they had wishes regarding how grand the wedding should be, how the decoration should be, what dishes would be served, how she would be dressed and so on, especially Indrayani did.

The entire family, dejected, left to go back to Mumbai as Mahamaya wondered how she could reach out to Hanuman or Narada if she didn't know how to.

A/N:
Brahmacharya in Hinduism means not only purity of body but also of mind. It means giving up coffee, alcohol or drugs and even thoughts of lust. Such thoughts do occur but by engaging in karma, those thoughts are discarded. You need a loved one in your life, someone you come back home to but in celibacy, you dedicate all that time to God. Narada did to Sri Vishnu, Hanuman did to Sri Ram and so on. Besides these, as long as you are a student, you're to practice Brahmacharya completely, for like the first twenty years or till you're studying.