Satataharitam - Short Stories On Narayana

चित्सभेशः

Shiva had watched his Hari turn from the dancing, butter-stealing cowherd to the most skilful statesman of Bharatavarsha right before his eyes. The transition had been impeccable, and both forms of Krishna had been equally enchanting, not just to the rest of the world, but also to the greatest, Parameshwara himself.

Shiva had last had a face to face glimpse of Hari when he was an infant. He had managed to convince Yashoda to hand the baby to him for a second, and Shiva's butter-like heart had melted in an instant and he found himself in tears of unreal joy.

But now, this adult Krishna, with innumerable things to do, was very different. Equally charming, but completely changed.

Shiva wanted to meet his friend again now. Maybe there wasn't much time left for Hari's avatara on earth, but he wasn't sure. He had completed all of his major objectives with the end of the Kuru war. It had been a couple of years since that, and now, Mahadeva was losing his patience.

He watched as Hari performed his daily tasks rather mechanically. Shiva shook his head, and decided it was time for him to add some unexpected happiness to Krishna's day. He deserved all of it, and he hadn't quite had much to be happy about after the war.

Krishna knew he was Hari, and so, Shiva could really go to him in his real form and meet him too. But perhaps that wasn't so right to do, considering he couldn't go to his other devotees that way when they were on earth.

Maybe if Krishna actually, very sincerely called him, he could actually go.

Now, if that was Umadhava's wish, of course Madhava was going to fulfil it.

×××

It was a day before the grand celebration of Shivaratri, and Krishna had been having a particularly awful day. He was messing up every little thing he had to do for the festivities. The arrangements, the instructions, everything.

In the process, he decided to just sit down for a while in front of the Shivalinga. The temple itself was quite empty, because everybody was so involved in making the arrangements.

Krishna simply tried to focus on taking Shiva's names, as he did so often in his mind, while refusing to take his eyes off the Linga. He felt an unreasonably harsh feeling of longing to meet Kailashanatha that day.

He sat there for hours, and by the time he realised, the sun had set. He closed his eyes in slight frustration. Not only had he struggled to get anything right that day, he'd also managed not to do anything at all too.

Shiva smiled to himself, witnessing everything Hari had done all day. He thought about how many times he had been called by him that day. Hari was his aradhaka and aradhya, and if not by the authority of the Lord, Shiva would certainly have to visit Krishna for the duty of the devotee now.

He couldn't keep his Lord waiting any longer.

×××

Krishna watched the celebrations in silence, smilingly. It was very different from the times when he would actually dance and sing in praise of Hara. Now, he did all of that in his mind. All he saw, in that atmosphere so filled with Parvati and Maheshwara, was their image.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Familiar and warm, but also so divine that Krishna wasn't sure if he was dreaming.

He turned around to see who it was, but before he could even process what was happening, he found himself and the man with him on the ocean shore.

"Ishwara?"

Shiva had a very characterestic smile on his face until Krishna dropped to the ground to touch his feet.
"What are you doing-"

Krishna raised his brows and had an unbelievably innocent expression on his face. "What?"

Shiva almost wondered if he was looking at his Ramavatara accidentally. "You are Hari." he said, trying not to let his disbelief show. "Don't tell me you don't remember, after all the times you've used the Sudarshana without even questioning why you've Vishnu's weapons and conch in your hand."

Krishna blinked a few times, innocently. "Happy wedding anniversary!"

Shiva closed his eyes, just starting to wish he had been interacting with the extra-sweet Rama form instead (but then he realised he loved all this natak too). He engulfed his Hari in an embrace. "Thank you very much, sir."

Krishna decided to act like the slightly more matured Vishnu of Vaikuntha now. He hugged Shiva back with immense enthusiasm (bordering on the almost-climbing-onto-best-friend kind of violence). "What brings you here?"

"My Ishwara called out to me too many times yesterday, had to follow the orders and come."

"I'm sure you had been missing me too much and that's why you came. After all the whining you did when I returned from Treta, I know you would have."

"Ha! Like you missed me any less. The number of times you think of me per day has increased like crazy." said Shiva, rolling his eyes.

"What are you, a statistician?"

"I'm everything you say I am, Hari."

"You are a dancer. You are, in fact, the Dancer. And that is a fact. Now get up, let's dance."

"Do you think I came here to dance?"

Krishna sat down, back straight and all serious. "If my madness has had enough of an effect on you, you could have." Shiva widened his eyes. "Clearly, it hasn't. Tell me, why did you come?"

"I just came because you called." He paused. "Alright, you're right, we can dance if that's what you want."

Krishna chuckled. "You came because you wanted to. And now well dance because we both want to." He got up, and both of them ensured to pay their respects to Bhumi and apologise to her before beginning their dance.

Once they began, there seemed to be no end to it as they lost themselves in the world they loved so very much. Their joy filled the whole world with happiness too. Not for a single moment did their eyes stop smiling through the many hours when they refused to stop dancing.

Their dance was the rhythmic heartbeat of the entire universe, the very force that gave life to everything that existed. Even when they stopped dancing physically, their dance continued in the Chitsabha, the Hall of Consciousness, in unison, keeping the world running as they always, so beautifully did.

×××××

A/N: Shubha Shivaratri!

I do not know what I've written. Not a clue, because I haven't reread it. All I hope for is that it makes at least a little sense 🥹

Shiva has a name, Chitsabhesha (Chit-Sabha(yah) + Isha), which means the Lord of the Hall of Consciousness. Especially used when he's portrayed as a dancer. Best example seen in Muttuswamy Dikshitar's beauty, Ananda Natana Prakasham (in the first line itself).

But fundamentally, both Hari and Hara are equally the Lord of our Consciousness, and maybe it's them working in tandem that makes everything work as it does. The Prakriti-Purusha perspective is there on one hand in running the Universe, but I also have to think of the complementarity of the Preserver and the Destroyer 🥹❤️

Anyyyyway, thank you all so much for readingggg! Byeeeehdksudhfkf! 💖😁