It is snowing outside, temperatures are well below zero; one cannot imagine venturing out for a long period of time in outside weather. It is almost a week without snowfall & it has started to fall again, for some reason this snow fall looks nicer. The crimson-yellow tinged light of street lamps provides a soothing backdrop to the falling snow. One could watch it for as long as one likes immersed in its beauty. The silence of deserted road does not get broken for a long time. It appears as if nature is painting on the canvas of earth and does not want any interference.

I have been thinking about starting a new website or blog on spirituality. Have wondered how it would shape up and if I have the required enthusiasm and energy to carry on building a website from scratch. While the snow continued to fall, several thoughts arose in my mind, some inspiring while others creating self-doubts.

I recalled a story which I read few years back. This story is about a “chakravarty” king. Most of us would recall from history & mythology that chakravarti kings are the ones who have ruled this earth, defeated all and have been extremely brave, courageous & have displayed extreme valor in battles.  

A chakravarti king dies and he is taken to mount Meru by deva dutas (angels). They say that since he was a chakravarti in his previous life, he can engrave his name on the mountain. Chakravarti king is extremely delighted; after all he had not heard about many chakravarti kings in annals of history. He is the first in his lineage. He politely enquires the deva-dutas if he could go back to his family after writing his name & convey the message about the honour bestowed on him. Deva-dutas nod in affirmative and tell the king that he can certainly go back and convey the message to his family but before that he should write his name on the mount Meru.

King is extremely proud of himself and is very excited to reach mount Meru. The deva-dutas take him to mount Meru in a special viman (mythological vehicle). During the journey, when king saw mount Meru from a distance, king could not control his excitement, the moment to engrave his name forever in history was approaching. Entire world will remember what he achieved in his life. When they reached to the foothills of mountain, king’s eyes were wide open with surprise and a sense of disappointment dawned on him. His heart began to sink. He saw that the entire mountain was cramped with names engraved everywhere. There was not an inch left anywhere. It looked as if names were written, erased and new engravings had taken place. He was aghast with surprise and could not understand as to what was going on.

Deva dutas could understand what was going in his mind and told him that the mount Meru has been in existence since all the time cycles. The world has gone though many ascensions and descensions; world has seen many satyugas and many kalyugas. And every time line has seen several chakravarti kings.

Deva-dutas asked him to erase and name and write his name. The king understood that his pride had no place in infinite timeline of the existence of this world. What he had achieved had been achieved infinite times before and will be achieved infinite times later. This moment of awakening was so overwhelming for him that all his attachment to his deeds, good or bad dropped. Attachment to his name, his glory etc all looked such an insignificant event in front of cosmic drama. Deva dutas asked him to write his name anywhere since this is a ritual; king did as advised. Dev-dutas asked him if he wanted to visit his family back on earth and tell them about this incident. The king had no such desire left anymore into him. It did not matter to him anymore.

Writing the name or not writing the name was identical for him. He did write the name since by then it reduced to just a ritual for him to be done. He finally saw through all the success and failures that the purpose of life is to rise above these. With time, with actions, with knowledge there is the opportunity to get into more enlightened mental space. However until then one must perform what one thinks are the right efforts based on one’s level of intellect and understanding of the world and self. Sai Baba had also said that every one of us must go through the grind of karmas in order to be liberated. Karmas can bind us further or liberate us in future depending on their very nature.

This story helped me gain further insight and I made up mind to go ahead with like-minded people on a new path of self-discovery and spiritual journey. The beauty of the website will be that this will be a place where everyone will be able to inspire others through their learnings of life, through their amazing experiences obtained during their spiritual sojourn. This is the meaning of samyak. Samyak means correct and complete. Correct and complete will indeed be the journey of all the fellow travelers of this blog. Sai Ram.