Rudra's choice of focusing on the waves… whether it was right or wrong, he would only understand at the end of the lesson.
For now, he sat before the pond.
He tried to focus. But the pond did not offer just one thing.
There was water… but never just water.
Ripples moved across its surface.Leaves fell, disturbing the stillness, giving birth to circles that spread outward.Tiny disturbances appeared where nothing visible seemed to touch.
Rudra could not decide where to place his attention.
On the waves?On the ripples born from the leaves.On the stillness between them?
He chose one wave.
For a moment… he held it.
But then, another caught his eye.
His focus slipped.
He pulled it back.
But by then, the wave he had chosen had already changed… broken into smaller ripples, merging into others, losing its original form.
What he had chosen… no longer existed as it was.
Behind him, Ganesha watched.
Silent.
He did not correct.Did not guide.Did not interfere.
He simply allowed Rudra to stumble… again and again.
For they know, what experience and his own thoughts will answers will be the right answer for him.
Rudra tried harder.
Sometimes he squinted, as if narrowing his vision would steady his mind.Sometimes he forced himself not to blink.
He tried to hold one wave from its beginning to its end.
But the pond refused to simplify itself.
At times, his focus drifted to the expanding circles as a whole.At times, he found himself watching one ripple disturb another, creating more.At times, the broken reflections pulled him in… forming, dissolving, reforming.
His thoughts ran like seven horses tied to one chariot without reins… pulling in different directions, restless, uncoordinated.
His thoughts, they had no place in this task.
Yet they came.
And when they came… his focus broke.
This continued.
Not once. Not twice.
But long enough that his frustration stopped being sharp… and became quiet.
After what felt like more than half an hour, Ganesha finally spoke:
"Rudra… sometimes one must not look at the anchor, but at what anchors the anchor."
Rudra frowned.
The words did not settle.
He closed his eyes… repeating them, turning them over, trying to force meaning out of them.
Nothing came.
After a while, he opened his eyes again. And again, he returned his focus to the pond.
This time, he did not follow the waves as before.
He watched them arise… and end.
He tried to stay where they began.
But even then… the answer did not reveal itself.
So, he steadied himself.
And in his mind, he began to chant:
'Na…'
A single sound.A single point.
Not to chase the anchor… but to remain.
And then… something shifted. He noticed what he had not seen before.
Not all waves came from falling leaves. Not all disturbances were born from visible causes.
On one side of the pond… where no leaf had touched the surface… There were still ripples.
Small. Almost insignificant.
Usually, they would not have mattered, but now, when his mind was hyper-focused and was enhanced with divine powers, they matter now, and definitely for him, who has just started learning how to focus on one task at hand and not get distracted by his thoughts.
And so, those insignificant but still present ripples were affecting him.
And so, he looked closer.
There… moving lightly across the surface…
Water striders.
Tiny. Many.
Gliding, almost playfully, over the water.
Each one alone… barely disturbing anything.
But together…
Enough.
Enough to create small ripples.Enough to layer disturbance over disturbance.Enough to scatter his attention.
And then it settled in him.
Not loudly.
Just clearly.
Maybe it was not that they were strong.
It was that he was attending to them.
These… are like my thoughts.
Small. Light. Almost nothing.
On their own… not enough to break focus.
But if I notice them… follow them… give them weight…
They gather.
And then they are enough. Enough to pull me away. Enough to make me forget what I chose to see.
The pond had not changed. The waves had not changed.
Even the striders had not changed.
Something in him had.
Not control.
Not perfection.
Just… recognition.
And for the first time, he did not try to stop the disturbances.
He simply stopped going with them.
And now, he has gotten his answer. All he had to do was stay focused and find the final answer that defines him, his thoughts and his belief and he would finally get it, how he could stay focused.
And with that, Rudra chose another way to get to the answers; rather than ignoring those insignificant disturbances, he started to think of them as his anchor, so he started focusing on the water striders and tried to find, try to name his stability, and finally give it shape.
By focusing on them, he started to know what it feel to have a steady and focused mind, he could watch even tiny movement done by striders and with that he gets how he just focused on these tiny water striders what if he accepts his distractions rather ignoring them, and after accepting them he would shift to main thought and with that, with his main thought as his anchor and small thoughts as carrier he finally achieved the stability he was craving.
And with achieving his first clear goal, Rudra stepped toward his journey toward the journey toward perfection and learning everything he needed for his survival.
"Good, very Good Rudra, you have finally learned how to focus and now try to stay in focus with closed eyes. Go on, try it." Ganesha encourages Rudra and tells him to do the same with his eyes closed.
With encouragement from Ganesha, Rudra closed his eyes and started to learn how to focus with closed eyes.
Rudra closed his eyes and started to chant his Mantra that was given by Ganesha. He immersed himself in one task to stay in focus and complete his chant.
He was distracted at first, but as he had already learned the technique to stay in focus, he accepted his random thoughts, and with one thought as the main anchor, he started his training of the mind.
"Good, keep on doing just like this. There is only a little time left. Keep on doing this for what's left, so you get the hang of this feeling. And with that, you will be able to come into this focused mode quickly. And whenever you need to focus, you will have it with you." Ganesha instructs Rudra, who has his eyes closed and perfectly in focus and is trying to stay in a stable and still form.
And with that, Rudra keeps trying to stay in the same focus,
In the begining he needed to keep in focus actively, after some time it started to become natural,
He could maintain the same level of focus with less effort, and finally same focus for which he needed effort became natural and was always present.
Then he opens his eyes, and with the same focus, starts to see the world. Now Rudra was always in focus, until he chose not to. He will live in focus if he just wants to live in it.
But he shook his head slightly and came out of it. And looked at Ganesha, who was looking at him with pride in their eyes with approval in them.
And he gave a bow to Ganesha and said,
"Thank you, teacher, for this lesson. I will take it to heart."
Ganesha gives a nod and says,
"Now, well, we don't have enough time, so relax for the time being. We will continue from tomorrow from this point."
"Now, keep in mind Rudra, as I said, the Mantra I gave you is part of one whole, and when you will get lecture from other sibling, you must keep in mind the number and sequence they say and with that at end of today you will combine it and with same focus you had now will chant that mantra for at least 108 times at least today. After that, I or someone else will teach you how to do that too properly."
"Good?"
"Yes, lord, I will keep it in mind when I learn, and I will also use the combined mantra with a whole heart." Rudra gave a firm nod and replied with a steady heart.
"And always keep in mind the lesson you have learnt today,"
"The mind is not meant to be left wandering, Rudra… not because wandering is wrong, but because it forgets where it began."
He let the silence sit for a moment before continuing.
"If you let it run free, it will chase every ripple… every reflection… every passing shadow. And in the end, it will return with nothing but exhaustion."
His eyes moved briefly toward the pond.
"Restraint is not a chain you place upon the mind. It is the understanding that it does not need to go everywhere it can."
A pause.
Then, they said in a softer tone,
"Keep it where it serves you… not where it distracts you."
Rudra gave a firm nod.
Now sit down, your lesson for today ends here, and let us wait for Big Brother Karthikeya, for it is their turn to teach you next."
"Yes, Lord Ganesha."
And with this, Rudra's first lesson with his first teacher came to an end, and they, for the remaining time, chatted with each other until Karthikeya manifested.