Chapter Eight: Kutti's Spectacular Initiation
Just a minute or two, please. My taxi has already reached the place in Madhupradesh from where I need to set out on the main stage of my Patal journey. Here's a monastery in this place and the head monk is one of my close friends. I've decided to spend a day with him with a view to being well apprised of a few things that, I think, will be of great help to me later on during this adventure of a lifetime. Now I'm ambling along and looking for a park-like place. Thank God I get to see one at hand. Let me sit here for the time required to finish the rest of the magical life story of Kutti Prabhu, alias Mag B. Then I'll again make for the monastery.
Well, then Kutti politely asked, 'How did you know my name, sir?' This time the man couldn't resist himself and exploded with a ear-splitting, heart-rending boisterous laughter that lasted for a whole minute. Kutti began to tremble but he was held tightly by Nilli in a friendly way. After that, the man told Kutti in an authoritative tone, 'I know everything about you, your past, present, and future. I've known you since the time before your birth, when you were only a premature baby. I used to practise black magic in those days. And, unfortunately, it was I who installed the blue grace ball of Jadushwar, the undisputed god of all magic, in your body while you were being brought up in the womb of your mother. She was a good girl but so timid and silly that she got very scared at my sight that night. Luckily, she adequately opened her mouth while screaming. And I didn't make any mistake in putting the magic ball right inside. That's the thing that has brought you here and that will bring you there and everywhere in the world, and below, and beyond. It was predestined that I would be your Jaduguru. Now bow down before me first and then be blessed with the holy darshan of Jadushwar Himself.'
Thoroughly enthralled and enchanted, Kutti sat at the feet of Masterji and paid tearful obeisance by heroically declaring, 'I'm all yours from today. I'll be at your service all my life like a trained dog--no matter whatever befalls me. Now I beg to be taught the most dangerous magic skills by which I will be able to reign all the three worlds and enjoy worldly pleasure to my heart's content.'
'I can't guarantee that--it depends on your own capabilities and cognizance. Having said that, I can assure you'll get a million times more than an ordinary human can most wildly desire. But beware--since they are physical things, they're subject to the change and challenge of Nature.'
'Are there no exceptions, Masterji? Can't I keep them for ever?'
'Certainly! Definitely! Absolutely! There IS a way if you know the law of conversion. This is the art of converting the physical into the spiritual. But for this all, you need to uphold a high principle. And that is--"the bigger the smaller". Do you understand what I really want to mean by that?'
'I'm sorry, Masterji, I don't at all.'
'Well, that means the bigger you would become in fame, the smaller you should make yourself in claim; that is try to be more and more humble with the increase of your fame or popularity. That's one place where one can seldom resist temptations of vain pride. Even I myself have failed quite a few times and are failing every now and then. I'm telling you what happens when somebody makes an impossible thing possible by means of magic. Well, their eyes of judgement are blinded by the flash of their achievement and they start feeling themselves a supreme power or authority, thus forgetting the truest fact that the secret of their success is the blessing or favour of the God of magic. He is the Almighty; we are only His favourite mediums. If you can stick to the this principle and practise humility non-stop, one day you'll end up being at one with the cosmic ego, which is omnipotent. Now it's your sincerity and perseverance. Anyway, Nilli! Open the gate of the shrine ceremoniously. The time is all ripe--I'll initiate Kutti right at once before our Lord into the world of magicians.'
First Nilli took Kutti by the hand and softly asked him, 'Sit, Kutti, on the floor right here with your eyes closed. The moment you hear a crash of thunder, open your eyes to have the sacred darshan of our God.'
An elegantly thin 12-year-old boy with a shining dark complexion and long curly hair, Kutti Prabhu got into a sublime sitting posture with his round eyes held forcefully closed and his thick resolute lips held tight together.
Suddenly, there was a crash of thunder that struck terror into his juvenile heart, but he somehow succeeded in holding his nerve and slowly opened his eyes amidst the passionate recitation of unheard-of mantras. His amazement knew no bounds when he came to see the same scene as he had witnessed in the temple in the evening the previous day: the same blue god standing on the altar, the same pujaries performing rituals, and the same devotees sitting in prayer. This time he focussed more on the metal image of the god than the surroundings. His was an unusually handsome body with a most pretty face and a crowned head. He was riding on a blind ass and holding a magic stick in one hand and an egg-like ball in the other. (Dear readers, one could have easily made the mistake of taking the ball for an egg in the same way as I made, while describing Mag B's soldiers in the Bengal village.) He had a beatific smile on his face but his eyes were expressive of childlike naughtiness.
Then there appeared Masterji with a wooden water pot in his hand and, chanting secret mantras in a low voice, sprinkled some magic water on his new pupil. Next he pulled out a badge from somewhere in the air and put it around Kutti's neck. Following this, he began to shake both his hands in beautiful patterns over Kutti's head as a peculiar gesture. Then, abruptly, came to a halt and, lowering his mouth, uttered a clandestine mantra in Kutti's ear. And Kutti started violently shivering all over, to the chorus of conches blowing all around.
(TO BE CONTINUED)