Village 2 - Music Makers

He began...

My grandfather used to be the spiritual leader of this village. Each day, well before sunrise, he would call out to the people and to the heavens with his prayer. One such morning in the midst of prayer he heard music from the outskirts of the village. Quite horrified to hear music at such a holy hour, he immediately sent his assistants to put an end to such paganism.

None of the assistants came back - the music meanwhile continued.

After a long wait he himself decided to put an end to the activity. So, quite angrily, he strode towards the music. The closer he came, the more he realized that rather than his anger being responsible for his hurried strides, the exquisite beauty in the music drew him to itself. Finally when he got close enough to see the music makers, not only did his body lose the ability to move, his mind too completely stopped. He literally stood rooted to a spot for the duration of the recital.

The music cast a spell on him - he traveled inwards to subtle places he had read about only in the scriptures. He would often look back at that moment and dreamily acclaim, "I drank life to the fullest during that song".

The music makers, the great Guru Nanak and his companion Mardana lowered their heads bowing humbly when their concert finished. At the end of the recital, my grandfather and all the others present simply surrendered to the Guru prostrating themselves before him. This act though merely symbolized the moment each of them had first seen the Guru for in that instant they had lost themselves quite utterly to him.

The Guru graced this village for three days and three nights. The Guru's message simply invoked remembrance and service of the One Being which pervades each and every one of us.

The village became heaven-like. Generation of animosities vanished, broken families reunited, and shattered promises became fulfilled. The village prospered in plentiful abundance. To this day, we of the village observe those three unique days like others observe birthdays. Indeed those days gave birth to the village's inner life.

But, not long after the Guru's departure the village began returning to its normal numb existence. This greatly troubled my grandfather and others like him who had become the Guru and Guru's only. They tried very hard, through teaching and preaching, to keep the message of the Guru alive.

After all normal means failed they started a tradition which continues to this day.

Each villager keeps a diary. It is mandatory that each night before sleep, each person make an entry in the diary - simply tallying the amount of time during the day spent in remembrance of the One Being or in selfless service of another.

At the end of the person's life, the entries are accumulated and that, my dear traveler is the "years of life" entry you see on the tombstones. It is perhaps that which allows us to be free with our love - we are reminded each and every day what real life is. The time spent in the presence of awareness of One and in service is the only life we consider as been worthy of been called life.

~~~~~

A long silence ensued after the elderly man had finished his story.

After a while, I felt my eyes closing, my back straightened of its own accord, and I felt a musical sonata arise within me. It began like melodious bees buzzing in distance but soon swelled into symphony filling me within my entire being. My sinews seemed to vibrate as string struck by an unseen hand pouring forth the sweetest notes of longing and fulfillment, first high, then high and low, tenuous and crescendo-ing by turn. I thought I heard singing in a high fluting voice, a song without words. I listened closely. I could almost detect a single word in an unknown language being repeated again and again, incessantly. It created a kind of madness of intoxication in me so that I felt as though I might burst with it. A symphony swelled within me, its crescendo conducted from one end of the horizon fading into the other.

Listening to this music, my mind seemed to disappear. My thinking all but vanished.

I realized that I was not my thoughts!

Indeed I could "see" my thoughts appear outside of me. I could follow them or not. I decided that I could function quite well without them, so I paid no attention to the few thoughts which did arise until they drifted away into nothingness, leaving me to feel utterly still and perfectly content.

I enjoyed this feeling for a few moments until one thought captured my consciousness, "Is it possible to feel like this all the time?"

I opened up my eyes to ask about it. To my great astonishment everyone had gone. Hovering low above the horizon, the sun slowly disappeared leaving me in twilight as the moon began to rise. What seemed like mere moments had actually been hours!

Someone had put a blanket around me. I discovered apples and water in front of me. I took a bite from an apple and chewed slowly while mulling over my musings.

l decided that my searching days were over, smiling at the thought.