SATYAN
-3. Voice Of God

Vasudev once again prostrated before the idol of Lord Krishna, tied the bundle of cloth and pushed it under the bed.  Relieved, he lied down on the bed and soon fell asleep.  He saw a dream that day which remained embedded in his memory throughout his lifetime.

In the dream, Vasudev found himself standing lonely in a dark place.  He neither had any idea as to how he got there nor knew of any route to come out of that place which was replete with darkness.  Just then a deep voice boomed past the sky, “O Vasudev, I am terribly annoyed at you!  You commit a theft and thank me for helping you to do it successfully?  What a shame!  I am deeply hurt! I cannot tolerate this anymore! Remember, O Vasudev!  I always side with those who are righteous, honest and do noble deeds in their life.  I no longer desire to be with you.  Therefore, I have decided to go away from you, Vasudev.  Of course, this means that I am taking your idol of Lord Krishna with me!  I shall come back to you only when you learn to be honest and devote your life for other’s happiness and well being.  I am going away from you, Vasudev.  I am going away!” 

Even as the heavenly voice slowly subsided, Vasudev woke up with a start from his sleep.  He, at once, looked in the direction where the idol of Krishna was placed and to his utter amazement found that it was not there!  Alarmed, Vasudev made a frantic search for the idol in his small house but to no avail.  It was nowhere to be found!  Distraught with grief, Vasudev sat on the bed and covered his face with his hands.  He had always considered that idol to be good luck for him.  And now the fact that it had deserted him due to his own folly made him feel miserable.  When God, whom he had thought had helped him in amassing all this wealth, had himself turned his face away from him what use was all this loot which he had gained by way of theft?  All his happiness and excitement drained out and he was filled with remorse for his wrongdoing.  He got up from his bed with a glum face and moved to the place where the idol of Krishna once stood in a small opening on the wall.  Vasudev had a reminiscence of his dream.  God had exhorted him to lead a life of righteousness and honesty and live for the sake of others if he wanted to seek him.  Vasudev kept his hands on the basement of the opening in the wall and took an oath, “You have opened up my eyes, O Lord.  Henceforth I promise to walk in the path that you have shown me.  You are now feeling ashamed of my activities.  One day you will be proud of me, my lord.  From today onwards I have only one motive in mind – which is to appease you.” 

Vasudev removed the bundle of cloth, which was under the bed and walked off to Dyanchand’s house.  As he reached his destination, Vasudev found some men on horseback waiting outside.  In a few moments, King Bharadwaj himself emerged from the house alongwith Dyanchand and a lady.  The King seemed to speak some words of comfort to the merchant.  Vasudev approached them and introduced himself.  Thereafter, he explained the purpose of his visit, “I have come here to tell you all about yesterday’s theft.” 

“What!”  The merchant exclaimed. 

The King and the lady too looked amazed.  Bharadwaj led Vasudev inside the house and queried, “What do you know about the theft?” 

“I know everything, Maharaj.”   Vasudev replied.

He, thereby, put the bundle down and opened it.  At that time, the man whom Vasudev had assumed to be the servant of the merchant, entered in.  All of them were shocked to see what the bundle contained. 

“My God!  These are my belongings.  How did you get them?”  the merchant asked Vasudev.

“I’ll explain, sire.”  Thereby, Vasudev apprised them of how his friends had instigated in him the desire to join them in robbery.  Also, he disclosed the fact that he was keeping an eye on the merchant’s house for the past couple of days. 

“…Yesterday after you put off the lights I did not leave immediately as I had done the other day.  I continued to sit under the tree enjoying the serene atmosphere around.  After some time had passed by, I found the door of your house was slowly opening.  As I intently watched what was happening, I saw someone coming out carrying this bundle.  From the light that was around the place I could make out who it was.  It was this man -the servant – and he seemed to be in great hurry!  I was surprised as to where was he heading to in this darkness with that bundle of cloth.  The manner in which he was moving along raised my suspicions and when I found that no one from your house came forward to close the door that was left slightly opened, I guessed that something was amiss.  In my curiosity, I followed him and he seemed to recognise this as he started running.  I was now certain that he had done something that my friends and I were planning to do!  The streets wore a deserted look and I did not find much difficulty closing in on him.  Soon, we reached such a street, which had no lights and was pit dark all around.  It was there that he had a fatal fall and the bundle of cloth was flunged over on the ground.  I couldn’t make out the reason for his fall in that darkness.  But more than that I was eager to find out what was inside that bundle.  It seemed that he had hurt himself badly, as he was unable to get up from the ground.  He saw that someone had got hold of his bundle and tried to scare me off with some threats.  However, nothing deterred me from opening the bundle and what I found inside baffled me!  My suspicions were proved true!  I quickly tied the bundle and took off with the loot.  After I reached my home, I looked at the wealth again and again not able to believe my luck.  I had managed to lay my hands on your wealth without committing any theft and also without the knowledge of my friends.  However, I was concerned of how my friends would react after they learnt about this heist…..”

(To Continue)