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| Barefoot |
Today, though, the crowds who came to watch and sometimes participate in his artistry would be a problem. It was time to move. The dream had been clear: Lord Krishna was instructing him to go away from his camp and onto the untrodden paths. He had taken refuge and commenced his daily work under this tree, far away from his family home, for long enough. He had acquired moderate fame for his devotion to Lord Krishna, that he displayed twice daily when he poetically crafted and sang his holy songs. The fame was not what Soordas sought, however. He had two aims: to sing the most beautiful song to Krishna that Krishna had ever heard, and to be granted an audience with Krishna. And last night, finally and unusually, Krishna came to him in a clear, bright, and was he remembering correctly.... damp dream? He couldn't shake that feeling of sogginess that overwhelmed him in the dream.
He readied himself to move, rising from his sleep in the third watch of the night, alongside the morning birds who began their earliest callings. He gathered his two belongings, his one copper bowl that he used for drinking, eating, and bathing with, and his ektara, his instrument that helped him sing his devotion. He rose, and slowly, slowly, began to make his way out and away from the tree. Back straight, head up, feet shuffling, he started out to find the path where no one else would be.
After stubbing his toes quite a few times, many scrapes on his arms from low-hanging and wayward branches, and a few days' worth of accumulated sunburn, Soordas had finally made his way into a forest. He felt a path beneath his feet and the cool shade of the trees had been a welcome relief. After two days journeying into the forest, he could feel himself getting parched. The Krishna devotees had not discovered him yet, to his satisfaction, but he missed them now, as usually he could ask them for a bowl of water to quench his thirst. No help would find him here, in this lonely and deserted forest. He had been careful to sing very quietly as he walked, so that no villagers working in the fields would hear his songs and abandon their work to join him in praise of Lord Krishna. No, he had managed to solitarily escape away from humanity, with their distractions, and awkward noises, and questions, and gasps when a particular line of a song was too beautiful. Despite the hunger and the thirst, Soordas was glad, for he could focus on his adorations to Krishna without any hindrances in his way.
He shuffled forward, contemplating the dream Krishna had granted him, confident that he would find his Lord soon enough. The dream had been vivid, bright, and full of light. Perhaps he would find the location on the other side of this dark, heavily shaded forest. Suddenly, he stubbed his toe... no, his whole foot! He had jammed his whole right foot into something very hard, vertical, and quite stone-like. Soordas lurched forward, his momentum thrown off. He had expected to find the ground soon enough, his hands outstretched before him, but instead, he kept tumbling, tumbling, tumbling down.... splash! The blind bard had managed to fall right into the depths of the well, the fool! Alone, in a deserted forest with no passersby to hear him, he would surely die in here. The blindness he had been born with would be the very thing that brought him directly to the end of his life, what a disgrace, he thought. After everything he had overcome despite this failure his physical form brought him, alas, his lack of sight would be the ultimate failure to him. It would bring him death before he could meet his Lord Krishna. The dream had been clear: Krishna would come to him in a bright place, not in the darkness.
So he began to sing, welcoming Krishna to take him to his next life as speedily as Krishna could. If not Krishna, then Yama. Let the god of death bring him a swift end, for he did not want to contemplate how long he might be in this dreadful well. No, it was better to focus his last devotional songs on Krishna, thought Soordas. At least he might attain one of his life's aims, to sing the most beautiful song to Krishna that Krishna had ever heard. And so he sang, and he sang, and he sang. Day and night and day and night and day and night for seven long days, wondering when his body would fail him and he could pass from this life onto the next. But this was not to be Soordas' end...
~
Author's Note: Soordas was a blind bard who achieved lots of fame in India, as an almost saint-like figure, for crafting holy songs to Lord Krishna in the 15th Century. His name means "Servant of the Melody" or "Slave of Song," and he is said to have written a hundred thousand songs of devotion. Especially famous is his magnum opus, the 'Sur Sagar' or 'Ocean of Melody.' His devotion to Krishna was renowned particularly because he was blind. A few miracles surround the story of his life, one of which was only briefly mentioned in the Amar Chitra Katha comic book Soordas: The Blind Bard where I read about him. He fell into a well, early in his career of devotional singing to Krishna, and a week later Krishna rescued him out of the well. He continued singing and creating his devotional songs, seeking to again find Krishna any way that he could. I wanted to surprise the reader with the fact that Soordas was actually blind, so I tried to keep it hidden while highlighting other sensory inputs throughout the story. I also found it interesting that Krishna implored him to move away from the safety of where he had set up camp under a tree and to go seek him in untrodden areas... Wouldn't that be difficult for a blind person all alone without any aide? I attempted to allude to that question with my story as well.
The Reading Notes I created for this ACK (volume 613) on Soordas can be found here.
The Reading Notes I created for this ACK (volume 613) on Soordas can be found here.
