It was 1989, when we were still young. kR^iShNa shUdra noticed the violent sphigshiras approaching us and panicked. He believed that we might have hatched a plot that dashed his chances of snaring the eye-freezing kamala-nayanA champakanAsA. Hence, he sought his revenge. We rapidly took to our “gardabha-s” and fled from the scene. We then applied ourselves to the powerful feral brAhmaNa shANDilya to assemble forces for a defensive operation. A show of arms occurred on the foothills of the vAnara-parvata and our pakSha emerged victorious. Flushed with the joy of victory we went to wander in the expanses of the vAnara-parvata and viShTa-parvata beside it. While descending from the stinky mala-parvata, our eyes fell upon ArjavakeshI mArjAranetrI whose tale we have alluded to early in the history of these pages. My companions were transfixed; I was intrigued. They moved towards her to make conversation – each taking their chance as a Mongol horseman aiming at a distant mark on the horizon. But that day it seemed there were no Khasars amongst them. We stood in a neutral state, observing the strictures of dharma. Just then a stately ratha arrived and was parked in the shade of the tree. From it emerged she who was like the bahu-chitraka-matsya on the banner of ana~Nga swimming in the midst of latAmaNI-pravAla in the dakShiNAmbodhi. Even we were forced to utter: “eshA rolamba-bindu-jAla loma-jAlam anurAgAkAro nishAkaro vijita kamalam mukhaM; kAmadvajAyamAno matsyo bhAryAyuto.askShi-yugalaM; sakala-senAbala vIro pashchimAmbodhi-pavano niHshvAsaH pathika hR^id-bheda karavAlaH pravAlash-chAdhara vAgdalaM|”
Turning to ArjavakeshI she said some weighty words. Neither ArjavakeshI nor most of our companions were able to understand much of what she said. But our companions’ manliness was aroused and tried to claim some understanding of her words. We understood her profound words and wanted to say something to her but she was hardly impressed with our band and asking ArjavakeshI to get into her ratha departed, leaving us all thunderstruck. Then the shUdra golashiras and the feral brAhmaNa shANDilya turning to us said that life had lost its meaning to them. Looking at their faces I thought they were ready to perform the purashcharaNa of skR^ik Chindi all the way to its conclusion if I had only given it to them. I thought myself to be an achala, but even I was drawn like a star towards a black hole. Then the skirmishes of the western hall took place and I caught another glimpse of that lIlAvatI-kula-chUDAmaNI and was in the state of a bear gazing at large bee-hive atop an enormous rain tree. But performing our yoga and reining in our senses we moved on to savor the dIpAvalI vacations.
Our diligent companions engaged in guzzling the enormous texts of the curriculum in expectation of the great struggle on the field of dvAdashAnta. But we entirely lacked their proclivities, instead engaging in activities that to them seemed bordering on the insane – making balls of out the gum of the rain tree pods and playing with fireworks as befitted the season. It was during one such session that jyeShThadanta hrasvaroman came to our regions on his new ashva and gave us a fire cracker box. It was different from all others I had seen and contained a few crackers of the micro-lakShmI type. I tied the wicks of all the crackers in the box together and set off an ear-splitting fulmination, which impressed even the maharaTTa high-explosives masters who reigned in our habituation. As the kolAhala from the pyrotechnics settled down, my attention turned to the cracker box again. I took it and examined it carefully and was transfixed by it. I realized that it contained the secret to mahAsukha, the cushion which saved yayAti in his fall. We placed it in the balcony and waited for the fumes of dIpAvalI that polluted the air to clear and let in the light from the quivering kR^ittikA-s adorning the eastern welkin. On the first clear night we observed lambda Tauri and tired from the exertions at our 4 inch reflector we settled for some rest. Our eyes fell upon the cracker-box – being brazenly superstitious we knew we had received a signal. We made it the object of our dhyAna and invoked the glorious yakShinI abhi-hR^iShTi in it. After intense sAdhana the form on its cover came alive and the bewitching abhihR^iShTi came forth to us and in voice putting the lyrebird to shame told us to proceed on our ashva in a circuit between vAnara-parvata and the hill of chaNDikA. She told us that we would first encounter a terrifying DAvI and then after having transcended her we would encounter that one who delights. Following abhihR^iShTi’s instructions we arrived at the lane where manAbhiruchitA lived. She was surrounded by several others. Some them recognized me and asked what we had done the previous day. We answered them in earnest. Most were amused with a sense of Schadenfreude; lambashiras was alarmed, but with her there was a resonance. She came over to our pakSha. With that being achieved she suggested that we should perform that experiment we had long thought about but never performed. What we did is part of the story named “reanimation of the corpse of the great Joseph von Fraunhofer”.
mAnasa-taraMgiNI 