TOGETHER THEY MADE A MOMENTOUS SIGHT.

TOGETHER THEY MADE A MOMENTOUS SIGHT.


They started meeting everyday. Each meeting was a greater mix of the surreal waking which remained dreamy. But Sati had stopped wondering if the dream had indeed come true.
She liked this dreamality. And so another year passed in Bliss.
One day, she told Shiva” when are we going to wed?”
“whenever you wish” He replied, “Today?”
“haha not today my Lord” Sati laughed, ” you must ask my Father to give me away as bride to you, and then he would be arranging the most fabulous celebrations , which is his style , and His prerogative”
“Yes. Fabulous celebration of your marriage, is His prerogative, also”
Shiva smiled. ”I will ask Him for your hand very soon”
He went the very next day. Unlike all the others, Shiva did not ever wait for a different phase of the moon to signal him his beginnings. He went by his own instinct and emotion, and this time it was overwhelming. It was a crisp morning, and Shiva was feeling good. He readied Nandi for a ride to Daksha’s palace. Nandi Himself, was in a hurry and charged in true bull fashion to their collective destiny. Together they made a momentous sight, the rider and ridden duo. Raising merry dust with their hooves , every moment relegated to the past. It was like the perfect symbolism of the ride of Time itself, as they rushed forwards to embrace the future.
And soon they reached the outskirts of Daksha’s kingdom. Nandi’s furious run was still heavy with the vigour of purpose, still robust with virility of expectation. Women plowing their rice fields looked up to see this unstoppable creature heralding His master just past their midst. They were here a moment, and off the fields in the next. But the impression would be a life lasting one: The farmer women knew it was not just a rider that was being heralded, but a whole new time itself had arrived.


{An excerpt from the forthcoming book SHIVA from Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.}