Adrushya Guru: A Journey Within

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: 1 (800) 839-8640

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

© 2017 ABC.XYZ. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/27/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0590-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0589-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0588-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017913164

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Preface

– Muladhara – (The Conversation)

– Svadhishthana – (The Liberation)

– Manipura – (The Fire Of Wisdom)

– Anahata – (The Unbeaten Voyage)

– Bindu – The Joan Of Ark

– Vishuddha – (The Passengers)

– Aagya – (The Final Command)

– Sahasrara – (The Selfless Purity)

– Nirvikalpa Samadhi – (The Dissolution)

Preface

When I began to write Adrushya Guru, the original plot I had in mind was for it to be crime fiction; it didn’t even have this title at that point! However, as the story progressed, Joan – the lead character dragged me towards her inner quest – my Adrushya Guru. As soon as I took that leap of faith into that unknown, the plot course unfolded itself and I became a mere witness and typist of all that was being channeled through me, and the voices I was hearing. I felt torn apart in different aspects and started asking the questions to which I had always wanted the answers.

The vague readings in childhood; arguments with my Muslim friends; the experience of lighting my own father’s funeral pyre; a torn old book bought from a junk-dealer; and even my migration to Toronto……. nothing proved to be coincidental; everything was perfectly timed and stacked like book pages in my deep subconscious, only to emerge in the plot.

This all started, may be a few years ago or may be a few births ago, or perhaps it was triggered after reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. What a wonderful experience that was for me!! I had just broken up with my first love, with no proper job or even bread in my hands, I was very much in a suicidal state. There was absolutely nothing worth living for in my life. In such depth of despair, one of my Gurus, and friend, Arpan gave me ‘The Alchemist’ and it hit me right where it mattered – in the quest for my destiny, right from the first page!

The company of my true friends: Yogi, Daya, Subbu and Santiago not only helped me to stop thinking about ending my life, but also kindled the hope of life beyond where I was. This power of thinking triggered different queries in my mind of: Why do we come into this world? What is the purpose of achieving our destiny? Why should we even have a destiny? What did Santiago do after he got his treasure; did he cease to breathe or did the world collapsed for him? Who was The Alchemist? What is life? What is death?

My curiosity dragged me back to my childhood, when I used to hear the frequent mention of the Journey of Adrushya Guru. My Father, the reason for my meaningful existence in this world, always used to talk about the mysterious Adrushya Guru. This mystery always remained at the back of my mind, waiting for the right time and the right situation to reveal itself. Finally, it reached a boiling point in my life, when I discovered that everything in this mortal world is constrained by time and I have very limited time to explore it. The rest of all my experience is my Adrushya Guru – The Invisible but omnipotent part of me, available for you to discover.

I am sure many of you will find some answers to questions of your own and the journey, itself, as your own. I am as confident as my Adrushya Guru is, that you will have a purposeful experience while delving in this quest of life.

I would like to dedicate this book to my parents Suman, Surendra Kumar Choubey – My Real Gurus.

Special regards to my wife Preeti and two cute daughters: Jigmisha and Tara. And, a heartfelt thanks to Shamanthy, Joyce, Vaibhav, Sanjay and Fariha for their role at various points in this journey of materializing my real dream.

– MULADHARA –

(THE CONVERSATION)

An Aghori (who performs occult rituals on dead bodies) priest, clad in a dirty and ripped yellow towel with bare top, disheveled gray beard and long black hair, is reciting a couplet of the famous mediaeval mystic poet; Kabir Das.

"Bura Jo Dekhan Mai Chala,

(When I tried to search for the evil)

Bura Na Milya Koi,

(I met not a single one)

Jo Mai dekhan Aapnu,

(But, when I looked within myself)

Mujhse Bura Na Koi"

(I found no one worse than me)

He pauses to take a large puff of Ganja – traditional marijuana consumed by mendicants to concentrate on their conversations with God, before explaining the meaning of the phrase he just recited to his audience.

The sound of cracking wood coming from the large fire pit, mixed with the hissing of the wind is deafening at that moment.

I tried my utter best to find evil in this world, but couldn’t find any until…………..I looked at myself! He elaborates. I find so many qualities in others that can make me even better traveler in the quest of my life; but alas! This one bad quality in me is holding me from exploring my true self, its making me the most horrible person instead. Do you know what that is? The dozing audiences just shake their head negatively in silence to seek the answer.

"It’s lack of open and receptive mind to find evil within instead of in others.

We are always so engrossed in proving ourselves superior to others that we miss the opportunity to rise ourselves towards absolute perfection. We are good wherever we are; it is the sense of being comfortable; and this status-quo hardly matters when it comes to the question of attaining perfection. What matters to us are: our deficiencies, the evil within, and above all, the intention to look at all those ills in order to pull them out from their roots and become even better human; and as we do so, we start inching closer to perfection," he is warming his hands while gauging audience’s interest in his explanation.

Take the example of money; it has no value unless it is used to evaluate something else. We never ever feel that we have sufficient money. Even the richest people in this world persistently work to be wealthier, don’t they? He continues without stopping for an answer from his audience this time. "They understand that, whatever they have is already there. There is no point in boasting about it; they must persevere to work on earning what is not there.

Interestingly, we do not have the same attitude when it comes to working on the good qualities – necessary to make us a better human being. As soon as we find some good within ourselves, we start boasting about it, we start exploiting it. We become arrogant until the good itself diminishes! We hardly try to leverage those qualities to become even better. Rather, we just sit on them and compare with others. We indulge in self-praise instead of self-preening.

Why don’t we follow same logic to be good as we do to be wealthy? Ultimately, both provide us to have some form of abundance, don’t they? Why don’t we follow nature’s law to be perfect? Why do we go through the meaningless pain of living and dying; just to get burnt in the fire and disappear from this world?"

Although he is speaking to his audience, his complete focus remains on adjusting the wood in the fire, as if he is speaking to someone in fire pit. Again, he pauses to take a shot at the shared marijuana pot before continuing his lecture.

"We are in a big ‘if-then-else’ logic. If we decide to do something, we open another loop of ‘if-else’ logic where success and alternate success lie for us to choose.

Yes, it is ‘alternate success’; the one we deserve. Success is what we want. If we succeed, it means we got what we were looking for and we are qualified for it; if not then we get what we deserve. There is nothing called failure. And, this is where we need to start working to be eligible so we deservedly get what we want."

ADRUSHYA GURU says: This is ‘The Law of Return’, so start working on what you are destined for in this life. Once you make yourself eligible, the goal automatically falls in place. This whole world and our fate follow The Law of Physics.

He notices an ignorant couple standing in the corner. The girl, an African-American, clad in an Indian sari, is trying to listen to his speech, whereas the man is staring at her and trying to touch her on undesired places.

Come over here and join us, its cold out there. And don’t worry; we Aghoris don’t eat live corpses! The Priest jokes while making some space for the couple. Others in the group, who have already forgotten the topic of discussion, giggle and make space for the couple. Everybody seems to be interested in the woman now.

Both of them take the empty space in the huddle. A dog, tailing the girl sits in front of the girl like an obedient pet.

The Priest resumes his speech. "As you persistently make decisions in your life, nature assesses you for your readiness to move to next level. If you pass, it opens the next path to follow, and if you don’t, it presents you with an alternate and longer path to get ready; before the next crossroad arrives. The time to return to the ultimate goal and the path to traverse the distance depends on two things: your commitment to achieve and your eligibility to bear the burden of the achievement.

However, according to my Adrushya Guru, the worst happens when you don’t decide; you don’t break the stigma; you just remain in a cocoon, dwindling with nature. You look for comfort rather than hardship to rise. This infuriates our Supreme Mother. This attitude results in sudden death, diseases, droughts, and floods and any other way she can show her anger! Because, Mother Nature never remains constant, neither does she want others to be. Every day, every second is a new moment, then why should you be incompatible while repeating stagnated actions and thoughts?"

It has been ages since the girl heard someone speaking English. She had hardly spoken to anybody since she was dumped in this unknown world of predators.

Some of the audiences leave the meeting at first opportunity after sensing the dog’s presence. Their swift departure hints at the fear of the unknown within their minds. The strange lust felt due to the presence of a girl at a midnight congregation fire has been overtaken by the even stranger fear of death due to the mere presence of a canine.

The girl is feeling otherwise because of the presence of the Priest. Even in the dark and with her partial blindness, she can appreciate his gaunt face, thanks to the flames oozing out of the fire pit. His amber eyes are intense but distant.

Welcome to Banaras, Miss! So, what brings you here: A Crime, Commitment or Karma? Asks the priest while grooming his dirty beard with his hands, he has changed the topic of discussion once again to enquire with an alien black girl. Her appearance is totally out of space and out of time for the city like Banaras. Her pet, a husky dog with two color eyes is adding to the confusion here. The dog is howling like a wolf while looking at the strange bonfires on the bank of the river Ganges.

Her name is B-Cube. I am sure you would’ve heard about her, boastingly interrupts the man with the girl. Even in the farthest of comparisons, this companion does not look anything like a tourist friend of the girl. They are in the business instead.

A (beautiful) black American girl dressed like an Indian woman, coupled with an average (looking) Indian boy who is more interested in her body than a relationship. A strange dog who is more interested in protecting the girl, sitting around the huge fire pit at the famous bank of river Ganges in Banaras, India – a city ancient to history – the center of universe as per Indian mythology, listening to an Aghori – the companion of the dead. What a sight to behold!

Every person in the circle peaks around in amazement to have a closer look at the strange and mystical woman with a familiar name.

The companion counters the Priest sarcastically. Who are you to ask such questions? Are you a police officer? Is this the way you speak to your guests?

You have the eyesight no one else has; your ears can ‘see’ the things that no one can hear, the Priest talks straight to the girl while ignoring her companion. His cryptic language explains the fact that the girl is partially blind but well trained to use her hearing power to judge what lies ahead.

Priest’s eyes are red as if he hadn’t slept for ages. His yellowish teeth are shining in the flames as those try to reach the sky.

The fire pit at the center is unusually big to keep few people warm. There are other similar fires burning around this congregation, but with no one around. It’s also a bit smelling like flash burning in it. A very strange backdrop is prevailing in the middle of the night on the riverbank of Ganga.

The dog continues to howl until the Priest rises from his seat and pulls a peculiar red-hot bowl-shaped object out of the flames, dips it into the water stream and then puts the steaming white object in front of the dog. The strange object is actually broken top of human skull and the big fire pit is nothing but a funeral pyre! The riverbank is nothing but the famous cremation ground of Banaras!

The dog gets busy with the skull. Her tongue is licking the warm salty ashes on the skull. The vapor emanating from the eyeholes is resulting in an enigmatic sight. The playful dog and her game are enough to frighten some more audiences.

Who was behind those eyes?

What was the purpose of his or her life?

Was he or she here just to be burnt one day, so that a strange dog can come and lick his or her skull? Is this all we yearn for in our lives? These are some of the questions storming in almost everybody’s mind as they sit around the pyre intensely watching the dog.

The Priest understands the curiosity in his audience’s mind. "Should you let your Adrushya Guru ask questions? Do not stop him or yourself, don’t be afraid of him. He asks questions before he starts answering them. Adrushya Guru must know that you do not have answers to everything, and then only is he going to answer for you.

He is right there in front of you, because, all of you have been at that miraculous moment when nothing else mattered. That moment was nothing but your birth, when Adrushya Guru inspired you to open your eyes and breathe air."

He pauses to pour some honey on top of the skull. The honey spreads all over the skull and mixes with the ash stuck to the skull.

The sweetness of honey lures the dog to lick the warm skull even more rigorously. The audience can clearly hear the slurps of dog. Their expressions change as the taste of the ash. The priest laughs at this sudden change in perception of his audience.

"We all think like a beast. Look at yourselves; earlier you were thinking about the morbidity of being mortal, and then turning into ashes, but now, we are more curious that how it tastes to have honey mixed with human ash!

This is where we actually convert from psyche to materialism.

Your Adrushya Guru appeared in front of you, made all of you blank when you faced the only inevitable fact of this world – Truth of Death. If you start living with this fact, it will let you live to the fullest, but if you try to run away from it, thinking you can get away, it will catch you at its own time. Death is nothing but the only truth in this world. Subsequently, he dragged you back in to materialism by playing with my and the dog’s mind: How is the honey, is it sweet? How does it taste with salt? You have been slung from the moment of truth to another world of taste at the blink of an eye."

You need to cross roads carefully mister, he again abruptly stops his discussion to address the girl’s companion.

Haha, you Aghori, just pray and smoke, that’s what suites you cannibals; chant the mantras but please don’t speak philosophy. You people living with the dead cannot teach living beings about the life, the person laughs off his own statement while fearfully avoiding the straight glare from the Priest.

Vinash Kale Vipareet Buddhi, now the Priest responds with a phrase in Sanskrit.

What does that mean? The black girl breaks the silence and drags people’s attention away from the approaching procession.

That means nothing! This Aghori is a gone case, interrupts the man hurriedly.

A long silence settles amongst the audience. A funeral procession is approaching from the distance led by monotonous drumbeats played