The Dark Night

It was a dreadful night, as the sound of lightning overpowered everything around. The whistling wind kept on blowing and the incessant rain increased its pace as I was walking on the pavement. My uneasy mind couldn’t just rest until I reached home; desperately trying hard to keep myself away from getting wet by the downpour. I was also trying my best to keep my umbrella, straight over my head. I walked as fast as I could. Camouflaged by the darkness of the night, the leaves took different shapes which were accompanied by the whistling sound of the wind that tuned with the rattling leaves.  To add to all the trouble just then a lightning struck, and all the street lights went off, with a loud bang.

Paying no attention to the calamity, I took the keys out of my bag as I reach the apartment where I lived and to the front door of my flat which was on the second floor of the apartment. I somehow managed to open it in the dark. As I entered my home, I was already half drenched despite having an umbrella.  The entire neighbourhood was covered in darkness, as the wires on the street, were disrupted by the falling branches of the trees.

I desperately tried to look for a candle. I was looking for them at all possible places of my two bedroom apartment. But it was nowhere to be found, though it usually lies somewhere around, yet when you need them, they vanish in thin air. That’s the way with candles-matchbox, pens and their caps or even for a pair of socks; when you find one pair the other is never there. But now I was looking for the candle with the candle stand and match box too. I tried to look for them, with my blind hand trying to distinguish every table, every cupboard and could finally discover them in the corner of the kitchen rack.  Feeling relieved,

I lit the candle with a match stick which was there near the stand thankfully.  As soon as I lit the candle and went to the hall room and placed them on the centre table, to my astonishment

What do I see?…..

A shadow

Yes! A shadow appeared before me out of nowhere; a spooky figure which brought an eerie air all around.

It was a tall shadow which looked like the figure of a person.  But there was no mass, no solid structure, just a translucent appearance of a dark shape. And soon from another corner, another shape appeared and stood side by side.

I was a tough kind of a soul for a girl, who wasn’t easily moved by silly stuffs like the sound of a lightening or darkness; I was never scared by the stupid tales of ghost and Dracula, even during childhood days. My sibling or my cousins could never scare me by those childish pranks.

But this was way too weird! Something which blew the wits out of me, I must say. I was shaken by the presence of this unwanted, uninvited guest in my home, my very living room.

As it stood before me, I froze and couldn’t move an inch.

My mind said, “Shout!  You idiot! Shout and call someone. Just pick up your damn phone and call somebody”. I tried to move or extend my hand, I even tried to yell, but I couldn’t. I simply couldn’t. My body became as stiff as a board, and my throat refused to escort. It simply sealed dry with a lump which stuck hanging on the passage, while my eyes were looking for my cell phone as it tried to run its gaze apart from the figure.

In the midst of all these stillness of my body and struggling mind the shadowy figure spoke. I couldn’t see a mouth or its lips moving, but I could hear words talking to me in my mind. It was a clear male voice that echoed.

‘Calm down! You do not need to be afraid of us. We are not here to harm you.

‘Hah!  As if he says and I believe. In this dark stormy night a shadowy figure is in my living room, talking to me and I should keep my cool?’ I said to myself in sarcasm.

The figure slowly took the shape of what looked like a person as the visibility of the figure appeared in its full form.  It was a tall crystalloid human-like figure and the other shadow also could be perceived by my cognitive perception. I could see a distinct male and a female figure, though their body structure was a blend between crystal and gel formation which was somewhat opaque. They had a sharp facial features and even hair on the head which was of the same crystallized matter, only glossier. I could make out that they were relatively quite young and well built. They both had a height which extended more than a foot higher than me, the female one being only an inch shorter than her male counterpart. I am of a medium height, while they were at least nine feet tall, almost touching the ceiling.

I gathered the courage and come what may I managed to

mumble few words and asked,

‘Gho.. Ghosts? No! I do not believe in such nonsense. Who are you people? Is this some kind of trick? And what are you doing in my house?’

Now my mind was working in normal suspicious mode as it inquired.

The shadowy figures which appeared before me as two distinct individuals though a little different, I mean a lot different, answered, talking to me again in my mind.

‘There are no tricks here’ he said.

 ‘Me and my sister here, we come from a clan of ancient souls. We have been living on earth and other dimension since long. This other dimension is not conceivable by ordinary mortals. In order to reach there we had to go through series of changes. But we had done a fault while performing our soul’s journey into higher level of self improvisation, for which we are now stuck.  Now we need souls with mortal body to help us. We’ve been watching you since long and finally decided to make ourselves visible. We need you to do certain ritual for us so that we can go back and strive for our higher stage’.

Hearing the words of the ancient man I snorted back, in loud voice,

‘What! You’ve been stalking me?’

Now feeling a serious threat to my privacy, as I was a spinster in her mid twenties living all by myself in this city based

apartment which I rented. I Karuna Goswami, 24 years old, medium height, sharp featured modern girl. I work as a researcher in Ancient Research and Technology centre, so I had to come in the city of Kolkata and live here, while my parents lived in our ancestral house few kilometres away from the city.

‘Why me? Why my house? And look here Mr. Half shadow half- man; I cannot perform any rites for you. Will you please leave my house?’

Then the man said, (this time in spoken words, as his lips moved like a human).

‘My name is Divakar and here is my sister Mukti, and let me tell you, none but you can perform these rites for us. You and your ancestor derive your lineage, from the same line as we were. But about a few centuries ago some of us have risen higher after many years of self discipline and spirituality enhancement. But the new generations of our lineage such as you and your father or grandfathers, some alive, some dead are still on the process of attaining higher spirituality, knowingly or unknowingly’.

I interrupted and said, ‘So you mean to say, you are my great great grandfather and your sister, my great grandmother? Do you think I am nuts? I have a normal family who lives and dies in normal way, and we do not turn into a freaking towering ghost in shadowy figure as both of you. Look at your height, and look at me. I look like a dwarf near you’. I yelled

He gave a gesture, which seemed like a kind of a smile and

looked at his sister who smiled back too, a gesture which made me feel more in a nut state of mind.

This time the female figure spoke. She had a very sweet melodious voice and her overall feature made her look very attractive. Both the voices of my supposed ghost relative had serine calmness in this candle-lit living room.

She said, ‘Dear, we both came to you for a purpose which shall be highly beneficial not just for us, but for the world and the humanity as a whole. The world is going through a phase of negative energy which is creating chaos both in the mortal minds and the universal regulation. We here, are trying to revive the positive vibe in the cosmos to balance the right order of things’

She continued, ‘Our height has increased and our health condition has improved rejuvenating us to more youthful state, due to the spiritual up liftmen of our soul. We want you and your brother to perform the ritual along with us to help maintain this balance. It is important that you and your twin brother do the ritual just as me and my twin brother Divakar shall show you’.

I said, ‘My brother? How do you know I have a brother?’ giving her a more suspicious look I asked.

She said, ‘We know that you have a twin brother who lives in US and is working in NASA as a scientist. We have approached him too. It is only pair of twin brothers and sisters who can perform this ritual. It was after a century you and your brother was born as a twin in this lineage. 

This family has some special features. Being a family of priests it has unintentionally handed down Vedic Mantras and yogic discipline as hereditary principle for generations which one automatically resulted in inheritance a certain spiritual strength of endurance. Just as the potter hands down his skill to his next generation, in your house it was the yogic and Vedic power which mechanically moulded both of you into its tread.’

‘But it is only both of you who inherited few special abilities and only both of you who can see us, because your Kundalini has been enhanced to a certain degree and your entire sensory perception is far better than others. We had visited your house during your birth, and blessed both of you for which a little symbolic mark of a triangle on yours and your brother’s forehead appeared which others in your family thought was a birth mark. We waited until you turned 24 years of age’, she continued.

I said, ‘It isn’t easy to shift from one thought to the other without solving the puzzles in the mind which questions each state. To abandon a thought and focus one self into a new and unbelievable set of thought is not an easy task. And until I can explain the vagueness in my mind I am not able to come in terms with what both of you are trying to make me comprehend’

I was actually desperately trying to fight between two different set of notions. The scientific school of thought of this world kept on banging my head with its scientific theories which says there is no proof to soul, while here I was seeing two distinct souls before my eyes, trying to make me see

another set of cognitive reason.

Hearing her I was even more confused now, more astonished, for every word was true about my brother and me, and yet hard to believe. I mean this does not happen to everyone. But I did realize that my sensory perception was indeed far better than others. I remember seeing things more distinctly from fairly far distance; I could even hear and smell better. About the yoga of course, what takes others years of practice in expensive yoga classes, we brother and sister learned it like we were made for it and also the fact that both I and my brother have the triangle sign on our forehead.

‘Yes, it is true that my twin brother lives in USA, and is a scientist there at NASA, but how could we help you? And even if I concur to your view, my brother won’t be able to come here, nor can I go there. Moreover even though I agree that my usual sensory perception is good enough, yet at times I cannot even find a damn candle. How do you figure out that I can help you perform rites that shall help spiritual enhancement? Don’t you think you are expecting a bit too much from me? ’ I said with lot of doubt over the whole issue.

Now the Divakar, my supposedly great great grandfather figure spoke,

 My dear your sense of sight is good, but you are at times little clumsy, and believe less on your powers. This mind of ours can believe in all sort of things that it is programmed to do.  The dimension of human sphere is much wider and can be enhanced to a higher degree and this is where we shall assist you. This world is full of illusions all around, and is never

perceived in its true light, because humans clog their mind with all unessential stuff that limits the true potential to a narrow set of beliefs. Humans also fear to come out of this comfort zone that they have created for themselves. It is their fear to break the set of beliefs that create the wall between this dimension and all the others.’

I interrupted again and asked, “All others? You mean to say there are several other dimensions?’

Divakar, nodded to affirm and said ‘There are multiple universes and so are the dimensions. You shall know much more as you enhance your powers. We shall help you develop these powers, so believe in us. Start preparing your mind for a definite change.  And oh, Yes! Your twin brother Karan shall be here soon.  Don’t you worry about that!’

There was conformity in his voice, which made me silent, though my mind asked,

‘How? And set of Hows continued asking, with no answer.

Next day I remember, my sleepy eyes opened to daylight and I could find myself lying on the living room couch, as the candle totally melted shape shifting into a semi solid mess on the stand. And there was no one in the living room around me.

Scratching my head I said, ‘Was it a dream?’  I looked at the clock and saw it was way past 8 a.m. I said to myself,

‘Damn! How could I be so late? I got to go to office. I must reach office in less than one hour. This freaking dream or

hallucination must have made me too tired to think straight and I fell asleep on the living room couch.  I shall take my bath, dress up and go’.

I got hold of the first dress that I saw on the cupboard. It was a black casual trouser and a pale blue color top, which I never liked. But In my rush, without thinking of any other option, I put them on. And though I was feeling very hungry, I had to skip the breakfast as I had no time left for it. I pushed an apple in my office bag to have it on my way and rushed out.

Thankfully, my office wasn’t too far, so I hurriedly managed to reach there, though a little late. I got busy with my usual work as soon as I set on my office chair, forgetting totally about the last light.

In the afternoon, a call came from my twin brother Karan. Seeing his call I picked up the phone with a smile, and as soon as I answered to his call, he said,

Hello, dear sis, how are you?

I said, ‘I am fine. How about you bro?’

‘I am fine too sis. You know what; I am coming to India very soon. I have taken a leave and shall visit you at Kolkata residence’ he said

I said, ‘What! But.. but you said you won’t be able to come until next year’. I said it with a stammer as I was totally surprised by this sudden news of his coming to India and visit me.

He said, ‘I know I said so earlier, but NASA has appointed me as one of the delegates to visit India on a specific scientific research program, where few other countries meet too; so we gather at Delhi, but I shall take a week leave to visit my family. I have something very important to talk to you. Something weird happened to me, I cannot talk to you over the phone. Okay, sis, I gotta rush, Bye’ Saying this he kept this phone.

After keeping the phone, I said to myself, ‘Could this be a coincidence? Was it really a hallucination? Or the last night’s episode was all true?’

‘Nah! Am I crazy? It’s just a damn coincidence. I must have seen too many ghost movies, and now all these are having an effect on me’.

Then a familiar calm voice said, ‘It’s no coincidence dear. We were there last night in your apartment, and we are here now.’

Startled by the deep voice I dropped the cup of coffee that I held on my hand, I looked back and there I see the two figures standing there, and now their crystallized human figure in daylight with sun rays beaming at them making them glaze.

Flabbergasted by their sudden appearance, I even spilled some of the coffee on the papers lying on the table.

I shouted, ‘What are you doing here in the office?’ The shout was a reflex reaction which involuntarily voiced out concern, before anyone in the office saw them as I wished them to vanish at the same time.

Maintaining their calm and composed trait, Divakar, my supposedly great great grandfather said together,

 ‘My dear you forgot that none but you can see or hear us, hence stop getting so paranoid by our presence here’

Just then Deepti, a colleague of mine entered my section of the office cabin. Called me and said

 ‘Hey Karuna, won’t you go to the canteen for lunch? Come along’. She called me as she usually does during lunch break. Her gesture revealed that she saw no unexpected guest or figure in my cabin.

I heaved a sigh of relief and said to her, ‘Yes dear, you go along and I shall join you soon’.

 I turned to Divakar and Mukti and they said, ‘Apply for a leave application for a fortnight, we shall perform the ritual then’

I told them, ‘Okay, I shall do so but for now please go; I shall see you in my house later, after the office’

After buying some groceries, I reached home by 7 pm. As I opened the door of my flat; I looked for my invisible guests. They were nowhere around, so I freshened up and cooked my meal.  I set on the dinner table to serve myself and switched on the TV. I watched the news for a while as I finished my dinner. Just then my invisible guests appeared again. This time, I was no more startled by their sudden emergence.

They said, ‘We shall teach you certain ‘mantras’ (Chants) for the ritual which you need to learn and pronounce exactly as we teach. The ritual and its intricacies are very important to learn until it is perfected. The Mantras should be pronounced correctly and there should be no error in maintaining the rhythm while chanting. The ritual shall be performed for three days until the full moon day’.

Just a week was left till then. I said to them, ‘Just a week? How can I learn so fast’

‘Don’t worry about it, You shall learn soon enough’ said Mukti

For a week I fully dedicated myself in chanting the mantras that they taught me. Each Mantra had to be recited in different yogic posture. I was also taught to be on a certain regulation; I was put on a strict diet of only fruit sprouted moong (sprouted green grams). My health, my thought was to be focused by daily meditation to enhance the power of my ‘Kundalini (the whole mind body spiritual balance). The focal point was to be

diverted from Television or the outside world around me. My diet, my self discipline, etc all were monitored by my crystalloid ancestors, morning till night. They said my brother was put on equal strict regulation.

Soon my brother arrived at Delhi, and then to Kolkata at my apartment, where we met, and were delighted and welcomed each other.

I said, ‘Bro, I have lot to talk to you. For past few days, lot of unbelievable things happened here’

Then as I said this, both of us noticed something. The mark on our forehead glowed. Yes! It glowed and Karan said to me, ‘You have been ‘visited’ haven’t you?’ 

I looked at him and asked in gesture, ‘You have been visited too?’

We both nodded at the same time trying to conceive the impossible happening in our lives without a single word. As we smiled in confirmation, our ancestors appeared before us.

Divakar said, ‘Good that both of you are here and since you both are practicing mediation for a week now,  I and my sister were teaching you, we shall now proceeding to further level’

Just then Karan interrupted him and said, ‘Were you teaching my sister too at the same time as me? But then if you were with me, how did you also be with my sister? Were you

teleporting between me in US and here in my sister’s place in India at the same time?’

Divakar and Mukti smiled and without letting Karan enquire any more about the subject, Divakar said, you rest for a while and in the morning we shall have to go.

I asked, ‘Go where?’

They did not answer me but just vanished as anticipated.

After a brief discussion that evening, both I and Karan came to a decision, which was based on the gut feeling and the trust needed no second thought. That night, I and my brother had no food as we were asked to practice fast before the ritual.

Next day, Divakar and Mukti appeared again early in the morning just before dawn. They told us to hold their hands, and no sooner did we do so, we found ourselves in a forest. It was totally magical how in matter of a minute the whole scenario changed from my living room to this dense forest with tall trees and bushes all around and instead of my hard concrete ceiling, there was the sky which could be seen through the canopy of the trees.

‘Oh what a mesmerizing moment it was!’

The first look at the forest and we realized that it was the forest which was near our ancestral home, where I and Karan(my brother) used to be restricted by our parents to go and play as a kid. It was thought to be an enchanting forest where many lost their way. Yet we would always sneak out to go to the forest.  Because for us the forest held special

significance, as the charm of the forest had always attracted us to roam on those untrodden paths. The trees, the birds, the little animals, and the string line of a stream which would flow during monsoon season would be far too alluring for us to stay away. We were simply in Love with the forest.

Divakar and Mukti took us to the denser part of the jungle and halted. They both cleared an area of bushes, creepers and high rising ferns, just by chanting a mantra. And as magically as the ferns and creepers erased, we could see the ruins of a structure which looked like an abandoned temple that we never knew even, existed there. It had a big closed door, curved in intricate ancient Indian design. Divakar again chanted a mantra and the door opened with a loud quirking sound.

Our ancestors led us to the temple and as soon as we stepped in the door automatically closed at our back. Inside, it was another world.  There was a big courtyard in the middle as the ruins of the temple corridor surrounded the yard. There were three medium size oval stones placed right at the center of the courtyard.

Mukti drew a straight line with a chalk, touching each stone with a perfect straight line which clearly took the shape of a big triangle. She also drew straight lines connecting each corner within the triangle to the middle point of every line in a geometrical order so that a clear center point erupts as every of the lines dissected each other. She drew a small circle around the center of the triangle, where a star like shape came up as the lines crisscrossed and another circle around the big triangle. All the geometrical lines were drawn with flawless accuracy.

Mukti went near one corner of the triangle, picked up the oval stone on her palm and set there in Padmaasana( Yogic  posture, sitting by crisscrossing the legs)  mode where the stone was earlier placed. She beckoned us to follow. We followed her as she directed, and held the oval stone on our palm imitating her gesture we too set on our individual places in Padmasana mode.  As each of us took our position, Divakar came to the centre and took the posture of vrksasana(Tree posture), right where Mukti drew the smaller circle.

He then said to us, ‘The triangle here is drawn as a summoning symbol, at the culmination of a ritual, the desired being is expected to appear within a triangle, and so the protection of a circle is inscribed upon the floor’ saying so he closed his eyes and meditated for a while and signalled us to chant the mantras along with him.

Our mind was now so focused, that we knew we had to follow the rites, without any delay. All of us began to chant in chorus for the purification of the spirits. On the first day itself, after about an hour or so, the sound of the mantras echoed into one vibrating rhythm, and we could feel ourselves no more as a body, but as spiritual energies connecting to each other. During this time however Divakar and we changed many yogic postures as he went on reciting one mantra to the other.

When we continued chanting till the dawn of next day, a strong wind began to blow and encircled us with high velocity. The movement of the wind was so strong that it drew the leaves and twigs and dust around it. And by the sound of

it, we could make out the power with which it blew in circular motion. But the strangely it did not touch us.

Suddenly out of nowhere Divakar drew a book. It was not any ordinary book, but a book which glowed. It had a structure of a book with pages that could be turned from one to the other and had scriptures and signs inscribed on it. Every page, every letter glowed into a white light and sometimes even rainbow color as if each letter was alive and spoke through the book.

As each word or line stood, we could hear the words in our mind, which were another set of mantras. We chanted the words we heard, and as we chanted, each word seemed to be self explanatory within our mind; each had its own individual, flavour and color, dancing before our very eyes.

It was the third day now and surprisingly we never moved an inch from our place for a minute. We continued, without a break for food or drink, or any gap. We did not feel the need of it either. Our chants began to vibrate more into that forest creating a field of energy which we could feel surrounded us.

The words formed into sentences and sentences into verses which were all connecting to each and every leaf of the forest, extending to each and every particle of the cosmos with the start and the end of the galaxies in the universe along with our earth and all other stars and planets that came into being. We knew the vastness of the universe and its significance in balance to each other as one coordinating vibration. Sounds weird to hear, yet it was the reality for us.

On the full moon night of the third day as we continued and just then a white light appeared out of a portal that hanged on the space. We stopped our chant almost mechanically and looked with wonder at the portal, as out of the portal a figure in white light came out.

The power of the light was so strong that I and Karan had to close our eyes immediately put our hands to cover the rays falling on our eyes.

Then we heard a calm voice, which sounded much like an echo, ‘You may now open your eyes’.

Both Karan and me, we slowly opened our eyes to see a transparent screen before us, which the ‘figure in light’ drew in front.

He further said, ‘since both of you are still mortals with blood and body, you cannot see me without the screen. This screen shall act as a protector’.

We looked at the figure in total astonishment. It was a figure in white light and looked divinely serene, something which is hard to describe in words. Divakar and Mukti, bowed before the figure and told us in gesture to follow. We bowed with utmost respect.

The figure said, ‘I am a messenger from a higher spiritual realm. I have come to bless you both for your endeavor in completing this task, which was very essential to restore the order of the cosmic motion. After this day, this whole episode shall remain, only a vague memory in your mind, until a time shall come when you shall be one of the divine spiritual ‘enlighteners’ as Divakar and Mukti’ and saying so the lighted figure vanished along with our shadowy guest’.

I again woke up in my two room apartment, with Karan besides me rubbing his head as if he had woken from some kind of hangover. We both looked at each other in bewildered state of mind. ‘Did all that happen to us?’ we asked each other in gesture of our facial expression.

Then we saw the triangle birth mark of our forehead glow again…