I was preparing myself for a long-long journey,

To a place, there’s no value for our money.

Wondered, any of our wheelers could go,

To the end of this world and beyond! Lo, no!

 

Day in and day out, the thought was haunting me,

The way to Heaven, who could tell me,

Where I could live, but care free,

And where no one dare envy me.

 

Baffled by this thought, a day, I went to sleep,

Badly shaken, circled around, ‘was pushed down deep.

There I stood before the portals of the Creator,

Perhaps, He could answer me better.

 

All the sounds, never before I heard,

As the doors wide opened, the rows of bells made,

Under the milky white light, all around the hall,

Was seated a huge figure, hefty and tall.

 

Millions of hands and eyes, He kept them working

But why only one mouth, He left me guessing.

Perhaps, to make less noise, do more, to create,

The countless beings, what an astounding feat!

 

Barrels and barrels of blood I found,

Bales and bales of skin and flesh, kept around,

The bag of bones, dipped in blood, He made,

Into the nearby brook, slowly He dropped.

 

One of His eyes turned my side, in a spirit of askance.

I beseeched Him, if He knew ever, by chance,

The way to Heaven, where I could live care free,

And where none can taunt me.

 

Suddenly, His mouth, wide open, echoed.

A voice from the top broke, right above my head.

“Why do you want to go to Heaven, my son?

Is it just to have some frolic and fun?

 

“There was a Heaven, I saw, once after the mighty evolution,

For there were fewer beings then, out of my creation,

But now, no time to think of it ‘am busy all the while,

For births have outnumbered deaths, driving me to work beyond the schedule.”

 

“The proof of my over work, you can see in the form of freaks,

That come out of my hands, gone blunt are my chisels,

Splitting seconds by seconds into micro-micro seconds,

To bring out into the Universe the countless living beings.”

 

“Trees without fruits, flowers with no smell,

Animals with abnormal limbs, children born still,

Of the few disorder, the result of my tired hands,

Oh! My son!  Go ahead!  May the Heaven show up in your finds.”

 

Disappointed, still with hope, moved up to the next door,

Barred by the heaviest locks, as if fear was lurking in the mind of the Protector,

Pushed my head into the peep hole to see Him,

But I could only guess a figure, hazy and dim.

 

“Oh!  My Lord!  Tell me the way to Heaven”, the top of my voice yelled,

Two radiant lights, perhaps His vision to my side, turned,

A whisper only, I heard, coming from his side,

That let not anyone knew, He was sheltered inside.

 

"The oft repeated prayers, I am tired of listening,

From unscrupulous folks, who have no character, much less anything,

My consort, Goddess of Wealth, left me already, on Her tour all round,

Know not, what to do, I am sitting here quiet spell bound.”

 

“I was happy, once, in my abode, the milky ocean,

Resting on my floating bed, that was my Heaven,

My consort caressed my feet with her feather touch palm,

That was my Heaven, where everything was calm.”

 

“At the moment, cries a dying patient, “Oh! Protector, Save me!”

Also prays an undertaker over his unsold coffins “Oh! Protector, See me!”

Whom should I help, ‘am in a dilemma,

Why you choose this very moment to disturb me?”

 

Not finding an answer, my feet moved on to the next apartment,

Where I thought, the Lord of Destruction was dancing in merriment,

But the sentry at the interior, bade me towards the graveyard,

Where the Lord was busy counting those on their last journey to this ward.

 

I was hesitant to enter the gates of the final resting place,

But my mad urge to know the Heaven drove me before the Divine grace,

Adorned by the garland of skulls, with a thick coating of ashes,

All over his dark body, whitening it in patches.

 

The nocturnal creatures moving stealthily into the departed souls’ domains,

The crackles of dried leaves, as they walked pressing over to gulp their remains,

Gave a frightening picture, otherwise a vocal shape to the silent grave,

Nerves shaking over distant sounds of horror, but still I stood brave.

 

To the surprise of the Lord of Destruction,

Up went my same old question,

Oh! Lord! Where lies the road to Heaven,

Where, care free, I could ever remain?

 

The Lord burst into laughter that shook me up and down,

But, perhaps, out of pity for me lowered the voice of his own,

Bade me go near Him, to hear Him better,

Of His role of destruction, now going faster and faster.

 

“To save the world from dissolution,

From decaying bodies causing a series of pollution,

To cleanse the Universe, Where all could live in peace,

My labour force destroys, non stop, the time expired cases.”

 

“The departed should be housed elsewhere, to be given a new order,

Thus our force toil round the clock to set right the growing disorder,

In the wake of ever increasing population,

Who, day and night, face unending trial and tribulation.”

 

“The seeds of famine and drought, the floods and cyclones,

The never-ending battles and wars are grown,

In our gardens, all round the world,

To give room for the fittest to survive at the end.”

 

“Oh, My son!  My touch with the Heaven is lost,

The destruction is the only work, first and the last,

I know of, for the present, to ward off the growing menace.

Go ahead, find yourself the way to Heaven, you’ve always my grace.”

 

Slowly my eyes opened to see the waking world,

The cock crowing in the morning got me out of my bed.

Through the window, was there, the sight of red rising sun.

My face felt a touch of feather, when the cool breeze came in.

 

The world slowly got up on its feet to meet the day’s challenge,

Every living being, for that matter, was ready for its plunge,

Into the activity, it was rolled to function,

Thus, darkness gave way to open the gateway of sun shine.

 

What a confrontation, even to the Gods in their own abodes?

There lies no way to Heaven, not even distinct roads,

The Hell or Heaven, now I know, is in my mind,

They exist not elsewhere but it is for me to find.

 

~Rajaram Ramachandran~