One day at noon, I sat on the seashore of Vedapuram facing the waves. The sands weren’t hot since, right from that morning, clouds had gently covered the sky. The sun was overhead. However, his brightness was diminished since he was covered by the clouds, just as knowledge gets covered by doubts. The waves were crashing against the shore. A cold breeze blew from the north east. I squinted my eyes at the glare of the noon sun on the rising waves. A bit further, a foreign merchant ship arrived and anchored. With nothing else to do, I rested near a small boat as my thoughts wandered to the sea and the waves. “Aha! Ceaselessly, cea-se-lessly, these waves make this continuous din! How many yugas have they done so? Isn’t it destiny that forces the sea into this agitation?”
The power of destiny is massive indeed. It is due to this destiny that the countless galaxies whirl around the universe. Atoms disintegrate in accordance with this destiny. The minds and actions of humans, devas, asuras and the crores of creatures are all driven by this destiny. Even this sun is under the control of destiny.
As I was contemplating that even the clouds are born due to destiny, spread around the sky due to destiny and also vanish due to destiny, a Yogi arrived there. He was referred to as the “Seashore-Nomad” in Vedapuram. The poor revered him as a great Siddha and a Jnani – a mystic and a savant. He would beg for food wherever he felt like. He never bothered about the sun or the rains. He would stay in one town for a few months, suddenly go elsewhere, and come back a year or two later. His hair was fully matted. A saffron cloth piece hung on his waist. When he was in Vedapuram, he would invariably wander in the seashore. He would sleep in the boats moored on the bank.
“What are you thinking of?”
“I was reflecting on destiny”, I answered.
“Whose destiny?” he asked.
“My destiny, your destiny.. this sea’s destiny, even this world’s destiny”, I replied.
Then, the Seashore-Nomad countered me. “Brother, destiny may be your master or the master of the sea and the world, but not mine. So, don’t include me in your group”, he stated.
“How do you say so?” I asked him.
Then, the Yogi started singing this song in Natta raga in a thundering voice, almost submerging the sound of the ocean!
The orchards in the fields of Thiruchendur were destroyed by the Chel fishes in tanks,
The minds of tender creeper like maidens were destroyed because they wished for The honey dripping garlands of Kadamba which were worn by the lord,
The sea, the Krouncha mountain and Soorapadma were destroyed by his Vel (Spear),
And the writings of fate on my head were destroyed by the touch of the feet of the Lord.
That song from the Kandar Alankaram which I had read many times felt strangely new. I felt goosebumps through my body. He casually sang the first two lines while sitting. But when he got to the third line, he stood up, his eyes and face glowing with intense passion. As he sang “the sea was destroyed by the touch of His Vel – the spear”, he pointed his index finger at the sea. I almost felt the sea trembling in fear.
He continued further: “ Touched by Muruga’s spear, the sea disintegrated. The mountain shattered into smithereens. Surapadma exploded into pieces. The same Muruga’s feet touched my head. I was freed. ‘I was freed from bondage of attachment’”.
As he was saying this, it started to rain. I stood up and left for home. He went down to the waves to bathe. As I crossed the sands and entered the road, I heard a voice like a lion’s roar singing “Freedom, freedom, freedom”.
Original in Tamil – https://www.tamilhindu.com/2009/07/bharati_stories_05/
