The day I saw a crow dance
In the seedy streets of the kingdom,
I walk by –
And find, to my annoyance
A shrouded man, dancing
in chaos and bliss
Perhaps drunk,
intoxicated too
I try to avert him
,
But through his
hood, he sees me
And moves around
me like a planet
To a dismal sun
His unabashed
dance
Makes me ask,
Why this hideous
dance?
I sense a smile
beneath the hidden shrouds
And he replies,
A king is born,
No, not a king,
a god
No, not even a
god but Vishnu himself.
Why shouldn’t I
dance?
How do I know? he continued
I see His
entire life – he replies -
Past present
and future,
And know what
lies in store –
I know a God
when I see one.
I ask with
surprise
‘Are you a God
yourself?’
Here, he stops
dancing, shakes his head
And reveals his
hood
He whispers,
Not a God but
cursed by one
I hold my breath
as I glare at his face,
A crow, a dancing
crow
Who could sense
the presence of Gods
I am
Kakbhushandi
And I dance in
joy
For my saviour
is here
He shall redeem
me
I understand his
bliss
Yet wonder
Why this insanity?
He reads my mind,
And clutches my
hand
With his clawed
palms
When you see
Him in all his forms
What do you
expect?
And he shows me
what he saw
Not just
incarnations ten,
He shows me
millions of Vishnu
In a billion forms
Across uncountable
stars and galaxies
In unfathomable
looks,
Emotions and
shapes of life
Here destroying a
monster,
There, engulfing a
star
And somewhere even
a monster Himself!
The universe a
lotus
He emanating from
within
Creating galaxies
countless
In a single breath
And he manifesting
therein as well
Until every molecule
remembers
It is Him, it is Him
In countless forms
alive
While I float alongside,
in overwhelm
Time and space have
wrapped
In infinite loops
While He, out of
jest,
Plays different
roles
And sees the
outcomes
Of the same event
In different ways
But whatever the
outcome
He the victor
The lights dim - I
return
To the
rain-drenched streets of Ayodhya
While Kakbhushandi
dances
He dances in the
rain
And he dances in
the night
And he dances, in
insanity.
I wake from my
reverie –
But where am I?
This noisy metropolis
is not Ayodhya
What a funny
dream, I murmur
But then, a crow
flies by me,
Close
Very close
Wait, the scene
looks familiar
I saw it in the
crow’s vision
But where is
Vishnu?
I only hear a
distant whisper:
I know a God
when I see one….
5th
October 2024
Kakbhusandi
– the crow sage – is the ultimate traveller in space, time and beyond in Indian
mythology. Cursed multiple times due to his single minded devotion to either Shiva
or Rama with no tolerance for others, the wise sage was reborn multiple times
in different forms, until he stuck in the form of a crow. His devotion to Rama resulted
in him being blessed to be an eternal, a Chiranjeevi (not as celebrated as the
others such as Hanuman). Not just immortality, he was also blessed to be able
to witness Vishnu across Space and Time, in the multiverse of Creation. It is said,
Kakbhushandi was able to witness the unfolding of the saga of Rama and Krishna
multiple times with different outcomes, while he was able to flit across these
dimensions.
Some
versions of our literature say that it was Kakbhushandi who narrated the Ramayana
to Valmiki. A reveller of Vishnu, it is said he danced with Shiva on the streets
of Ayodhya the day Rama was born – the inspiration for the current poem.
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