The Shramana

Dr. Satyaki Saikia

He had reached the end

For there were no paths left to tread

He had explored them all.

Raised in the sheltered opulence

Of a majestically royal life

Shielded from all sorrow and pain

His destiny had another plan.

The young prince had set out

Leaving his wife and child behind

For so urgent was the call

So insistent the urge

That he had not another choice.

Now, eight years hence

He was at the end

His body, emaciated and shrunk

His parchment skin draping his ribs

A privation so magnificently onerous

That his very existence shuddered.

A shadow of a man, lighted

Only by his eyes

That glowed deep in their sockets

Burning with a fire so intense

A conviction so fierce, so resolute

That his life dared not quit.

He had already pushed beyond

Beyond the limits of possible

But the Truth had been so elusive

The enduring fragrance of a delicate blossom

Leaving traces of its presence

But burnt by the fire

Of his relentless searching mind.

So our prince had to pause

For he understood the dilemma

To look without searching

To hold without grasping

To allow what IS to BE.

So he sat for a final time

Beneath that Bodhi tree

His erect spine holding straight

What little remained of him

His eyes half open in inner reflection

His entire being slowly converged

Into one single point

Of absolute, utter conviction

A force so severe, so intense

That it would either bend

The arc of human destiny

Or end in annihilation.

The three worlds stood still

All existence paused in awe

For a silent clarion had been sounded

As a man simply sat

Holding the Earth as his witness

Burning a path in the cosmic darkness

A single immaculate act of will

Challenged the original nescience.

Even Mara bowed in obeisance

The gods watched in silence

The fate of creation, its liberation

Now hung in a precarious balance.

In the third part of the night

The last wisps of cloud melted

And the blue moon in its fullness

Illumined this divine spectacle

He quietly opened his eyes and beheld

The North Star in complete clarity

And the final veil was rent …

A life reached its completion

Journeying from the depths of obscurity

To the fullest perfection

Gautama had become a Buddha

Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.

The devas and asuras alike

Bent their knees in supplication

For a man had showed them the path

The Middle Way to liberation.

Whether a god or daemon, they knew

Earth was the route, the only way

If they truly sought salvation.

The thunderous proclamation of that night

Still echoes through the three realms

And in testimony to a man's word

The blue moon rises again tonight

Waiting for another miracle to unfold.

::x::x::x::

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Dr. Satyaki Saikia

is a Medical Consultant specializing in Internal Medicine and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and is based at Guwahati, Assam

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