Chitrabhanu Man with Vision

Author(s): Clare Rosenfield
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Centre New York

Page 25

But at night we see how brilliant they are! Isn't this a beautiful home? So sparkling and full of light? Well, that is where your mother has gone, to live amidst the stars."
“Can we go too?” Rup implored him. “O won't you take me to my mother?”
"Sweet child, one day we'll surely go there. People who are good and kind and helpful to each other are allowed to stay there. It is nothing but another home made out of peace and bliss. There nobody ever feels like crying. If you will be a good boy, surely your mother will send a messenger to fetch you to her side."
For days the little four-year old turned over in his mind the old man's words. He kept them like a secret treasure inside his heart. He loved his uncle-friend as much as he loved his own father and mother. So he knew he could trust him.
In this way, the trauma became transformed. Instead of weeping over his mother's disappearance, he began to look forward to her resurrection. Instead of focusing his thoughts on death, he looked toward life.
Each night before going to sleep, he waited patiently for her message. He would watch the moon ride by like a queen of the night surrounded by shining admirers, the shimmering stars. He gazed longingly into those sparkling lights from his open window. Night after night he remained mesmerized by the stars until the weariness from waiting would overtake his little frame and drop him into sleep at last. From this early age, he developed a deep love for the stars. Looking up became second nature to him.
There were times when he would lose hope.
Why should she remember me? She must be so happy staying in such a beautiful place. She must hue to look at so many bright stars and all that light. Why should she stop to think of me?
The simple words of a four-year old child, a dream of reuniting with mother and yet more than that. The young boy allowed his consciousness to stretch and expand. Whereas one thought brought him pain, another thought brought him peace. The one ignited his human failings; the other revealed his divine qualities,