Illusion

"A man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he becomes."- Lord Krishna.

Well... everyone knew that the future wasn't going to be pretty. But sorrounded by water forever! That was something The Seven couldn't predict. The humankind had survived the Apocalypse by creating Seven compounds where the last of human survivors are sheltered. Some animals as well.

Plant life has been extinguished as there is only hot water all around and the outside temperature is not suitable for any living being. The inside of the compounds isn’t any different. Seven Compounds in Seven parts of the world. A few thousand survivors. The hopeless task of salvaging flora and fauna have been halted, as there is nothing left of it now. The Seven who call themselves the protector of humankind are the law of this new world that consists of steel walls and human misery.

Sacred and spiritual places are either destroyed or under water. In the beginning it was alright to pray. To have some semblence of hope. Little did they know the hope was to be taken from them. Hope gives them strength to question. And that cannot be permitted. No one questions the Seven. It is they who have saved the mankind from the Apocalypse. Humankind is indebted to them. Humankind is there to serve them now. They are the gods now. The Saviors. The Angels.

It has been 7 years.The boiling sea isn't reducing its level and the sun isn't reducing its heat. The inside of the Compounds isn't getting any better. Anger, greed and suffering. The cycle of life has stopped on one point. There are no new births. But new deaths are happening by the hour. Suicides and murders.

Maya is sitting in a corner cradling her mother's corpse in her lap. She has been crying for the past day. Been begging the so called authorities who stood at a distance; to allow her to pray for her departed mother's soul. Oh! Why didn't she pay attention when her mother used to advise her to learn some of the verses. She said reciting The Lord’s name gives one peace. She should have listened to her. The verses would become sweet melody with her voice. But that was the time when they were in their home. When there were blue skies, green lands and the seas were tranquil. Now the seas are raging and so is the humankind. Nothing could get worse than this.

And there was her mother's silver heart shaped locket, which she always kept close to her heart. She said to keep it always safe if anything were to happen to her. No idea why. What could be so special about it? Just a piece of useless jewellery. Can't buy anything with it now. The concept of give and take doesn't exist anymore. They are slaves nothing more, in this compound or better yet, jail.

But the locket?

Maya took off the locket from around her mother's neck. Inspecting it from all sides. The silver was still shining. She kept it clean. All of a sudden the locket breaks...or did open? Yes! It opened and there was a piece of paper in it. What's written on it?

Oh God! It's the verse that she used to recite whenever Maya would get nightmares as a child.

The poem from a sufi saint named Hafiz

"O breath of life, help me tonight

That in the morn, I make a start

In my love for you, I will

My self and ego thwart."

Something happened to Maya after reading those lines. She kept repeating them. She has started to sing them loudly. Her mother's death, the misery of being locked up in a hell-hole, the constant suffering and depression had caught upto her. There is no coming back now. She is singing and weeping. Reciting those lines like a mantra. Didn't understood those lines when she was a child. Now they make perfect sense to her.

This is not permitted. Any kind of spiritual talk or practice is prohibitted. They are afraid of her. She needs to be silenced. Or others will get infected. Yes, an infection. This is what they are telling the public now-a-days. Authorities have been informed. She is weeping and chanting.

They grab her arms push her to her on her knees and order her to be quite. They threaten her that her tongue would be cut-off. She chants more loudly. And the deed is done. Ear splitting shrieks are heard all around. They have silenced her. Or they think they have.

What once seen cannot be unseen.

What once heard cannot be unheard.

They had made a spectacle of her in front of all others. In front of her mother's corpse.

Still….she chants. In her heart. In her mind. Through the excrutiating pain. She is lying in the pool of her own blood. She is unfeeling.

Pain? What pain. What sorrow? The light has touched her now. She is beyond the earthly sorrow and happiness. She has found her solace. She is at peace. One with the Great One.

Looking down from the heavens above to her lifeless body, she feels nothing. This was suppose to happen. Nothing is permanent. Not this body, not this world. Everything is about to vanish in a puff of smoke. Those self-proclaimed gods-The Seven will see what true apoclypse is. Because when it begins, everything else ends.

Death is inevitable. Destruction is inevitable. Life is the biggest of lies and Death is the eternal truth.