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at the fountain of Samsara: for binagupta

Jun 29 2008 | Views 231 | Comments (19)

at the fountain of Samsara text © Raj Arumugam, June 2008; paintings by Nicholas Roerich ... Expand

at the fountain of Samsara
text © Raj Arumugam, June 2008; paintings by Nicholas Roerich

for bingagupta

samsara

the ocean of life, of continued existence and pain and joy, and of all that can be described as the human condition

at the fountain of Samsara
text © Raj Arumugam, June 2008; paintings by Nicholas Roerich

for bingagupta

In the city of the Fountain of Samsara, the tiny fairy Tinkerball sits on the shoulders of the marble statue of a horse with wings.

Tinkerbell looks at the water spread out a deep blue before her.

It is night and it is cold, and the streets before the fountain are deserted.

Then Tinkerbel sees a small, dark figure emerge from behind the trees. Is it a midget?

No, as the figure steps into the moonlight, Tinkerbell sees a little boy, weak and very thin. He walks towards the fountain.

Tinkerbell looks at the boy closely. The soot and dirt of the city has blackened his face and hands, and his ghostly pale skin shows between patches of dirt.

The boy’s shirt is torn and oil-stained, and there are holes in the boy’s shoes.

He stops at the low wall that encloses the waters of the fountain and he stares at the water.

He stands directly in front of the flying horse on whose wings Tinkerbell sits.

The boy does not see Tinkerbell.

But Tinkerbell sees him.

Then there are tears in the boy’s eyes as he looks in front of him, his gaze on the horse, and yet his mind somewhere else.

The tears roll down his cheeks.

The boy’s tears collect in Tinkerbell’s heart. Tinkerbell closes her eyes.

Make a wish, child, she whispers in her heart. Throw in three coins, child - and I will make your wish come true.

But the boy does not hear Tinkerbell.

And the boy does not make a wish. He does not throw in a coin.

Tinkerbell sees into the boy’s heart.

The boy has no coins.

The boy knows about the legend – three coins thrown in the water and one’s wishes come true.

But the boy does not have the coins. Not even one.

Tinkerbell sees the boy’s heart.

It is pure, It is full of love. Yet it is sad. It a pained heart that is almost broken.

Tinkerbell herself starts to cry. The pain of what she sees makes her cry.

What does Tinkerbell see in the boy’s heart?

In this boy’s heart, Tinkerbell sees the image of the boy’s father.

The father is an artist. An artist of beauty.

They live just outside the city in the ugly slums.

Even from where she is, and even though the boy’s father is not here, Tinkerbell can see the father’s heart. The boy carries his father’s pain and agony.

The father’s heart is broken. It is the heart of an artist, rejected and scorned and
his works ridiculed.

It is the broken heart of an artist not understood, driven from city to city, and who
has now chosen to live in the fringes, in anonymity.

But whose pain is there always.

The boy’s father is happy when he paints – but the agony comes back when he is not painting.

And the artist has an even greater pain: He feels he has been unjust to his family. He is incapable of nothing else but painting. So he cannot earn any money and poverty has painted his house dark with misery.

He has lost all his money. His wife and four children - including that boy standing in front of Tinkerbell - are starving. The father is not able to provide for his family – and everyday the family slips into more intense darkness and misery…And the artist feels helpless: nobody wants his works and art – and he does not know what to do – and so he keeps painting, and painting….and suffering….

Tinkerbelll sees all this….She sees the heart of the artist…It is the heart of a child – a child full of beauty and the love of life – and yet a heart that does not understand how far the world has changed…a world that is now more adult than child; a world that is more calculative than beautiful…She must help the artist…She must help the child in the artist…And she must help the son of the artist – the son so young and yet whose only concern was the pain of the father, the helplessness and agony of the father…

Tinkerbell must help this child…

Tinkerbell opens her eyes…The boy is still standing there before her…Tinkerbell whispers: Go home, child…. Go home…You do not need to throw in coins…Go home in peace, child…The fairies will watch over you night and day…Go home, child….

Yet this agony is too great, even for Tinkerbell.

Tinkerbell cannot do this alone.

She must have help. This agony is too intense - she needs more strength.

Tinkerbell flies to the distant mountains.

Tinkerbell flies as swiftly as all her powers can take her.

And soon Tinkerbelll is before The Mother of All Life in the distant mountains.

And Tinkerbell stands before the Mother of All Life.

And the Mother smiles at Tinkerbell.

The Mother knows what is in Tinkerbell’s heart.

And the Mother of the World says to Tinkerbell:

Beauty has deserted that harsh city and so the artist lives in poverty.
There is marble beauty in the city - but there is no living beauty.

You need to bring beauty back there into the city.

Go to the Spring in the Northern mountains and collect the drops of life, of hope.

Bring it back to the Fountain City and sprinkle it over the city.

And you will find the trees will bloom again and beauty will radiate
in the hearts of the people. Beauty will return. And then people will know beauty when they see it...

And Tinkerbell bows before the Mother of All Beings and she flies to the northern Mountain and she collects the water of life…

And Tinkerbell flies over the Fountain City and she sprinkles the water of life
over the city.

And the trees and the bushes bloom.

And the bees and the birds and the creatures rejoice.
And the rainbow appears over the city.

And beauty flows in the hearts of men and women, in children and adults…

And beauty and grace radiates even in the hearts of the most hardened of beings…

And the Mayor calls for the Artist who lives in the hovel with his family.

And the Mayor bids the artist display all of his works in the streets before the City’s fountain, and he invites everyone to see the artist’s works…

And everyone is there to see the artist’s works…

Everyone is there…

The Mayor and the City officials and all the people of the city are there…and
there are visitors from neighboring cities and there are tourists from
off-off lands…they are all there…

And they all wonder at the beauty of the works the artist has created,
and their hearts are filled with an abundance of joy…

And of course the artist is there too – and his son and the artist’s wife
and their other three children…and they all love the works, and the people
love them too…

And certainly Tinkerbell is there…

And indeed she is the happiest of them all – for she is happy to see the
Mayor dress the artist in fine clothes and to see the people buy the artist’s
works and to see the rich queuing up to commission new works by the artist…
The artist will never starve again…

His family will eat well. They will be well.

And Tinkerbell sees the smile in the hearts of the boy and the father – and
Tinkerbell knows this is joy, this is beauty, this is radiance and fullness…this
is completeness…

And thus Tinkerbell is filled with joy; she sits on the wings of the flying horse
and she sees the Mother of All Beings looking at all her children; and Tinkerbell
sees then the love and the beauty of the Mother filling all the world, and the
universe…

And Tinkerbell smiles to see such beauty, such living beauty….

at the fountain of Samsara

This is the link to binagupta's post:
http://binagupta.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/06/the-fountain-part-2-the-miracle-the-lacemaker.htm

Sulekha.com

Raj Arumugam

rajarumugam.sulekha.com

at the fountain of Samsara: for binagupta

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