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Yikes! Where did that thought come from? Or...hmm...did someone ask a question?
I look around but no one is in sight. *shiver* What the? I pursed my lips and blew a wisp of hair from my eyes but I still cannot see anyone. And now this question is stuck in my head. "What techniques do you use to help people get along?" Why, why, why? Why do these questions keep on happening to me late at night???? I am about to exit my computer in frustration when I heard the same voice. ((((((((((((((((( "Why not?" ))))))))))) "Who is there?" I asked aloud but I am greeted with more silence. I frown. Hmm... I must be losing it.
Actually, no, I am not!! I smell a rat!!! !!!! I sniff the air. Yep.  The devil is around here somewhere and if it's not him, then it is the Bogeyman. Trust me!!! These two follow me around all day like a night stalker. And psst, they hate each other to a fury, always in conflict with each other. You know, they are like yesterday and today, night and midnight, devil and evil, insufferable and incorrigible...and the only way to keep them from pounding each other into the ground is to not be in the same room with them... Sigh. However, we both know they are not reality so let's move on to the question the Devil has brought with him.
How to get along with others, resolve conflicts, bla, bla, yada yada ...okay...I understand the question.
Yike, I don't feel qualified to answer it. Actually, scratch that. I am too lazy to go deep within myself...so let me ask an expert in the field.
Yep. The Lord of Conflict Resolution himself.
 Can you guess who that is? No? Yike. His ego is going to take a severe bruising...but I doubt it...they tell me he is egoless... ((((((( "Yeah, right!!! " )))))))))))
I am startled out of my mind as The Devil materializes with sarcasm on his face. "Oh, do be quiet, Hades." I managed after I recovered from my fright. Dang, Atheist Bastard !!! God!!!! " I knew it!!! I knew it, knew it was the Devil up to no good, lurking around in my sacred quarters on the most ungodly of hours. Small wonder he is here. Sigh. Deep breath.  Let’s ignore the Devil or I will never get around to answering this bothersome question.But the devilish force has no intention of letting me ignore him. (((( "Who is the Lord of Conflict Resolution???" )))) He wants to know. I scowl at the Devil who is now sitting beside me as if he owns the damn chair. Oh, well, no company is not good company. “Krishna.” I say. “I'm talking about Krishna. Legend has it he solved one of the biggest conflicts there ever was...the one that resulted in the Kurushetra battle. Ever heard of the Mahabaratha and the Gita?”
 ((((((((((( "Ha! You mean Krishna resolved the conflict by instigating a full blown war.")))))))God!! "Whatever, Lucifer." I swear I am going to kill this bastard Devil. "Krishna never instigated the war...he...he...oh hell..."
God, I feel murderous. Okay. Calm down. Calm down, I silently instructed myself.
Tell you what, let's go ask Krishna himself before the Devil, prosecutor-wannabe, chop him to bits without a jury and a judge...(psst...ladies and gentlemen of the web, you are the jury...final opinion lies with you...okay...so speak not and forever hold thy peace...)
Btw, I'm not trying to lead you ...er.... the jury on...but Krishna is my fave mythological god...he's a lover of life, the all seeing one. He speaks all languages including contradictions and paradoxes too.
So let's not bring him to this courtroom and put him on the stand. Instead, come with me, I am going to his abode on the riverbank to meet him.
 (Mmm. I can hardly wait to be there. Sweet sigh. The smell of the blossoming groves is pure heaven on this side of the riverbank.) Krishna is gentle soul. He could be tough too but he never yelled at me, never, not even once, unlike you know whom! And you know what else? Krishna calls me Devi as if I am the sweetest thing he ever created. ((((((((((( "Devi? Hmm. Kool. Ha! That title is a variation of Devil." )))))))) "SHUT UP, Lucifer!!!" I gritted at the Devil who is innocently scratching his head in puzzlement as if he never said anything to start a war with me.
Cripes. Am I ever going to get to the bottom of the question with so many unnecessary interruptions???
Sigh. So far in my travels,
I have met with Shiva, The Devil, Jehovah God, Hades, Satan, Lucifer, Harlequin etc...(Oh wait...scratch Harlequin........he will be coming to a blog near ya. Soon.) but I've not met with my favorite of favorites. The most all-knowing God ever. Krishna. This Guy is boundless, even infinite amounts of universes cannot contain him....................he is you and me and everything you see and cannot see...(he is the sun, the moon, the skies, planets, stars, galaxies, universes, people, animals, birds, fish, rocks, alligators, yikes!, trees, clothes, skin cells, dna, all matter, all antimatter, nothingness, thoughts, poop, dust and heck, even this keyboard.)Intrigued yet? Too bad. I like Krishna. I like him first. In fact, I like him before I even met him. (And my dear Devil, listen up. Krishna is not only better than your God, he can kick your God's butt...he's got an extra pair of arms and he can grow to humungous size...legend has it he spanned the world in three strides...)
(((((("Sorry, Devi. I'm my own God. And according to you, I am an “Atheist Bastard God” ))))))) Sarcasm. Sarcasm. Sarcasm. Ego. Ego. Ego. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. Krishna is the God of War and the God of love. Within him dwells Brahma the creator and Shiva, the Destroyer. ............  Everyone is his friend...He will be your charioteer if you so desire and will even wash your stinky feet with fragrant water and then spoon feed you. He will accept whatever you bring to him as a gift, even a handful of peanuts or...er... uncooked rice. Legend has it that rice or poha is his favorite snack.Are you in awe yet? How about you, Lucifer? ((( "Nah. Never.")))
Ah come on, Lucifer. Admit it. You know you wanna.
 Krishna is very mischievous too. He sees this whole world as a laughing matter. A Leela. And that means, Life is a play, God's play. We are an act on the stage of life. Krishna loves this universe............. Every bit of it...this universe is his creation and as we all know, the creator and his creation is one and the same............... To destroy one is to destroy the other. (I know this for a fact....................One time my computer crashed and I lost my entire manuscript. And it destroyed me for a whole year. Heck, I am still half a person. Weird, eh? It's almost as if I had emptied my essence into my computer and now I’m weak without it. You know, if I didn't have a certain understanding after I lost a whole book, I swear I'd be a walking around like a homeless bum in my own house. Hmm…er...or was it my ego that got lost...yikes!!! What if our art is our ego??? Wow. Then perhaps we are God’s art, God’s ego???)Ah. Here I am. I am here. I've arrived at Krishna 's abode. Mmm...this place is heavenly, sweet, lovely river scenery. Large shady trees laden with sweet fruits and fragrant blossoms are everywhere along the bank of this sparkling river.
 "Hello, Devi." Krishna spots me. "So awesome to see you." He smiles. Actually he's always smiling but his smile grew even brighter to see me. And mmm, he thinks all women are Goddesses. I love him for that. God, I so want to touch his feet but you know what will happen if I do THAT? Yeah. Exactly. Krishna will touch my feet right back. (This is the way he is, there is no superiority about him and that's the exact reason why he's superior.) I looked at his feet with longing. I sigh and glanced away only to be drawn back to his lotus feet.
"What's troubling you, Devi?" Krishna asks gently.
How to tell him what he already knows? How to tell him that I am deathly afraid of his self-proclaimed, self-appointed ambassadors on earth. They would outcast me in no time. I can see them thinking now. "She's the devil's advocate...how dare she let God touch her feet? She's just a mere woman!!! Off with her head!!!" Or er, something to that effect... (And truly, I don't like offending people unnecessarily...)
"I'm okay." I say, looking sadly at Krishna’s feet.
He smiles, clasps his palm together in the key of the universe position and half-bows to me. "Namaste, Devi."
I gape. Omg, that word means, "I bow to you!" Omg. I am squealing inside with delight. How clever. How totally clever of Krishna!!!!"Namaste, Krishna." I beam broadly. "I love you." I think I am going to take a seat beside his sweet lotus feet as well...and listen to him talk. He's full of stories, this one. "And I love you too, my Devi. " He responds. "Now. How may I be of service to you?"
"Er...umm.... you know how you helped Arjuna resolved the conflict within himself so he could fight his enemies-umm...could you tell me more about that..."
((((((( Loud Snicker. "Ha. Go on, sweet Devi, you're doing an excellent job..."))))))
Ow. My ears hurt. Yes, you guessed right. The Devil is here too.
 "Are you okay?" Krishna asks lovingly as I attempt to clear my ear. (It felt as if someone said a loud "cock-a-doodle-doo" inside it.)"Yes. I'm okay." I replied. "I just want to know the truth about the Mahabharata war. I mean if I don’t find the true meaning of why that war was waged so many eons ago, then I would never be able to justify or prove that it is possible for us all to live on earth without conflicts.”
I clear my throat. “ Did you guys really have to go through with it, all that warring for just a Kingdom? Couldn't you just let Arjuna have it his way? What's wrong with being a coward? Sure, Arjuna could have been shunned by society but what's so bad about that? I mean, I'm outcast all the time, there are people who don't like my Devil but what the heck...I don't go around killing them."
((((( "Thanks, my sweet Devi.")))))))
"Aw shucks. Its nothing, Lucifer but you owe me a future favor. So there." I whispered to the Devil. I look Krishna in the eye. Gosh, I could easily get lost in them. Already I am seeing the universe in his drops of midnight eyes. Krishna smiles. "Ah, Devi. I see you have been thinking but there’s one explanation why you're unable to understand Arjuna’s dilemma. You see, you have been thinking in your own shoes.” I gape. “What do you mean?” Even the Devil’s invisible ears are on full alert.
Krishna looks thoughtful. “I know it’s a difficulty thing for you to step inside Arjuna’s shoes, feel what he’s feeling and also see his society’s mindset as well. So I’ll ask you to stay in your own shoes for this one.” Krishna says with a laugh. “Okay?”
“Okay.” I say. “Alright. Now you were saying that being outcast by your society is not such a bad thing but you are seeing the picture in today’s light. And in today’s light, no one is being pressured or glorified to become a warrior. However, in Arjuna’s days, it was as vital as breathing.”
I blink. It was starting to make some sense. Even Lucifer his nodding his invisible head at this point.
“Now.” Krishna says. “Think of something that you could do or will not do that will make the entire world shun and reject and outcast you.”
I scrunch up my forehead real hard but nothing unsavory comes to mind. “Hmm. If I make a motor accident one day and kill a whole car load of citizens, people wouldn’t outcast me, they’d probably understand…although I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. And if I contract leprosy, people wouldn’t shun me, they’d feel sorry for me. And—.” I pause in mid-thinking.
“Take your time. You’re almost there.” Krishna’s smiles with understanding.
And then it hits me. Woosh. I can’t breathe. Oh God. There are so many ways I could be outcast by my society. Oh God. Help! Being outcast is worse than death. Pass me a sword please. Somebody. Anybody. I am ready to fight alongside Arjuna in the Kurushetra battle. Actually, I am ready to fight in any battle.
Krishna chuckles but the Devil is shocked into silent mode. I bet he never saw it this way too!!!
“But!” I say aloud. “Maybe instead of waging a war, Arjuna could have worked on changing the mindset of the nation.” I feel a bit wise at this point. Lucifer perks up and looks at me in awe as if I had just solved an irresolvable paradox.However, Krishna is shaking is head in a negative fashion. “Although nothing is impossible, it would have been an impossible task for Arjuna. Think about a mountain. To topple it, one has to be a stronger force than it.”
I gulp as Arjuna’s society took on the shape of a ferocious mountain and poor tiny-tim, Arjuna is standing before it, shaking like a bamboo plant.
“Yike.” I say. “The only ways through that mindset is to accept it, climb up it or walk around it.”
 “You got it.” Krishna says with a pleased smile. “And don’t underestimate the power of a war. It’s one of the things that could crumble such mountainous forces and usher in a new mindset, however—.”
(((Now, wait a minute here!!! Isn’t that condoning war??? )))
"Umm." Ow. My ears hurt. Oh fine, Lucifer. Good point. I’ll relay your thoughts to Krishna. “Now, wait a minute here.” I say to Krishna. “Isn’t that condoning war???”
Krishna looks at me with admiration and respect, as if I am the thinker of all thinkers. “It might appear that way but not if you hear the rest of what I was about to say. And that is, war has terrible consequences. One should avoid it at all costs. But the reason why we didn’t avoid it in those days is because it had basically already happened, it was a reaction to an action taken a long time ago. In your world, you could learn from our mistakes and try and avoid such paths and you won’t walk into full blown wars like the kuru battle."
"Hmm." I nod, wishing that the author of the Gita had taken the time to add a footnote or a warning to let us know that the Kurushetra war was the biggest mistake ever in the history of Man and God!!!! Krishna leans toward me to say softly as if he doesn't want the whole world to know. "And to answer your earlier questions, we were not warring for a kingdom...but pride and ego and dignity and surrendering to the forces of the universe."
"I see." I rejoined. Krishna continues. "Arjuna wanted to fight the war, he only needed a last minute assurance that he was doing the right thing....and that was when he went deep within himself to do some soul searching... and as for taking the coward's path...there are other sides to it, nothing wrong with any of them and vice versa." "Hmm..." I say. "Tell me more." Krishna laughs out loud. "Ah Devi. You're sure you want to hear it all? It might disturb your entire psyche for a long time to come." "I don't mind." I say with delight. The Pandora in me was fully aroused. "Hmm." Krishna is thoughtful. "If Arjuna had taken the coward way out, a lot of people would have been indebted to him...in modern words, they would have owed him big time. It might not appear so but Arjuna was making a sacrifice here...on a subconscious level...he was climbing down to other people's level...." (((((( "Gasp" ))))) Wow. Even the Devil is surprised.
"You see, Devi. The Kurus owed Arjuna and the Pandus and the only way their souls knew how to repay their debts were to sacrifice their lives...however, their conscious mind was not aware of this conspiracy..." Krishna paused to gather his thoughts. "In this universe we collectively designed, the subconsciousness does not worry itself about whether an action is good or bad...it leaves that to the conscious mind to decipher...and the wise mind knows that every action has a positive and negative side." "I understand." I say. Even Lucifer is nodding at this point. "The subconscious intelligence within us sees the whole of any action...it does not split it into good and bad." "Yes." Krishna agrees. "When we pull someone out of a hole, the subconscioness sees it as an effort, a sacrifice and immediately that person is indebted to his rescuer.. " I gaze up at Krishna, soaking up his words like a sponge.
Krishna holds my gaze. "It's like a bank giving you $500.00. Suddenly all your troubles are fixed but you have to pay interest, don't you? Nothing in this universe is free...even the water you drink has to be earned through efforts...or it would not come to you or you would not find it..." I gasp. "Wow. So Arjuna made a sacrifice, gave the others a chance to repay their debts...." I mulled this one over. "Yes." "But...but...I know you said in the Gita that if Arjuna fulfilled his duty with detachment, then he would not face any consequences by killing his own kinsmen in the name of duty. I really don’t agree with that because the way I see it, there are consequences and reward for every action and absolutely no one is exempt. It’s a natural law of the universe.” “Ah, sweet, Devi.” Krishna says. "What is wrong and what is right? This world is a lie and it's also a truth. It exists and yet it does not. To be against war is to be at war. "
((( "Wow" ))) Lucifer says in my ears. Krishna adjust his position under the jacaranda tree so he could shield my eyes from the morning sun. "And oh yes, Arjuna did face consequences and right on the battle field but it all depends on the mindset. What you might see as punishment and torture may not even touch the surface of Arjuna’s skin because he thinks he’s fulfilling a worthy cause, might not feel the severity of his wounds and pain.” “Hmm.” I say with awe. “The mind does intensify pleasure and pain and guilt. I mean, sometimes it is my own fear that make the tiger seems more ferocious and deadly. And it depends, I suppose. It seems to me that the mind which is also the maze of Maya, will make sure I receive as much pain or pleasure as I dole out.”
Krishna smiles. Again. "Exactly. The enlightened mind welcomes consequences. And the enlightened mind knows that by helping another person could also put that person into a debt he could never rise out of..." Well. Too bad. I'll still go on offering a helping hand to pull the world out of the hole they got themselves into...er...I think...or hmm....I could just holler from above and teach them how to make their own damn ropes....yikes... that way, they won't have a whole ton of interest to repay to me.... I sighed. It made some sense to me but the Devil was shaking his head. "Er," I say..."I need to know one more thing, about that "war" you instigated...er I mean the war you created to help Arjuna light up his ignorance...was it a symbolic war painted in literal light to educate the masses on how to wage war on their own terrorism...er...their inner demons?" (((((( Good girl!!! ))))
"Shut up." I hissed to Lucifer to keep quiet. "He has a discus...even though he's sweet, he could wipe your head off in the blink of an eye..."
Krishna smiles. "Oh, Devi. Don't ever be afraid to tell me what's really on your mind."
"Er...um...thanks...okay.... Umm...there's this guy..." I couldn't bring myself to say it was the Devil who put that thought in my head... "who says the Gita, your longest song was inserted into the Mahabharata at a later date." (Oh God...that could have been me tampering with sacred documents in a past life...yikes...) Krishna laughs. "Sweet Devi, what's true and what's not true. Everything you see and hear has happened. All the stories you read in books are stories happening everywhere..."
Krishna pauses. And then. "In one universe, the Kurushetra war happened. In another, it's a fictional story...and yet another the war happened without the Gita explanation...and in yet another someone inserted it. And guess what else, Sweet Devi, in one universe, it's you who is following the bogeyman around and in that same universe the devil is not so enamored of you." (((((((((( "Gasp" )))))))
Even Lucifer, the Mr. Know-it-all, is amazed. "Everything exists. And yet everything does not exist. All are an illusion and all are real."
The Devil suddenly whispers in my ears. ((((("Dang. I knew he would say that. This man would make the best lawyer in town. He has an answer for everything!!!!")))) "He's not a man. He's a god." I hissed to Lucifer beneath my breath.
(((( "I'm a God too, baby but I don't see you fawning over me.")))))
Ha! Jealousy is afoot here on the riverbank....
"But, my lord," I protested. "Couldn't you have worked some magic and fixed all the problems? And what about our current problem, why oh why can't you wave your magic wand and fix it all?" Please. I need a straight answer. Please. I begged silently.
"Sweet Devi. The universe is designed like a stair. To get to the upper platform, one has to climb. In the days of the Kurushetra battle, people were at a certain level. To talk them from battle would have been a huge leap from one era into another...the universal law of cause and effect does not allow this...we designed it so that everything would flow seamlessly....and even though it appears like chaos, know that this universe is in perfect balance...that it's perfection in disguise.""O, Krishna. You're the wisest of the wise." I blurted out. Krishna smiles his thanks with pure warmth. "However, that said...know that if an individual puts in enough effort...he could swim the entire length of the cosmic ocean in seemingly no time....time is an illusion...so it's possible to leap from one era into another through tremendous efforts....so again, one has to become a stronger force than a mountain in order to topple it." "Oh my." I say. "In the case of the Kuru war, people were putting in efforts toward the war, not away from it...." He pauses, probably for his words to embed itself into my numbskull mind... "Now Devi, imagine the day you gave birth to your son and how happy you were to grow with him. Now picture this, me turning him into a fully grown man right before your eyes? " "Yikes." I say. "I would feel cheated. And i would think he had some kind of disease. It would be a tragedy.” (However, if all babies are turned into grown men and women overnight, that would be okay I suppose.)
"Exactly. Hence, those warriors would have felt defeated had they not had an opportunity to fight. You've to remember in those days, they lived for war. And if it wasn't for war and conflict, we would not have progressed to such heights and in this particular direction."
(((("Hey! " The Devil piped in. "The Internet resulted from such a situation, eh Devi?" ))))) Lucifer is a genius :( “I think so.” I whispered. Krishna continues. "We live for the challenge...it's the reason why we created this illusion so we could pretend. It's all a play....and without the challenges we would grow bored being omnipotent beings who know it all..." "Makes perfect sense to me." I say. "Everything has to go through stages. Right now, some are stuck in limbo land, the new age stage, religious dance, conspiracy theory fever and some who think they have reached the peak of enlightenment." I put a hand up in the air. "Er...I have reached the enlightened peak...umm....I think so..."
(((( "I'll take you there, Baby...")))))) “Shut up. Lucifer.” I hissed under my breath.
 Krishna throws his head back to laugh. He wipes his eyes and surveys my embarrassed aura. "When you reached that stage, you will be on the literal peak itself, my Devi." He points at the Himalayas Mountain. "Now back to your questions, the Kurushetra battle was bound to happen. It was reaction to an action taken a long time ago. If Arjuna had walked away, the war would have gone on in another universe. The outcome of the war was already destined...already existing. Everything already exists... yes, Devi, the future already exists. We are only travelling towards it. ((((((( "Wow!" ))))))))))) Lucifer is amazed.
I frown. "So you are saying there is no ‘free will'???"
"Free will exists just as determinism does. Free will is used to decide which path to choose. Think about a village. All paths to your friends' houses already exist. Your free will comes in handy to pick which friend house you will visit today. In other universes, your counterparts are either choosing the same house or different ones." Krishna smiles. "You want to visit all of your friends, right? That's why you take many births to experience it all. You want to play every part in every movie." "Wow!" I say out loud. "But I still need to answer this question on this thing...er...my site on the Internet."
"What's that about?" Krishna looks puzzled.
I gape. Wow. He hasn't been keeping up with his very own creation...
"Er...it's a place where we communicate with each other...virtually. It's an umm a sort of a universal mind in pictures, words and sounds." "What's the purpose of this virtual universal mind?" Krishna asks as if he has no clue."Well, it should bring about unity and peace for one...where everyone is exchanging and sharing the contents of their minds so eventually we will all think similarly...universal beings yet unique...." I pause to gather my thoughts. "You know how the biblical god confounded our tongues when we were trying to build a tower to reach the sky last time, well...er...we are building a virtual tower this time...so he can't reach us there...er...he can't stop us from reuniting ..." Loud, raucous laughter fill my ears. ((( Don't you mean The Tower of babble ?")))))
"Be. Quiet!" I hissed at Lucifer. "It's the tower of Babel" "I see." Krishna says as if he's still thinking.
"Er...My Lord...when two parties are at conflict, two babies fighting and hurting each other badly, should I interfere? Should I intervene and help them to get along?" Yikes! I don't have any techniques in this area!!!Krishna looks like he is thinking real hard. "You will know at that time whether you should or should not...only you could decide that for yourself. It's totally up to you. You will know what's at stake. You will be able to sum up the entire situation and if it's your safety that matters, you will put that beforehand everything else..." He makes eye contact with me. "You will know that it all depends what you're seeking for yourself when you give of yourself to others....if you need recognition as a peacemaker, you'll be in every battle...heck...you'll even instigate battles just to be in it..." Krishna smiles at this last part so I know he's teasing. Yikes. Is he??? "Some other time I will tell you why the Good Samaritan gets killed but if you go over all that I have told you today, you might see if for yourself..." He looks me deep in the eye...and I nod. He continues. "In the Kuru battle, I did not push Arjuna into it, I merely give him knowledge so he could make up his own mind....in the end, it was his decision, all his...he didn't have to believe a word I said, even though I used masterful persuasion skills...it was still his decision in the end...." "Oh, Krishna." I say with a beaming smile. "Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom with me today. I really do appreciate it." I clasp my hands and half bows to him. "Namaste." Krishna stood up. "Namaste, Devi. And thank you for coming to visit me. Its always a huge pleasure." "Could I come back and see you some other time." I need to mull a few things over, ponder it over with Hades. "Sure, my Devi. Come to me anytime...I am only a thought away." I smile warmly, my heart feeling saddened to be apart from him. "Hey Devi. Remember, parting is what makes the reuniting sweeter." "Mmm. I shall remember that. Thanks, again." "Hmm...what do you think, my Lucifer?? Come on, tell me...the floor is open..." I say to Lucifer as I began making my way home but yikes, the Devil is bent on ignoring me, either that or he’s deep in thought.
Well...er...hopefully he gets enlightened enough to help me edit this mix-up story. Note to the world: If you did not enjoy this story, then send your concerns to the editor@devil.com.
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