THE LAV MUSE

“Help cannot be obtained. Only just rewards may be obtained if you answer my question. Surely you must have known this when you summoned me. I will pose a question. Answer me correctly and I will get you the olives you seek. Answer me wrongly and I will devour you. Refuse to answer and you may walk away unharmed but that would mean you can never get the olives and the wisdom you seek forever. “

But her faith in her guru’s teachings remained. Time had come for phase 2 of her plan. Trying not to recoil in disgust, Maya moved towards the end, the inner cheek of the rakshasi. Gritting herself, she used her satchel to scrape the inner cheek. When it didn’t produce the desired effect, she continued her puke-inducing labour until suddenly she was spat out by the rakshasi in a sneeze.

Her faltering hands grabbed at the sanctified water in her satchel. Racing against her impending doom, she opened the cap with shaking hands and raised it to her lips. The initial dribble followed by the gush of the sanctified water felt like life itself was pouring back into her. She gasped and sputtered but was careful even then not to spill a drop of the precious liquid.

Maya felt an excruciating pain that first started in her neck and spread throughout her body as the creature started to feed. Maya felt a numbness spreading in her body as minutes passed. She hardly felt when her skin and organs started to shrivel. She came to, as her hair having turned a pure silver started falling off her head in clumps. A wail of agony left her lips and came out as a toothless groan.

“Swarga is a transitory place for good souls who have performed good deeds in their lives but are not yet ready to attain moksha, or elevation to Vaikunta, the abode of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi. Vaikunta is 209,600,000 km from swarga. Do you remember how much distance is the moon from earth?”

“384,400 km.”

Parineeti blew the child a kiss before explaining further – “Correct. So Vaikunta is 200 times far away from that.”

“Being a Naiad, I know the water personally blessed by you can cure any disease and any injury. I want you to give a case of sanctified water to Maya besides showing her how to get the olives.”

Maya stared at Hari before whispering – “Hari, the Symantak is far superior for curing diseases. Nothing other than Chwanprash can cure my mumma. Why are you asking this? Come with me. We’ll find another way to get the olives.”
“There is no other way to get the olives. Listen to me this once.”

The naiad flashed what looked too much like a predator smile at Maya.

“Hari, we are in the right place. According to the Symantak, the Naiad is in a state of stupor having had no contact with god or human for many centuries. We can’t shake her out of the stupor by mere prayers. We need to give her a offering.”

“An offering? What sort of offering?”

“The naiads are the protectors of young girls. They also adore boys in the cusp of manhood. We need to make a blood offering together to wake her.”

The villagers who were delighted initially to have Minerva watch over them originally were worried at the competition between Minerva and Neptune. The village could have only a single patron and they didn’t want to choose. They didn’t want to anger either of them. 

Minerva understood their worry in her wisdom and suggested both Neptune and she give a gift to the village. The villagers were asked to select whoever gave the better gift as their patron god. Neptune agreed though the villagers worried even more at their quandary.

The age you are in currently is called Kali Yuga or the Age of Kali. Kali Yuga is and will be dominated by the demon Kali whose nature is to create strife or discord where ever he goes! Krishna death marks the end of Dwapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga. Puranic sources mark this date around 3102 BC. Kali Yuga will end when Krishna is reincarnated as Kalki riding his white horse devadatta, exhibiting his eight mystic opulences. Upon arrival, Kalki will proceed to kill  the demon Kali, establish righteousness and usher in the Satya Yuga again!