“Kanhaiya / कन्हैया ”
(a messy child! with a holy-innocent heart...!)
The darkness had come but Kanhaiya was still sitting on the stairs behind the platform of the temple with his head hidden between his legs. His body was shrinking due to the cold, but perhaps he had a firm resolve in his mind, he lay there and fell asleep.
When Kanhaiya opened his eyes in the morning, the sun had risen very high. He was hungry. He walked towards home but stopped after thinking about something. He turned and walked towards Gunnu's house. Gunnu had woken up and was eating.
Kanhaiya called from outside. - “Gunnu…Gunnu…” When Gunnu heard Kanhaiya's voice, he came running and saw Kanhaiya standing at the door.
He murmured softly – “Kanhaiya…you’re here...”
Kanhaiya looked at Gunnu with sad eyes and said - “Gunnu, I am hungry, please give me something to eat….”
-“No Kanhaiya, you go home”- Gunnu said, being afraid of his mother. -“No Gunnu, I am hungry.”
Saying this, Kanhaiya entered through the door.
But Gunnu caught Kanhaiya in between and said – “No Kanhaiya, you go to your home”. Saying this, Gunnu threw Kanhaiya out of the door and closed the door from the inside.
Kanhaiya remained standing outside. He felt that all the doors of luck were closing today. He walked towards the outside with his hungry little steps. He once again started walking towards his home but suddenly turned towards the road leading out of the village.
The sky was clear for many days but suddenly some clouds appeared and light drops started falling. But Kanhaiya, lost in his own thoughts, was moving ahead with his hungry steps. He had come a long way from the village. Suddenly the rain intensified, it seemed as if Kanhaiya had just regained consciousness. He looked around and saw that there was forest all around. When he searched for a place to hide his head, he saw a shed in the distance. He ran towards him. After reaching the shed, Kanhaiya stopped under a tree. He saw from a distance that a big, bearded man wearing ochre-colored clothing was sitting on a high platform inside the shed. Some of his disciples were also sitting down in front of him. It looked like an ashram monastery. Kanhaiya stood under the same tree and started listening to the conversation of the Guru and disciples from there.
A disciple stood up and asked, “Guruji, who is the first Guru of man?” - “The first teacher of a child is his mother”- Guruji said calmly.
The disciple replied - “But Guruji, a mother is a mother, how can she be the first Guru?”
- “Because it is a mother who first imparts the knowledge of sunshine-shade, bitter-sweet, and good-bad to any creature after birth and the creature who imparted the first knowledge after birth is also the first Guru. Son! Mother is the best among all the Gurus and Gods, and this is also proved by our scriptures in which it is said that – “Matra Devo Bhavah, Pitru Devo Bhavah” (“May you be the one who worships mother, father, teachers and guests as God”)
Apart from this, the history of the son also gave proof of this – Shravan Kumar told his mother. “You served your father completely and took him on your shoulders to travel to all the holy places, hence son, you should never disrespect your father and never disrespect your mother.”
Kanhaiya standing under the tree was listening to all this. The sudden knowledge that the rain had completely washed away the dust of ignorance in the mirror of his mind and his mind was illuminated with the light of knowledge. He felt disgusted with himself, his throat choked with pain and tears of repentance flowed from his eyes. His heart yearned to meet his mother.
He ran back on the road towards the village. Even in heavy rain, his feet were touching the ground as if they were falling on a hot pan. The legs which until then were feeling lifeless due to hunger, suddenly got immense strength and they were moving towards home like a storm. Like a storm, Kanhaiya opened the door of the hut and reached inside the hut. But perhaps it was too late now. Meera was lying in her bed in a void state. Her body had become lifeless.
Kanhaiya called Meera several times – “Mother...Mother look I have come, after today I will never smoke beedi and will go to school every day, mother I will obey everything you say.” But his mother was unresponsive. “Mother, why don't you speak?” He continued crying and lamenting. He fell at Meera's feet as he cried. But Meera was still lying in her bed in the same position with her eyes closed, her body had become cold.
Today Kanhaiya found himself being robbed of everything; he was completely alone in this sad world. Suddenly he got up and ran towards the temple. He started ringing the temple bell loudly and asked hundreds of prayers for his mother's life in front of the God who never believed.
He was ringing the temple bell, and his throat and eyes were choked with tears of pain and suddenly he fainted and fell on the floor of the temple. After some time, when Kanhaiya opened his eyes, he found himself in Meera's lap. She was drying his wet mouth with her pallu sari.
When Kanhaiya saw his mother in front of him, he jumped with joy hugged Meera's lap, and started crying loudly - "Mother, where had you gone?" Meera also hid Kanhaiya in her lap. It seemed as if God had heard the true prayer of the little heart and had once again breathed life into Meera's lifeless body.
Meera brought Kanhaiya home and fed him, Kanhaiya also ate the sweet food full of his mother's love until his heart's was content. He was hungry since morning, Kanhaiya went to sleep after eating. The next day he woke up early in the morning, took a bath, and was the first to pick up his bag and head towards school. Meera saw him going far. Her old eyes arose towards the sky with hundreds of requests, perhaps…., God had shown the right path to her lost son…...
by – Vijay-Raj Chauhan (Part-1)
