Shambhala (4 page)

“But, Rakesh,” Bandar pleads.

“Rakesh nothing,” he hisses showing his teeth and lowering Bandar’s head in inferiority.

“But, sir, perhaps you can teach me, and I can help the humans to understand,” Paul asks in his last attempt to smooth him over.

Walking away toward the tree with the elders, Rakesh comes to a halt before turning to answer. “Long have been the days when man and monkey saw eye to eye. Man rose up and forgot about the monkey, and now man is the lost monkey who pretends he is not. There is no hope for man. My only hope is that when you wipe each other out with your ignorance and wars you don’t take the monkey and jungle with you. I fear that is a wish not to be fulfilled. You may mean well, man, but I know your species all too well, and soon will come the time when even you will want to rule the monkey. Yet the monkey is governed by a force far more powerful than any man, ridden with greed, could manage to be. So please, go now, there is no hope for man.”

“But perhaps . . . ”

“Go
now
, I said, before our clan has their way with you and scatters your body throughout the jungle,” Rakesh yells, turning.

The trees again begin to shake, and the monkeys fiercely howl, hoot, and ha. Looking around, Paul begins to sweat.

“Quickly come!” Bandar demands anxiously as the two swiftly run off.

The sanctuary of jungle has turned into an asylum of monkeys that echoes out across the jungle. Dodging sticks and debris being thrown down, they quickly make their way out, finally stopping at a safe point just outside the shelter of thick trees.

“I am sorry, but perhaps Rakesh is right. I mean in town you can find out who you are. They will help you there.”

“Perhaps,” Paul says crouched over, hands on knees, catching his breath.

“Forgive Rakesh, many years back his family was taken from him, children and wife, for what he thinks was for research or some sort of profitable amusement. We know little about where the humans take us, but it happens often. Rakesh has much bitterness toward man for this.”

“No worries, friend. I don’t know what I expected to find there. From what I can remember and recall from my time in this world of humans, I can understand his concerns.”

“What do you remember?” Bandar asks as they begin to walk.

“I remember the world, and life in general, but can’t remember my life in it.

It’s as if my past were a dream that upon waking I quickly forgot, yet remember the world around me.”

“Well, in town I know you will find an answer,” Bandar consoles.

“That, my friend, I am unsure of.”

Suddenly Bandar scales swiftly up a tree, and with a loud thump a clump of green bananas falls next to Paul. Leaping down next to them, he rips one off and hands it to Paul, who smiles in thanks, noticing his enormous hunger. Sitting in the quiet solitude of the jungle, they finish the bananas. Paul gets up and makes his way over to a soft-flowing stream. Squatting down, he cups his hands, drawing water to his mouth and wetting his hair. Bandar squats down on all fours and, putting his mouth to the crisp water, softly sips. Looking up, the man smiles at Bandar and Bandar smiles back, remembering when they first met on the road.

“I remember I saw you yesterday!” Bandar says with revelation.

“Yesterday?” Paul enquires.

“You were with another man sitting by the roadside. Perhaps you will find this man in town.”

Racking his brain, he still remembers nothing, not even the previous day.

Standing up, he rubs his face, noticing the warm comfort of the day’s sun that pervades the jungle. He thinks of how Bandar must feel comfortably secure in his little, warm, fur coat, as he begins again to walk on. Reaching a roadside that runs along the jungle, Paul notices that the hours of walking have left him with a blunt hunger that shoots a sharp pain to his head. “Can you muster up some more of those bananas?” he asks.

“Be right back,” Bandar says, puffing up his chest, feeling proud to help.

Sitting on a rock just before the road, Paul awaits Bandar, who quickly returns with some bananas. This time they are yellowish brown. Plopping them down, he runs back off into the jungle and quickly returns, holding a piece of tree that dangles small green pods among leaves.

Paul picks the beans from the pods and thinks of how grateful he is that Bandar is there. He thinks of the difficulty he would have had trying to find food on his own. He imagines trying to scale up the steep trees in an effort to get some bananas and laughs inwardly. They finish up and sit for a while, resting from the long journey. Evening is soon upon them and the sun begins to retire behind the far hills.

“It’s not far,” Bandar says as he rises up and leads the man across the road to a small path that overlooks the Ganga River.

Seeing the town not far off, they proceed on. They arrive at the back of a strip of small restaurants and shops that rests at the beginning of the busy village. Unseen, they continue down a back alley, following a concrete wall that blocks the alleyway between the building. Passing fly-infested garbage that smells both appealing and appalling, they come to a bamboo ladder, which Bandar climbs up quickly, signaling to follow. Grasping the ladder, the man gradually makes his way up, coming to the top and stepping out onto the roof, where Bandar sits, watching the busy town below. They sit on the edge, hidden by the dark skies. Firecrackers ring out in strident and persistent bangs as people crowd the busy, narrow streets buying and selling, dancing, and drinking, snapping pictures of each other against a river ablaze with floating candles under a sign that reads, “Happy Diwali.” Diwali, is the large festival celebrated in India signifying when Lord Rama came out of the jungle after fourteen years, victorious over the evils he battled against. A holiday of gift giving, of lights lining the houses and adding color to the towns, and torched candle lights that burn into the night amid battle-like fireworks that pop off in a constant fury.

“Here we are, friend,” Bandar says, watching the fireworks spread across the sky in a stunning performance.

Smiling, but ill at ease, Paul holds his arms as the night winds chill his near-naked flesh. Bandar descends the roof. Paul as he sniffles a runny nose, watches the monkey vanish. A few moments pass and Bandar swings back atop the roof, heaving a tan, cotton, and long-sleeved shirt, with matching pants adorned with wooden buttons.

“Where did you get these?” Paul asks, in wonder of how his small body could even carry the clothes up to him.

“These people are so caught up, they are no match for the stealth monkey,” Bandar replies, assuming a kung fu-like pose before dropping down again out of sight. A pair of nicely made, leather, sandals is heaved up, followed by Bandar. “Here. Now you can go off to your people nicely clothed, as they prefer.”

Putting on the clothes and sandals, Paul feels warm and new, as if he had never worn clothes before.

“Thank you, Bandar, I can’t express how much your kindness means to me.”

Bandar blows off the compliment, “Monkeys are brothers to everyone,” he explains as he sits next to Paul, who looks out into the crazy streets of celebration.

“Although Rakesh is old and bitter, most monkeys respect that all are our brothers: not just our fellow monkeys but humans too, and the trees and the rocks, everything. We live among our brothers always. Your people have forgotten this,” he says, looking out into the sea of confusion.

“You are very wise for such a young monkey,” Paul says, surprised to hear such wisdom from Bandar.

“This I have learned from the wise Kavi, who lives deep in the jungle.”

“Kavi?”

“Yes Bahi, Kavi teaches us. Kavi is tapped into the source of all things and has great wisdom.”

Looking out into the town again, Paul feels anxious. He sees beggars pleading for money, some missing limbs and some disfigured and sickly in other ways. He sees a look of desperation through a false joy that people seem to be wearing as masks. “I don’t relate to these people at all. I am not this.”

“These are your brothers, Bahi,” Bandar says.

“What is Bahi?”

“You are Bahi,” Bandar says with a smile. “You are my brother, and this you should teach to your lost brethren. “

“But I must find out who I am, truly, in order to do this, or else I fear I will be lost in this sea of suffering and confusion before me.”

“Go, Bahi, be with your brothers. You will forever be remembered as my great friend, Bahi, the one who talked to the monkeys,” Bandar says as he stands up and walks toward the latter.

“Bahi, I like that,” he thinks as he rises up to thank Bandar, resolving to use this name. Descending the ladder, they come to the back alley once again. They peer out between the shops, and Bahi cases the hectic market streets.

Bang
!

Startled by a firecracker, Bahi turns to see Bandar with a
samosa
in one hand and a round sweet in the other. “For you, Bahi,” Bandar says, handing the food to him, “Go now and teach your people.”

Thanking Bandar, Bahi watches him walk off into the stark darkness behind the bright lights of the village. Eating the
samosa
and small sweet pastry, he slowly makes his way out into the street, which is inundated with men selling maps and postcards. “Hello, friend, Hello!” Bahi ignores the loud yells of the vendor, who follows him as he pushes past the suffocation of people. Firecrackers pop off persistently in a clamor that pierces his ears as he feels something pulling on his pants. Looking down, he finds a small girl, dirty with crusted snot around her nose. Her large, brown, pleading, eyes stare at him as she motions a sign of hunger, placing her hand to her mouth in an attempt to get food or money from Bahi. If he had either he would. “Sorry, I have nothing,” he admits as he walks, but the girl is persistent and follows him. Bahi’s heart is overwhelmed with the suffering all around him. Even the seemingly happy and well off seem to be hurting in some way, grasping at things all around them, as Rakesh had said. Besieged, he begins to run briskly, pushing through the crowd of people. Firecrackers blast off at every step. Vendors attempt to stop him, flashing things to buy in his face, but he persists onward, away from the village. He runs so fast and so far that when he finally stops to catch his breath, he finds himself on a dark roadside overlooking the Ganga River. He sits as tears begin to fall down his ruddy cheeks, cooling in the fresh breeze extending off of the river. Feeling alienated from the world, yet not belonging in the jungle or among his people, he truly feels lost, alone, and frightened.

“Who am I? What is my purpose here in this strange land? How do I return home?” These questions pain his mind as he weeps alone in quiet desperation. Feeling something on his thigh, he looks with a quick fright to see Bandar.

“Oh, Bandar!” he says, wiping the tears from his eyes. “You are truly the only one I know.”

Bandar smiles in silence and sits in Bahi’s lap. “Kavi,” he says softly. “Kavi can surely help you.”

“Will you take me to him?” Bahi asks, clearing his throat with a swallow.

“In the morning we will go. Tonight we sleep by the river.”

Making their way to a small, empty cave that sits just above the river, they climb inside. Bahi lies down and Bandar cuddles up to him. They warm each other from the cool night chill outside. They both fall fast asleep, exhausted from an eventful day.

OPENING HIS EYES
slowly, Bahi begins to come back to the world of time, far from the deep, subtle world of sleep he was just lost in. He hears the river rushing as he looks over the boulders that stand like warriors praying to the sun. Looking around, he notices that Bandar is nowhere to be seen. He rubs his eyes and stretches his cold feet so that they protrude straight out of the small cave space. Shaking the stiffness from his body, he stands to a crouch, walks forward, and ducks out of the cave. “Where has Bandar gone?” he wonders, as a loud thump sends his attention behind him, where a branch of bananas has just fallen. Bandar drops down, holding two
samosas
in his tiny hand.

“Good morning!” he says, sprite like, as he hands Bahi one of the
samosas
, still warm, fresh off the pan.

“You know, Bandar, it’s not nice to steal.”

“Stealing, hmm, yes I’ve heard of this. If one man is hungry, should not another give him food? If one man is cold and naked, and another man has an abundance of clothes, should he not give to his brother?” Bandar asks.

“I suppose, but without permission or enquiring one may not know if the man has an abundance or is just working for another man with abundance, and therefore you may in fact be taking from the very one who needs the food or cloth,” Bahi fires back.

“Just eat the food,” Bandar says as Bahi smiles in amusement.

Bahi bites into the crispy, fried
samosa
. The potatoes, peas, and spice filling are warming. He enjoys every bite before moving onto several bananas.

“Thank you, Bandar. If not for you, I would be starving and perhaps dead by now.”

“Friends don’t thank. Brothers do for each other without the need to be thanked,” Bandar says as a matter of fact.

“Well, it is my feeling of gratitude, then, to have you as my brother.”

“Me too,” Bandar says before ripping through a banana skin with his teeth.

The two sit in the silent morning as the sun dances upon the river. With bellies full, they settle into the warmth of the moment, drinking in the day.

“We better get along if we’re to reach Kavi before nightfall,” Bandar warns. They both rise up.

They walk up a narrow path buzzing with insects feasting on small, violet wildflowers that speckle the bushes. They reach the road and proceed to cross it once again—entering the jungle. Bahi looks back at the road, taking in a deep breath of confidence, before turning toward the vast jungle ahead.

They walk for hours, delighting in the beauty of the jungle, passing soft, gleaming waterfalls; massive, ancient trees; and numerous species of insects and other animals. They stop for a brief rest, enjoying some fruit Bandar has gathered.

“How do you know Kavi,” Bahi enquires.

“All the animals know Kavi, the great black-face monkey mystic. He’s a respected sage here in the jungle. Many times he has come to our clan to teach us the wisdom of the jungle.”

“Monkey?” Bahi asks, still jaded from the last encounter with Rakesh.

“He is no mere monkey. He is wise beyond our imaginations. Some say he takes the form of a monkey only to relate to the jungle life, but is in fact the ancient spirit of the forest. But I don’t know about all that,” he utters, shrugging his shoulders.

Bahi feels content, trusting that anyone worthy of such reverence is worth a shot.
What else is there to do?
he thinks, realizing his options are limited to Bandar’s help. Moving on, they come to an ancient forest where even the youngest trees look to be about seven hundred years old. Thick vines that put the trunks of younger trees to shame hang from large branches as the sun makes its way through treetops, dappling the jungle with serene light. Walking with admiration and awe of such sudden beauty, they come to a massive tree that melts into the ground with large knots that bubble out in all directions. Bandar stops to look up. Bahi fixes his gaze upward, squinting to see what Bandar is looking at. He notices a large, hollow opening far up, shrouded with thickly hanging vines.

“Kavi lives there?” Bahi asks with concern.

“Wait here,” Bandar says as he climbs his way quickly up the wide trunk to the opening above.

Watching as Bandar enters what looks to be a carved-out hollow of the tree behind the draped vine, Bahi sits on one of the many large knots that protrude from the base of the enormous tree. He is quickly drawn to his feet as the tree begins to rumble, sending a vibration along the jungle floor. The tree begins to open slowly like a lion’s mouth. Bahi does a double take, not believing his eyes, as he jumps back. The base of the tree stretches open to reveal Bandar, now standing in the entrance with a proud smile.

“Come on, quietly,” Bandar waves him in.

Entering the immense hollow of the tree, Bahi marvels at a beautiful, carved, spiral staircase that leads up the trunk. Random holes beam in sunlight as the two climb the long steep stair, corkscrewing higher and higher. Bahi runs his hands along the inside of the trunk as they ascend higher, still boggled by this incredible experience. Reaching a platform about halfway up, Bandar knocks on a small doorway intricately cut out in curious designs of swirling symbols foreign to him. The dark, wooded door opens as a small, white-furred monkey with a black face softly waves them in. Bahi crawls through the miniature gap that opens up into a large room dimly lit by beams of golden sunlight. Squinting into the far corner of the room, he strains to make out what’s there, blinded by hazy smoke that dances in the soft, late-afternoon light that seeps in from outside. They are instructed to sit at a raised lip on the floor, which separates the rest of the room from the smoky space ahead of them. The smell of incense infuses the air as they sit quietly. The small, white monkey leaves, closing the door behind him. They can hear the soft settling of beads as a shadowed figure seems to stand up in front of them. Bahi again strains his eyes as the shadow comes out of the mist and into the light of the sun, closer to where they sit. Bahi knows instantly that this is Kavi. White fur wraps his charcoal face, melting into a beard at his chin. Taller than the previous monkey and taller than any of Bandar’s clan, he languidly moves toward them, slightly hunched with age. Shells and bone jingle from his necklace as he slowly reveals himself. His dark, complacent face looks wise with age, and they can feel the energy that pours off him like the dry mist that flows around behind him.

“I am told you can speak with the jungle,” Kavi’s soft, warm tone is inviting.

“Yes sir, I can,” Bahi says in an almost trance state.

“What is it you wish to know?” Kavi asks, not wasting any time.

“Well sir, I seem to have been cursed with forgetfulness. I don’t remember who I am. I hit my head quite hard and haven’t remembered since. I come to you to ask if you can help me with this question.”

The wise monkey stares in contemplation, and softly blinking his eyes, he begins to speak, “You do not wish to know who you once thought you were, however you seek to know the truth of who you are, am I correct?”

“Yes, I mean I think so, it’s confusing to me as of now. Bandar had taken me into town to seek out who I was, yet I felt the answers weren’t going to be there for me. Was I wrong?”

Kavi looks at Bahi with a humble smile, “Let me begin explaining who we all are.”

Walking closer to the seated inquirers, Kavi slowly steps with his staff, which runs upward from the ground, curving like a question mark above his small, black hand, topped off with an iridescent crystal that sets firm at the head of the staff. His light brown eyes glisten as he sits in the lotus position, each foot softly placed on either thigh. “On this planet,” he begins, “we share a brotherhood that excludes no one and no thing.” Bahi smiles at Bandar, having heard this before, as Kavi goes on, “Those of us that live and breathe have the fire of creation more active in us. Therefore we must eat feeding the fire, enabling us to sustain our lives by keeping the fire active to run our vessels. Starting with the smallest plant on this wonderful planet, plants absorb nutrients from the fertile soil of our mother and drink the sweet waters given often by the Earth’s selfless bounty. So we have water, Earth, and fire. We eat the plants, which convert these nutrients and give us proteins to build our muscles and so forth, or we eat animals that eat plants and we get a secondary source of this protein. Either way, whether we are going directly to the source of nutrition or eating the leftovers in the meat of animals, all living animals such as you and I get our nutrition from the plant, which comes from the Earth and is fortified from the heavens above with sun. Our bodies are composed of the food we eat, and whatever it is we eat can be traced back to the plants and vegetation of the Earth.”

Bandar and Bahi sit captivated by Kavi’s words as he goes on. “You are the Earth, you are a reflection of the Earth, and the Earth is a reflection of you. If you check with your science you will find this to be true,” he says as he tosses a biology book from a small shelf, which lands perfectly in front of Bahi, open to a page of a human structure.

“Where did you get this?” Bahi asks perplexed.

“That’s insignificant to the conversation at hand. You are composed of three quarters water, or liquid, and one quarter mass, exactly like the Earth. You have in your body veins, capillaries, and so forth, which are your rivers and streams, and just like the Earth you have energy centers that run various systems of your body. Some call these the
chakras
. Also, like the Earth, if you pollute your body, you will get sick. But luckily, like the Earth, your body can withstand much pollution and can clean itself out. Yet, with too much pollution and toxins, sooner or later the body will collapse just like the Earth. Therefore you are all things on Earth, and all things on Earth are you.”

Kavi stands up and makes his way toward the mist. “Come,” he beckons as the two rise.

Clearing the smoke with a wave of his hand, he reveals a cauldron, bubbling from the fire below it. Stilling the bubbles with another faint wave of his hand, Kavi smiles as images begin to appear in the dense liquid. Bandar sits on Bahi’s shoulder as they peer into the cauldron. They behold people cutting down trees, images of missiles launching and exploding, people firing rifles, images of humans smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, followed by an image of a large dozer leveling trees, and another of oil burning in the ocean.

“We are not being mindful of our destruction. We are devastating our mother at a rapid pace. As we destroy the Earth, we are destroying ourselves, you see, because we are the Earth. And why does the human race do this?”

“For money mostly,” Bahi whispers.

“Aha,” Kavi says as his eyes light up. “Very good, only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last fish has been caught, only after the last river has been poisoned, only then will you realize that money can’t be eaten. Some say we can live without the Earth, perhaps on a moon. But that, I tell you, will be the end of living and the beginning of survival. The end of living draws near if we do not heed the warning. The end of living and the beginning of survival,” he says softly to reiterate his point.

A stillness pervades the room. Only the sounds of the bubbling cauldron can be heard.

“And so you seek to know who you are, I have explained this to you, but this you must also find for yourself.”

Bahi is still speechless.

“Do you have something to show me?” Kavi asks Bahi.

“Um, no, I don’t think so,” Bahi answers as he thinks.

Kavi looks, and with a nod of his head, looking down at Bahi’s pants softly asks, “A piece of paper perhaps?”

Remembering the folded-up paper in his boxers, he quickly digs into his pants, anxiously taking it out and unfolding it as he hands it to Kavi. “This is all I have, I don’t know where it came from.”

Kavi looks it over pensively and runs his fingers over the
Om
symbol before handing it back to Bahi. “Only one other human I know can communicate with the animals of the jungle, and this symbol on your paper is confirmation that you must meet him.”

Bahi looks down at the Om symbol as he listens attentively.

“I don’t know where you came from, I do not know where you will go, in fact this is all up to you. I do know this: your journey has led you here, and now I must point you in the direction of the Baba who lives beyond the valley. Bandar knows the beginning of the path’s location and will show you the way,” Kavi says, lowering his head and turning his attention to Bandar, who stands next to Bahi. “After you show him the entrance of the path you must return immediately home.”

“That is a dangerous path. I must escort Bahi!” Bandar interrupts.

“You must go home immediately, for if you step foot on that path you will never return. Death awaits you there, young Bandar, and this is not your fate. Your journey, young one, goes in another direction. It is one of great importance as is Bahi’s, and therefore I warn you not to stray from the path you are meant to walk.”

“But, but, I . . . ” Bandar tries to interject being quickly cut off by Kavi.