The Krishna Key (18 page)

‘It’s interesting to note that Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic, that evolved from the Persia-Syria region, also had an equivalent word prior to Arabic,’ continued Saini. ‘The Aramaic form is
Elaha
while Hebrew uses the plural form of
Elohim.
The question that we must then ask ourselves is this: from where did Al-Ilah, Allah, Elaha or Elohim emerge? If one simply considers the date of the
Rig Veda
and the evidence of westward migrations of Vedic people, it is possible that these words had a common root in Ilah—a goddess worshipped in Vedic times.’

‘So, monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam may have inadvertently borrowed from a polytheistic one such as Hinduism?’ asked Radhika incredulously.

‘Well, in the
Rig Veda,
one comes across a verse that says
“ekkam satya vipra bahuda vidhaante”.
It means,
Truth is one, God is one, although sages may call him by a variety of names.
This is the essence of Vedic philosophy. It is a misconception that the Vedic faith is polytheistic,’ said Saini taking a gulp of hot water from his flask.

At that very moment, the silence and stillness of Mount Kailash was shattered by a resounding gunshot. While Radhika and Saini were completely preoccupied in their philosophical discussions, two of the Tibetan chortens had morphed into the human figures of Priya and Taarak. They had quietly moved over to the edge of the balcony and clambered down the rope that had been used by Radhika and Saini to climb up.

Sherpa Dorji was heading back towards the base of the cave when he saw the two strangers running away from the base of the south face. They were carrying away the rope that was needed to access the cave. ‘Hey!’ shouted Dorji. ‘What do you think you’re doing? Where are you taking my rope?’

Instead of replying to his question, Taarak had simply turned around, taken out his gun and fired a round into the air. The purpose was not only to warn Sherpa Dorji that there was no point in attempting to fight but also to set in motion a natural chain of events that would finish off the two pesky intruders—Radhika and Saini—once and for all.

As the gun went off, there was an ominous loud rumble and the earth began to tremble. Seated in the cave of the south face of Mount Kailash, Radhika and Saini felt the ground shake as exploration with bmef massive quantities of boulders, snow and debris began rolling down from Shiv’s abode. Within a few seconds the avalanche was in full motion. Radhika and Saini clung to one another under the ledge of the Saptarishi Cave as they watched the only entrance to the cave fill up with boulders and ice.

‘Are you hurt?’ asked Saini urgently, as he held Radhika tightly. There was no reply. He repeated the question. In panic, he shook Radhika a little, but soon realised that he was shaking a corpse. He frantically placed his hand in front of her face to discern if she was breathing, but he could not feel her breath.

Saini’s eyes moistened as the reality that Radhika was dead hit him. He continued to cradle her body in his arms as he felt his tears well up. He felt her head and discovered a mild bump underneath her wet hair. Obviously, some falling debris had hit her. He cursed himself for slipping into his academic role and taking his eye off the ball. It had got Radhika killed while he himself was well and truly stuck.

Saini remembered the tutorial that Priya had given him about checking for a pulse. He placed two fingers under the angle of Radhika’s jaw to check her carotid. He prayed fervently that he would detect even the faintest beat of life, but there was none. ‘No!’ shouted Saini. ‘Why don’t you open your eyes, Radhika?’ he asked, almost wishing to trick himself into believing that she was alive. But there was no reply. Soon there was only darkness—and the sub-zero chill of a morgue.

Warriors on both sides took an oath to honour the traditions and rules of battle. By the time that the battle ended, all rules would have been forgotten. In front of the Pandavas, stood the mighty army of the Kauravas. Different flags symbolising key warriors fluttered in the air
—
flags of Bhishma, Drona, Duryodhana, Kripa, Jayadhrata and Aswatthama. Seeing the scale of the Kaurava forces, Yudhistira said to Arjuna, ‘The opposing army is incredibly large. Our strategy should be to concentrate our forces into a needlepoint. It is the only way that we will be able to fight them.’ But Arjuna was in no condition to respond. He was overwhelmed with the scene and seemed terrified.

Radhika Singh had just started teaching history, geography and civics at the Mayo College in Ajmer. Her husband, Commandant Hari Singh of the Border Security Force, had recently been promoted from Deputy Commandant and the increased pay had allowed them to get married. Their respective fathers had been buddies in the Indian Army and had decided to introduce the children to one another, in the hope that love would blossom and that they would get married. The strategy had worked.

Commandant Hari Singh had been sent off to Jammu & Kashmir as part of a BSF battalion handling counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism
operations. Hari Singh’s team established an intelligence network and created ground-level relationships with informants. The result was that they were able to kill Rafique Baba—a key operative of the
Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Hari Singh’s team raided Rafique Baba’s secret camp in Srinagar and killed him in the gun battle that followed. As reward for his efforts, Hari Singh was granted leave along with a generous bonus, and he proceeded to Ajmer to spend some quality time with his wife. Little did he know that his victory had not gone unnoticed within the leadership of the Jaish-e-Mohammed. Two sharpshooters were instructed to track down Hari Singh and eliminate him.

That evening, Hari,’ replied Sir Khancois Saini and Radhika Singh had taken his pretty wife to a movie and they had eaten a hybrid Indo-Chinese meal from a small restaurant near the cinema. They had walked back to their house hand-in-hand, enjoying the intimacy of the moment. As they reached the garden gate to their government-allotted quarters, Hari had been hit by a barrage of bullets. The two masked gunmen who had been hiding behind the bushes had continued firing until Hari’s body was riddled with holes.

At first, Radhika’s reaction had been that of intense despair as she fell to her husband’s side, pleading with God to keep him alive. It was followed almost instantaneously by intense rage directed at the men who were running towards the gate. The gardener had been trimming the hedges that day and his

Arjuna looked at the massive Kaurava army, which had been organised in vyuha formation by Bhishma. Arjuna asked me to dr,’ replied Sir Khansterme Rive the chariot to a midway point between the two armies so that he could have a better view of both sides. Once
I had done so, Arjuna carefully observed his grandfathers, uncles, teachers, brothers, sons, friends and relatives. He was overwhelmed. The Gandiva fell from his hands and Arjuna sat down. ‘Of what use will be a kingdom or wealth when it is to be obtained by spilling my own family’s blood?’ he asked me. ‘I would rather be killed by my cousins than wage war against them. I do not want to fight!’

‘Hari-Hari, Hari-Hari, Hari-Hari,’ the Rishikesh guru was saying to Radhika. ‘Keep chanting Hari-Hari, Hari-Hari, Hari-Hari.’ With each repetition of the word, his voice seemed to get louder. It was almost as though he were reciting the name to the background rhythm of a percussion band. In her delirious state, Radhika did not realise that what she was hearing was actually the sound of helicopter rotor blades. She had been tied to a rope that had been brought up to the Saptarishi Cave by a rescue team led by Sherpa Dorji who had gone trekking several miles to seek emergency help after his standoff with Taarak.

Radhika had been lowered down to the base of the mountain from where she had been carried by sherpas and Saini to a small helicopter. Saini and Radhika were now headed to Darchen where a small but functional first-aid centre funded by the Swiss Ngari Korsum Foundation would provide emergency medical help. As they flew towards Darchen, Saini had a breath-taking view of Mount Kailash in the distance, nestled within six mountain ranges and the all-embracing Mansarovar lake. Saini was able to see in reality that the six-pointed star symbolism of Mount Kailash was very much true. As he gazed
at the mountain, he thought of the Sri Yantra, a symbol of energy used by Hindus around the world in their homes.

The more he looked at Mount Kailash, an upright pyramid—almost phallic—resting in the yoni of the surrounding valleys, the greater was his realisation that whether it was the six-pointed star, or the Sri Yantra, both were representations of creation—the intersection of Shiv and Shakti. Ironic indeed, thought Saini to himself, that Shiv—a force of destruction—was mostly depicted via a symbol of creation.
Shiv and Vish were indeed two sides of the same coin.

‘Is
this really about duty or is this your fear speaking?’ I asked Arjuna. He looked up at me. Ignoring my rebuke he asked, ‘How can I be expected to shoot arrows at Bhishma or Drona? They are the elders that I have looked up to all my life. Why should I be responsible for such a heinous crime?’ I smiled at Arjuna and placed
my hand on his shoulder. ‘Arjuna, the truly wise do not grieve
—
either for the living or the dead. As clothes are changed, similarly the soul adopts and discards bodies. The soul cannot be pierced by your arrows nor can it be burnt by fire. It cannot be wet by water nor can it be dried by air. It is permanent and universal. Knowing that the soul cannot be destroyed
—
it is never born and never dies
—
how can you possibly kill?’ I asked the troubled warrior.

Sanjay Ratnani and Sir Khan sat inside the don’s Rolls-Royce. It was a Silver Phantom that had been specially customised for Sir Khan. The vehicle had been provided with armour reinforcement, which allowed the car to withstand rifle attacks, automatic gunfire, sniper assaults, and ev a hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second ais Saini and Radhikaen explosions from hand grenades.

Sir Khan loved bling, and his car took the concept of bling to an entirely different planet. Many of the trimmings that would usually feature walnut or cherry wood panels had been replaced by eighteen-carat gold plating. The process of customising the car had taken over a year.