Razor wheel throne

The crowd inched through the vestibule. The husband was feeling uneasy. He accepted everyone’s condolences with an expressionless face. He could not think what to do next.

It was the princess’ funeral, and the prince led the procession. No one could blame him, not even his own conscience. But something disturbed him. He was lost in a train of thoughts.

Prince Innocence had a reputation for practising loving-kindness. He has never beaten his peers or kids. Naturally the Prince never raised his voice against the wife. He would protest, if there was any, in a mild tone. That was enough.

But on this fatal day the Prince felt it was not enough. He was trying his best to control himself, but the rage got the better of him. The wife did not expect the sudden shove from her husband. She fell off the building and her injuries became critical. The moment he saw the consequences, the Prince rushed her to the closest hospital. But no physician on earth could save her life.

It was the first night he could not sleep. Prince Innocence had doubts about his practice, about himself. Towards the first watch of the night he could gradually sleep, but he knew it was his last. He breathed his last too.

Where he was reborn, the Prince could not recognize at first. He had to walk on to get familiar with the environs. It was thick dark, but still he could walk along. Everything he heard was just pain, agony and nothing else. He was clueless whether they belonged to humans or any other living being. It had quite an inhuman feel. Even in the thick dark, he could see the blood flowing out. He slowly realized in which state he was reborn.

But the Prince was scared to think of it: hell.

He was scared to think he was reborn in hell. He was rather wondering why he was reborn in hell, when he did many good things while he was a human. Why has none of them worked on him? Anyway if this is his destiny, let it be – he would accept it. This too will pass, he thought. But little did he know that the worst is yet to pass.

He could not get beyond a certain point. That’s where he could at least see someone human. The guy was suffering. Something was torturing him, the face betrayed the expression. The darkness had faded out now, and the Prince could see what is going on.

Above the guy’s head was a large razor wheel, which looked like a throne. The wheel was going round, razing rapidly his head. At such a rate, the head would have been finished to a pile of flesh. But it was not so, quite to the Prince’s surprise. No, the head was intact.

“Hi,” the guy could manage to say that much.

“Hello, what’s that thing on your head?” the Prince asked, inquisitively.

“It’s a razor wheel. It has been torturing me for 600 years. I got this wheel because I injured my mother. I was told in 600 years another guy would come to suffer. I’m relieved to see you at last. You will have to suffer this for another 600 years.”

When you deserve to suffer, you have to – it was the lesson. He had a deep compassion for the fellow.

“All right, then.”

In no time the razor wheel left the guy’s head. The Prince knew the throne had reached him. Tears were flowing down his cheeks. The pain was too much for him to bear. But still he was thinking. He knew it is difficult, but there was something he had to think about.

“Someone else will have to undergo this another time. So I will suffer this for 3000 years, so at least a few people won’t have to suffer this. I will take the punishment from them. Let them be spared.”

With that thought, the wheel’s movement changed. Everything shattered. The whole earth of hell trembled. The moment was different. He was brought to heaven. He sat up, satisfied it was merely a dream.

The following day Prince Innocence rang Aravinda.

“There is nothing symbolic about the dream. You have to understand it as it is.” Aravinda remarked.

“That means? I still don’t get it.”

“The dream was not a myth. It’s a metaphor. The world is what you think. If you think kind, the world will be kind. If you think cruel, the world will be cruel.”

“I had been practising loving-kindness ever since my childhood. But I started doubting myself.”

Aravinda laughed.

“Such things happen, friend. Don’t forget we are not perfect. We all make mistakes. So learn to forgive yourself first. You have made a mistake. So acknowledge it. And forgive yourself. If you have doubts about yourself and suffer that means you are not ready to forgive yourself. Don’t forget to take the lesson whenever something terrible happens.”

Prince Innocence did not want to interrupt Aravinda’s comment with questions. He was too interested listening to him.

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