Disclaimer: All the characters and events in this story are FICTIONAL!!
Grand ideas that later became turning points in Human Cultural evolution cannot always be mere accidents. Making ever so subtle changes, one little chip at a time, like the gentle handy work of a sculptor, TIME has made us what we are today. Thoughts that changed the world, are nothing but years of culmination of small yet strong ideas. This may be the case but there are exceptions. Some powerful ideas that shaped and pivoted the path in which civilization had progressed, were simple accidents. This story is about one such accident.
It was around 2500 years ago, on a bright sunny summer day, a young ascetic was busy in his hostel room reading some texts he found in the village library. He was preparing for his first big presentation on the topic ‘Religion: Is it time for some updates?’ at a local college. He had not always been an ascetic though. He was in fact a prince. Yes, years earlier, he was a prince, of a mighty kingdom and was brought up in all the riches that one can imagine. Beyond once imagination actually.
His father loved him so much (frankly speaking: ridiculous levels) that he shielded the young prince from all the suffering and ugliness of the outside world. The young prince was offered all the pleasures that the king could provide. He eventually grew up in that make believe world, where pomp and glory were all that he knew. By the time he was in his youth, he already had sex made love (consensual) with almost every woman (of legal age) inside the palace doors. No incest though. He was not a Lannister.
One day, he and a bunch of his vagabond buddies, decided to escape from the palace and attend the village fair nearby in disguises hoping to score with the ladies of the country side at the recording dance programme. It was the young prince’s first visit beyond the palace walls. Once outside, he was exposed to the crude realities of life such as old age, death, people spitting pan on roads.
He returned to the palace, not before scoring with the ladies of the country side, and vouched to renounce the life of a prince and to travel the world seeking the truth and purpose of life. Little did the young prince know that day, that he was going to change the world, in more ways than one.
Back to the sunny summer day. He was still reading the strange texts that he found in the village library. His own ideology was very different from that of the Karakinkaras. However, he admired the ideas. For a moment he even thought that he could plagiarise few ideas here and there, but decided against it.
“Dude, its almost time for lunch. Are you coming?” His friend knocked on the door. He was completely engrossed in the fascinating texts by then. He comepletely lost track of time. Those were texts written at different times in history, by 33 Karakinkaras, mythical spirituals beings, speaking about radical ways to not just change, but to entirely topple and rebuild the existing social order. It was a mere coincidence that he came across them. The prince, now an ascetic, was in search of truth ever since he left the palace. He came up with several ideas of his own. He was going to make some ground breaking announcements at the presentation in a day. Ground breaking, like the announcement of the iphone or the ipod only a couple of millennia ago.
“You go ahead. I think I will stay for some time and read.” He yelled out feebly.
“What a nerd!!” His friend thought and left.
When the sun was setting that evening, the ascetic finally decided that he would go to the river for a swim. The evening weather was particularly pleasant. He took his favourite pink towel and went to the river. He undressed few yards away from the river bank and walked towards the river with the towel wrapped around his waist. Leaving the towel on the river bank, he dived into the river. He had no idea what was going to happen.
By the time he reached the bank, he noticed that his towel was missing. “Those stupid monkeys” his thoughts continued, “But this should not perturb me. Life IS suffering. The only way to escape this suffering is by dispelling worldly cravings and by following my six fold path.” The Six Fold Path is one of his many ideas that he was still developing. He kept adding and deleting folds from time to time.
His clothes were a few yards away from the bank of the river. Since it was almost entirely dark, the ascetic, after checking once to see if there was anybody around, decided to just go for it.
“Shame shame puppy shame. Shame shame puppy shame.” There was a sudden eruption of laughter. The ascetic looked around. For a moment he thought that he was just hearing things.
“Shame shame puppy shame.” This time the laughs were evident. It was a bunch of young college girls who were out for an evening stroll. Three of the five girls were really pretty too (other two, not so much).
The ascetic froze, completely nude, while three pretty and two not so pretty girls made fun of him. The girls were ruthless. The fact that the water was cold did not help his cause. He did not know what to do and so he simply froze. They made fun of him (and his), for some more time and ran off giggling. He then took his clothes and ran away from there. For several hours he ran naked into the woods. After settling down near a banyan tree, he got dressed up and sat in deep contemplation. He needed to find a way out of this mess. His reputation was at stake. He sat there deciding stubbornly that he wouldn’t get up until he finds a middle path through which he can avoid being remembered as the naked guy near the river. However, he fell asleep almost immediately. He was tired from all the naked running afterall.
The next morning he woke up when a singing bird, instead of singing, shit on him. As he opened his eyes in disgust, he saw a swarm of young boys and girls sitting around him. He checked to see if he was clothed and felt secure when he realised he was. But then the questions started:
“Are you the naked swimmer?”
“Are you on keto diet?”
“Is that your hobby?”
“Hehehe!!”
“Are you single?” and so on.
A rather naughty young girl even asked, “Will you come today also?”
The young ascetic felt utterly overwhelmed, moderately humiliated and slightly flattered. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. He then spoke, while still closing his eyes, “That handsome, well built young man, might be resembling me. But I assure you my friends that it is not me. However, I had met him, as he came this way, running naked and spoke with him for several hours.”
“What did he say? Will he come today also?” It was the same girl. The young ascetic paused, blushed a little and continued,
“He is a 34th and the last Karakinkara, who is the greatest of them all. He came to consolidate the existing knowledge in the ancient texts and present a new faith to the world.”
“Why is he naked though?” the naughty girl was very persistent. Her priorities were in different areas.
“Because young girl,” the ascetic continued make things up as he went along, “that’s just the way he is.” Then he got the idea, “He is showing the world, a way of renouncing material possessions. He achieved victory over the earthly desires and conformities. He is a great hero in that sense.”
“It felt like he just froze infront of us. If he such a hero, why did he not punish us?” Another girl, who saw the ascetic’s naked body from a distance asked. She was one of the unattractive ones. The ascetic had to think fast now.
“Because young lady, his philosophy is entirely based on non-violence and forgiveness. That’s just the way he rolls baby.” He dodged that bullet (Even though bullets did not exist back then)
They seem to have believed what he said. He was off the hook. Or that is what he thought until a rather stout young boy stood up as asked,
“How do you know all this? Who are you?” He seemed sceptical of the whole thing. “How do we know that you are not the same person.”
The ascetic thought about punching the young boys, voluptuous belly, but decided against since he was also proponent of non-violence.
“I am not the same person. I am here to make a presentation at the religious conference.” He stumbled a bit. The naughty young girl pounced on this opportunity.
“Then I’m sure that naked guru would be there too. Otherwise, why would he be roaming in this part of the country at this time.”
Everybody looked at the ascetic now. He was in a tough situation. He thought for a moment and realized that he bit more than he could chew. All he wanted to do was detach himself from the embarrassment, blame an imaginary guy and move on. However, he now had to prove publicly that they are two different people and not the same.
Thus began the genesis of two of the most revolutionary faiths that to this day and age, had made lasting impressions on human society.
That day, the young ascetic made not one but, TWO presentations. As himself, with clothes that is, he presented his draft thesis after adding and deleting some of those folds. Members of certain royal families who were present in the audience, immediately found themselves drawn to the ideas the ascetic presented. They endorsed him. He won the people’s choice award that night. The critics, who mostly were from the creamy layers of the existing social order, hated his guts.
After his presentation, he ran back in to the dressing room, changed his hair style, tying it into a bun of sorts, dis-robed entirely and came out on to the stage. He was received with thundering applause (both from men and women). There was some whistling also, perhaps from that naughty girl. As the naked ‘hero’ he presented the ideas that he had read from the texts of the Karakinkaras. It was mostly about being non violent and vegetarian. There were some random thoughts about not brushing teeth and not bathing regularly but the crowds gave his disgusting looks.
Apart from that, the presentation went well. Huge gatherings of rather hefty and wealthy communities in the audience liked what he said. They immediately made him sign contracts. Even though he pleaded them not to, they took him around and introduced him to everyone in their housing colony. He was nude the entire time.
That is story of how, on that fateful day, the young ascetic, who was once a prince, became the founder of not one but TWO faiths. Faiths that would stand the test of time. One might wonder how all those people were fooled? But, that’s how disguises worked in olden days. Pretty basic stuff actually. Go and watch any black and white movie if you want.
Note: Legend has it that there was a secret society that knew of the secret of the ascetic and his double role. For generations, they kept the secret alive by keeping it a secret in total secrecy. However, in the year 1998, a member of this secret society by the name EVV Satyanarayana, made a documentary titled ‘Aavidaa maa aavide’ loosely based on the story of that young prince who later became an ascetic and two GODS.
The Cannibal 