Narayana
Picture by Benjamín Preciado
Source: Wikipedia
Narayan
woke up from a nightmare when he realized everything was the same. Lakshmi was
next to him, and he just silently observed his ocean of milk. Little did he
know—nothing would be the same.
Lakshmi looked at him in awe. She poured some of the milk from the ocean into her hands, and had Narayan drink the milk as if it was water. He knew something was different about the milk, but he didn’t ponder on what could be so different. He put the thought behind him, and continued to observe all the little things he was blessed with. He was a king of the ocean. People awaited his awakening. People looked at him in awe, and he looked at his world in awe.
He observed the trees. The bright, green leaves swaying back and forth in the gentle wind. He observed the flowers. The roses were bright red, and the petals velvety and soft to the touch. He observed the sun. It was bright, and made everything around him glisten as if everything he owned was made of diamond. The fish were swimming around him like a rainbow of color. The clouds were light and calming. Narayan spent most of his time observing the ocean. The ocean—so deep and endless, he stared blankly at all the hope left in the world. He could do and be absolutely anything he ever wanted with all the possibilities in his world. His world was the ocean, and the ocean represented hope for him to live even more marvelously as the king. He continued to observe, but he never realized how blessed he was with so much life and hope around him. He took everything for granted. He was soon to regret that.
He smiled, and shut his eyes for a few minutes. The trees fell. The roses crumpled into dust. The sun turned into a black hole. The fish turned to rock. The clouds turned to strong wind. He looked at his world falling apart little by little when he noticed his ocean of milk turn to water.
He thought, “How could this be? I did nothing wrong. Please stop. Whoever you are.”
His cry for help was not answered. The ocean continued to shake more and more when finally everything stopped including time, and all that was left was Shesha. Shesha was the heavenly king, and Vishnu sleeps on him—he was all that was peace in disaster. Shesha ruined his conscious world in minutes. Shesha was more powerful than Narayan. Shesha noticed how ungrateful Narayan was. He knew he did not deserve to sleep in peace.
Shesha thought, “You did nothing but observe. You did not help save the beauty of nature you were blessed with, so I shall take natural life Mother Nature handed you to preserve away from you.”
Narayan woke up with a thunderstorm surrounding him. It was just a dream, but it didn’t seem like a dream to him. Narayan changed everything about his wonderful life. He watered the plants. He took care of the trees, and he appreciated everything life naturally offered him. Never again did Narayan just observe. He was thankful.
Lakshmi looked at him in awe. She poured some of the milk from the ocean into her hands, and had Narayan drink the milk as if it was water. He knew something was different about the milk, but he didn’t ponder on what could be so different. He put the thought behind him, and continued to observe all the little things he was blessed with. He was a king of the ocean. People awaited his awakening. People looked at him in awe, and he looked at his world in awe.
He observed the trees. The bright, green leaves swaying back and forth in the gentle wind. He observed the flowers. The roses were bright red, and the petals velvety and soft to the touch. He observed the sun. It was bright, and made everything around him glisten as if everything he owned was made of diamond. The fish were swimming around him like a rainbow of color. The clouds were light and calming. Narayan spent most of his time observing the ocean. The ocean—so deep and endless, he stared blankly at all the hope left in the world. He could do and be absolutely anything he ever wanted with all the possibilities in his world. His world was the ocean, and the ocean represented hope for him to live even more marvelously as the king. He continued to observe, but he never realized how blessed he was with so much life and hope around him. He took everything for granted. He was soon to regret that.
He smiled, and shut his eyes for a few minutes. The trees fell. The roses crumpled into dust. The sun turned into a black hole. The fish turned to rock. The clouds turned to strong wind. He looked at his world falling apart little by little when he noticed his ocean of milk turn to water.
He thought, “How could this be? I did nothing wrong. Please stop. Whoever you are.”
His cry for help was not answered. The ocean continued to shake more and more when finally everything stopped including time, and all that was left was Shesha. Shesha was the heavenly king, and Vishnu sleeps on him—he was all that was peace in disaster. Shesha ruined his conscious world in minutes. Shesha was more powerful than Narayan. Shesha noticed how ungrateful Narayan was. He knew he did not deserve to sleep in peace.
Shesha thought, “You did nothing but observe. You did not help save the beauty of nature you were blessed with, so I shall take natural life Mother Nature handed you to preserve away from you.”
Narayan woke up with a thunderstorm surrounding him. It was just a dream, but it didn’t seem like a dream to him. Narayan changed everything about his wonderful life. He watered the plants. He took care of the trees, and he appreciated everything life naturally offered him. Never again did Narayan just observe. He was thankful.
Bibliography: Devdutt's Pattanaik's Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art
Author's Note:
Narayan is a god known as Vishnu.
Shesha is the heavenly king of the naga snakes. I used Seven Secrets from Hindu
Calendar Art to create my own story about Narayan. The video explains that
Narayan is the observer, and Sesha is the remains. Lakshmi represents fortune
and wealth. She is the wife of Vishnu. I wanted to keep her character in my
story because Narayan is fortunate to have beauty surrounding him. I wanted to
keep this original meaning of the characters in the story with a little twist
of my own. Originally, the ocean of milk means possibility, and Vishnu is
usually sleeping on Shesha floating on the ocean made rom milk. To me,
possibility means an endless amount of hope, and I wanted to represent both the
original meaning, and what I took from that meaning in my story. Nature was the
theme of my story. I feel like a lot of the time we observe nature, but do not
do much to preserve what was naturally there. We forget how lucky we really are
to see natural beauty in a world that is becoming more and more artificial. I
included nature as my main theme for this very reason. My story was a reminder
of nature's beauty that was given to the world without asking for anything in
return, so it is our job to preserve this beauty for generations to come.
Wow! I loved this story. I really like how you combined the elements of nature with the notion that it is not enough to just appreciate what you have- but to play a more active role in its protection. I feel like more people need to understand this concept, especially when it comes to protecting nature. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHey Dhara, I really enjoyed the imagery and details you included in your writing to make it so powerful. I think your story had a great lesson behind it, especially with the climate debate we are having in our world today. I really like how you vary the length of your sentences because I think it makes the writing more intense and intriguing. Is Shesha supposed to be part of Narayan himself or more of a part of his imagination? Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteDhara,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your take on Narayan! The description of the beauty around him was very good. It made sense that when he closed his eyes everything started to fall apart or crumple and die. I like that you had Shesha point out why his ways and choices were in error so that he would truly appreciate everything in the life around him.