The atheist in Sodium..

An atheist sinner was going through a rough patch in life. Many of his well-wishers suggested him to take a bath in the holy river of Ganga to get rid of his sins. He asked everybody of them how it would work, what would rid him of his sins by taking a bath in the waters of the river Ganga. But nobody could answer him, not even prestigious saints. Eventually, after facing a lot of personal problems and driven by despair, he went to Hardwar to take bath in the holy river of Ganga. He took a long dip in the freezing water and chanted some lines he remembered his mother teaching him when he was a child. After the bath, propped against a wall, legs crossed, he sat in a corner on the steps of the river ghat, in bright sunlight, and began thinking about how this might possibly help him. Fatigue of a long journey, and the bright sunlight after a bath in chilling water quickly lulled him into sleep. When he woke up, he found himself before Lord Shiva, the greatest God in Hindu religion, on the Great Mountain of Kailash which, in the scriptures of Hindu mythology, has been told to be his home. The man was confused and surprised. He hadn't been sure if all this exists somewhere. Now that he was witnessing this, he asked Lord Shiva, what no-one on earth had been able to answer him. To his surprise, he found a blank expression on Lord Shiva's face. The God told him that even he had no idea how taking a bath in the holy rivers of Ganga could rid the man of his sins. Then the God suggested him to ask this to Lord Brahma, the creator of life and the universe according to Hindu scriptures, and offered the man a ride to Lord Brahma's Lotus flower with him. In a moment they were before Lord Brahma. Seeing Lord Shiva there, Brahma stood up in his flower in respect and bowed to him. Shiva asked the man to pose his question to Lord Brahma. The man obeyed and was even more surprised to watch a blank look on Brahma's face as well. So, my doubts about the abilities of Gods have indeed been correct, the man thought in sadness. He was sad at the way his poor fellow men were deluding themselves with the divine powers of God when the truth was that even Gods had no idea of the guiding force behind life. He wondered what actually the guiding force was then. The train of his thoughts was broken when, seeing him sad and hopeless, the two Lords offered to take him to Lord Vishnu, the third of the trinity of the greatest Gods in the Hindu mythology, to ask his question. The man was not very hopeful but he thought why not to see the ground realities there as well. If two of them are not worth their name, the third would only complement them. Why not to see the whole reality so that he can go down there and tell some sensible people what lay behind all those putative holy scriptures of Hindu mythology. The three of them went to the deepest depths of the Oceans to see Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu was delighted with this sudden visit of Brahma and Shiva and they bowed to each other. Shiva asked the man to pose his question to Lord Vishnu. The man repeated his question to Lord Vishnu, already anticipating the same blank face the other two had drawn. He had accidently discovered the ground realities of the ancient scriptures and whatever little belief he had had in the Gods, the putative creators of this world, had shattered. Mythology was after all derived from Myth. The holiest saints of the world and the writers of the holy Hindu scriptures were as far away from the reality as he had been as an atheist. But that was not to be. He was jolted out of his thoughts as Lord Vishnu slapped him on his face. He saw that Lord Shiva (also called Mahesh) and Lord Brahma had moved to the sides of Lord Vishnu. The halo behind them was blinding. Lord Vishnu was telling him "You couldn't have been more stupid. You are witnessing the corporeal presence of the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh and are still asking how a bath in the holy waters of Ganga could rid you of your sins!"

The brightness of the halo had blinded his vision. The man couldn't see the three deities any longer. He put his hand on his eyes to block the enormous light blinding them. He felt that the water of the ocean at the ocean bed had become cooler and a chill was rising from his legs up his spine and making him shiver. Suddenly he shook. The priest on the river shore was waking him up. The water level in Ganga had risen and had half submerged the step on which he was sleeping. A long time had passed and the sun was high up in the middle of the sky, its light penetrating his closed eye lids. It took him sometime to gain consciousness. It had been a deep sleep but perhaps he had woken up eventually. Perhaps the water in the Ganga had risen to wash him off his sins in the presence of Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh. Perhaps the sunlight had been blinding because a curtain before his eyes had been lifted. Perhaps this was the time to start life afresh.