The monk hurriedly reached the monastery - there was about half an hour before the prayers began. He gently lifted the piece of cloth around his mouth to fit in place -today, was the day when he couldn't speak. Silence was said to help him focus his thoughts inwards, and on the greater force in this universe - devoid of all worldly distractions.
With nothing else to do, he walked over to the water area, to get a drink and refresh himself. The sun beat down mercilessly, and everything in sight had turned brown from green. There was silence all around except for the sounds of twigs crackling and the occasional chirping of a bird.
As he took a sip of the cool water from the palm of his hand, he thought "the necessities of a man are so primal - food, water and shelter. The minute these are met with, he starts to find ways to complicate his life". A small chirp from a bird almost sounding like a cry interrupted his thoughts, and he looked in the direction where it came from.
On the branch of a Birch wood tree, sat a little bird with a twig in it's beak. The branch was bent in an arch, and a part of it was over the water. A closer look at the bird revealed that it was a little sparrow, it's head almost the size of it's puny body. In it's tiny little beak, it precariously held a twig, and was trying very hard to inch towards the upper part of the branch.
The monk stood there, and watched the sparrow struggle with the weight of the twig. He then realized that the little sparrow had a broken limb and had deep wounds around it's neck, as if it had been held in a very firm grip of a bigger animal or a bird. A quick look at the top of the tree revealed an eagle sitting, smacking it's claws. It seemed like the little sparrow had slipped from it's claws, and had fallen to the lower branch - there it had found a twig, and even in it's wounded state was trying to help fortify it's nest. The eagle waited for the right time to pounce on it's prey...
A shiver went up the monk's spine, when he took in the whole scene. The little bird was trying to do something for it's nest, and it's kin even when it's own existence was questionable - and at risk?. "Is this even natural?", thought the monk. What or who would do this - what kind of force within drove this little sparrow to these limits?
While the whole scene seemed to hang by a thread, where the slightest movement in any of the characters would create an imbalance and the result could be anything, the monk didn't know anything better than to hold his breath himself - afraid to hurt anything or afraid to be a spectator to the end result.
"Ram, catch me...common you are so slow..." The voices were that of four children, chasing each other. The lead boy seemed to have the coveted ball in his hand - the rest were chasing him. Innocence at it's best - unaware, and oblivious of the situation. Innocence - thought the monk.
The boys stopped right under the tree and were panting as they struggled to catch their breath. "Let us drink some water" said their leader - a plump boy with a very cherubic face. He drank some, and that was when he laid his eyes on the sparrow. "Hey, look everyone! A sparrow! Look, look at how slowly it is moving" He screamed with excitement. There was a big flutter above at the sudden screams, and the monk lifted his head to see the eagle fly away. What a relief, he thought.
Before he could look down and react, the leader of the boys had taken some stones, and was pelting them at the sparrow! No! No! the monk couldn't really scream, because of his vow of silence that day - but he waved his hands frantically - but there was no stopping the boys...
First, the limbs were broken. Then the stones hit it's head. One, two, three stones, enough to smash it. It reeled for just a bit, lost it's balance and fell to the ground. Fell right at the feet of it's aggressors. They knew no bounds then - their prey right at their feet!. The emotions on the faces of the boys were indescribable - their barbaric joy driven by their innocence, fueled by their ignorance, and something that seemed to spiral higher and higher, proportionate with the pain the sparrow suffered.
The last stone to hit was on it's small breast - it was so powerful that it cracked the tiny thing open! Whoosh! gushed the blood out...red all around. Coating the grass, the kid's foot and the the dirt road. The tiny heart seemed to give way - to the cruelty, to forces that were beyond it's tiny capacity - it's existence, it's love did not seem to have any place or value.
The monk stood rooted - crying and in shock. "You don't belong here little one.." he silently prayed...was all he could think.
The Sun had begun to set - the little boy ran towards his home sobbing - for what? No one knew. The monk walked slowly towards the monastery...
I always had thought everything in this Universe ends only once. But, did you know you could die again even after being dead? Yes, just when you think you have hit the bottom, and think that you could build a tiny little world of your own there, at that level, the forces that are stronger than you can shake it, rock it and break it all over again...and you slip further down. Will that be the end? Will that be the rock bottom, and you won't slip further deeper...I doubt it...
That is why I think you could die over and over again even after being dead...a million times...there is no end...
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