WHEN GOD MET SATAN IN THE NIGHT

It was a long long night
There was the crowing of thousands of crows
All around
The light flickered and went out
I was in the studio
Trying to finish a somewhat large painting
Which I had started almost two years back
God was constantly with me for some time now,
Though I could only sense it in a mystical way
He guided me through my readings
Taught me to bow
And understand the unseen and taught me
Not to totally believe in any text
Whether called holy or secular
Because it was partially a creation by human beings
And was so limited by interpolations made
In favour of Power
What would Pilate do to a text on Jesus?
I had experienced this while
Reading texts that were earmarked as Buddhist also
Like the Jatakas, Dhammapada itself
Kathaasaritsaagara and so on.
Buddha’s Dhamma has passages that point towards a way
Beyond good and evil,
And it was obvious that it was not for us to judge.
Why had God who was no doubt supreme
Not totally destroy Satan
If it were not a deliberate gesture?
Some Bibles talks about a reconciliation
That was already due by now,
A day on which he met Iblis,
Who was also basically an angel
His own child, fallen from grace.

There was the presence of Aattukaalamma
And Meenakshi Amma, and Gandhari amma
As they met with Prophet Muhammad deciding to join him.
There was a strong love, a desire that transgressed binaries
And boundaries
And the life in a temple was misery
To an endarkened soul.
God entered,
And Satan came to sit on the canvas
Exhausted, ready to relent.
It had been a long and endless fight
Between the two since the banishment or fall
But now time had come
For both to meet again.
Appachan was there to bear witness,
And so was Guru.


The Canvas was turning darker
And the scene of a mosque being bombed
And two deers plying at a distance,
Which I was still working on started to take a new shape
The mosque was still there
But its position had changed and there was no more any bombing
And one of the deers(black bucks)
Went under layers of dark paint
One had to paint in the darkness,
Almost total,
And I was using my mobile phone to get a little light.
The tubes of oil paint were painted black
So that you needed faith to detect a colour in that darkness


God was engaging into a conversation with Satan,his son
Who was generally silent
Having tried too long to give God trouble
Now ready to accept
That he was none other than his father.
Pride had induced him to challenge him
Creating trouble all around the world-
With little success though,
Because he could never defeat God.
He had tried to work against God
Everywhere , in each mind, trying to challenge his
Benevolence with acts of treason or falsity.
The time had come for the doors of the hell
To be laid open
And when everybody had moved out
The gate would be closed again and the keys thrown away-
I had expected that Satan would be sent back to hell
As the text said
But things turned out differently,
And it was then that the call came from God’s mouth
“My son…”


A boy student had died off
Hit by a speeding truck
The previous day on the streets
And after returning from where his body was kept for public viewing
I had remained in the studio.
Usually I would go back home late in the evening
But somehow, that night
I was to remain there.
The crows kept on crowing for long
And the night was much, much longer.

“You threw me out,
Abolishing mine
And I fought back,
And you know that
It was not a bad deal.”
He would have said
But for the fact that
God already knew his innermost thoughts.
“Gehenna is not heaven
But I have got used to it
And had lot of company there
Because the binary of good and evil
Always sent me a lot.”

“ I am also bored of this fighting
And when we fight
The world is always in turmoil
And I want to bring the paradise back”
Said God.

“I would like to accept you back,
As the angel that you were
Only if you could take others
As your equals.
I know that because
I was there in each and every soul
And you tried entering them
And there was trouble.
Heaven and Gehenna had both turned terrible
Not because heaven had the same troubles as hell
But because we in heaven
Could not escape the remorse we felt
When we thought of all those who were with us
Who had to so remain in torment in hell
And we do turn about
Even in heaven, feeling guilty
Thinking of those of our brethren
Whom we missed or had to exclude.
But the truth has to be brought out,
Every vee bit of it,
And in the end, it was a mad tussle between us
Father and son!”

By now, in my painting the remaining deer
Had burnt off all its skin
Like a being tormented for long
By the regular hell of earthly judgements.


A drop of tear
Appeared on satan’s face
He was silent for a moment and blurted out:
“ Everybody had forgotten that we were
Father and son
And a father can forgive his son
For his sins, I hope
Even if they were dirty and cruel

I know that you could have easily destroyed me

But you didn’t

Now let us stop this tussle
Because the sufferings that we went through
In burning in hell
Taught us to see the light, or the darkness
Or calm in you
And your sense of justice.
I hope that we have repaid in pain.”

“I don’t enjoy your pain, dear one
But it so happened
And as you can see
We can settle this now.”
He took out a wine glass
From his pocket
And a bottle of wine
And poured himself a large drink
Toasted, and gulped it down.

“Yes, I can see that you gave us Gehenna
For the trouble that we made in the world
And I should admit
That it was just and without blemish
And that love is a thousand times better
Than hatred and war.”

God’s face burst into a carefull smile
And he said:
“I can hear you think, son
And know that the time has come
For things to be settled
And we should forget the trouble
And find a new world
I never enjoyed punishing somebody
though it became a necessity at times
To tell you the truth.
For paradise is always in the present
While heaven and hell
Remained perennially
In the future for those on earth.
I can believe you now
And throw away the key of Gehenna,
Keeping you also by my side.”

The sky blossomed
Into a large flower
And with truth uncovered
There was rejoicing everywhere
Towards the left and towards the right
And everywhere else
For the truth was revealed
And the seals broken
A father and son,
Meeting there, happy,
But exhausted.