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Three weeks later, both Randhir and Sanyukta visited the sacred place where they had once walked on coals together. This had become their favourite place.
It was the first time that they were visiting after Vidhushi's death, but the two of them agreed that they would be called there when the time had come, and it wasn't right to go there without being called. Each time they went, they had visited because of some kind of inner calling.
Today was the day that they both felt like they were being called. So together, they visited the Shaikh.
As soon as they got there, they sat on the ground beside the Shaikh. The Shaikh had his eyes closed and he seemed like he was in deep meditation. Both Randhir and Sanyukta stared at the ground and closed their eyes as well, in silence so as not to disturb the Shaikh's meditation.
Just being in the presence of this Shaikh made them feel like they were getting grace.
Finally, the Shaikh opened his eyes and looked at the two of them with compassion.
"How does it feel?" he finally asked, and both Randhir and Sanyukta looked up at him.
Sanyukta looked at Randhir, then back at the Shaikh before saying, "I feel like I haven't lost her at all."
Randhir nodded.
"It feels like she hasn't gone anywhere," he said honestly. "We are very grateful for what she has done for us."
"You understand what she has done?" the Shaikh then asked him.
He shook his head.
"I don't think I can ever understand destiny's plans," he answered. "But to me it looks like Vidhushi has sacrificed her life for us."
"Do you not understand yet son, that Vidhushi has never sacrificed anything for you? For Vidhushi to sacrifice, she had to be controlling her own body. That body, that identity, it never belonged to her. It has always belonged to one: destiny," the Shaikh said calmly, then he looked at Sanyukta. "She has not sacrificed anything at all. It is destiny who made her, it is destiny who took her, it is destiny who separated you, it is destiny who united you."
Sanyukta nodded, tears in her eyes. Of course... to claim that they controlled their own lives was a huge lie. Someone else wrote the story, and they were just acting their part.
"You can never go in the negative direction. You came here naked, you will go from here naked. Everything you earn here - money, cars, friends... everything stays here when you go," he told the two of them. "It's fine to enjoy luxury, but don't get so lost in it that you begin to think that you own it. Remember, you were brought here by one, and everything you are given, is given by that one. This body does not even belong to you... if your own body is not yours, what makes you think anything in this world is?"
"I'm sorry," Randhir whispered, "I still don't think I can understand what you are saying... my thinking is too limited."
"Some species can see ultraviolet rays, but because we do not see them as humans, does it mean that they do not exist?" the Shaikh asked. "Just like our sight is limited, our hearing is limited, our minds are also very limited. That is why we call it a leap of faith... because it is the scariest territory you can tread into, but if you tread onto it, then it is also the most enlightening. Vidhushi stepped into that territory, and to the world it looks like she has died, but she has been liberated."
"Liberated?" Sanyukta asked softly.
"Yes, she has reached a place where she has become the universe. She has joined destiny and their relationship is so pure that they have united as one," the Shaikh explained. "Don't feel sad for her, because she had the luckiest fate of you three. She is the one who was able to surpass all and took the leap of faith. She didn't know where she was heading, but she still took that leap. That is why she has been liberated. She had no more attachments to this place, no interaction left, no balances to be settled. All of her karma is finished. She has no reason to come back now."
"She deserves it," Sanyukta said and the Shaikh smiled.
"Both of you have done a lot of penance in your love. Son, you have fought with yourself, to the point where you even befriended yourself for the sake of your love. Daughter, you have forgotten about yourself for his sake. Both of you lost yourself along the way when it came to loving each other... this has moved the heart of destiny so greatly," the Shaikh said. "In the love that you have for each other, you discovered the love for destiny. Your love is your greatest strength. Never let anything else surpass it."
Then the Shaikh stood up, shaking. He was old and it looked like his body was going to collapse soon.
"Are you okay?" Sanyukta asked and stood up.
Randhir got up too. Both of them reached out to help him, but he lifted his hand to stop them.
"I am okay," he said with a smile. "This is the last time you will be seeing me. I have nothing more to tell the two of you, for you can already hear destiny speak from within. My purpose has been served."
Then he started to walk and both Randhir and Sanyukta followed him, a great pang in both of their chests.
"Do not follow me," he said to the two of them, stopping in his tracks and turning around. "Learn to follow the voice within. You have learned all that you need to."
With tears in their eyes, they both fell flat on the ground and held their hands out in front of his feet, doing a final namaskaram to the teacher that taught them so much.
"Stay blessed," he said, and before they could even get up from the ground, he had turned around.
As they looked up, they saw him one final time, before he disappeared.
Randhir and Sanyukta couldn't believe their eyes. The Shaikh seemed to have vanished into thin air in front of their very eyes.
Suddenly they remembered the Shaikh's words from the morning after they walked on coals.
"Illusions are created at the will of the Universe, to push you towards your destination," the Shaikh's voice had boomed, "There was never a tree on that car. It was an illusion of your mind, because somewhere deep down even you knew you had to do penance... the penance to love."
They stood up shaking, and Sanyukta held on to Randhir tightly, tears in her eyes.
"Was he ever there?" she asked him, burying her face in his chest.
"Are we even here?" he responded, feeling lost.
He didn't know what was real and what was fake anymore. If the tree that had fallen on top of his car that day had been an illusion, and the Shaikh himself had been an illusion, then how could they so confidently say that this world was not?
"I love you," she whispered, and hugged him tightly.
Randhir hugged her back, burying his face in her hair before he whispered, "I love you too."
Even if this was the biggest illusion, the biggest lie of life, they knew that their love would still hold. They would happily surrender to this illusion. They would gladly play their parts, until they were called by destiny for good.
Sometimes, a harsh reality had to be shown, in order to truly enjoy the world for what it was.
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