ArHi FF! The Cult [Completed] - Page 37

awsm update 😊

Chapter X:

Amidst the chaos, there is calm. The large room which resembled a temple bore explicit telltale of a very pious man. No one except for that said pious man is allowed in the sanctuary of worship bar few. He was one those very few people who had the freedom to be in the temple stylized room.

He was the disciple.

Not just 'a' disciple but 'the' disciple.

Where there is a disciple, there is a guru. Traditionally the gurus followed standard suffixes after their name. But his guru was anything but traditional or to be specific, his ideology predates any of the said traditions origins.

He was simply known as The Sadhu.

The disciple knows what his guru wants even before his guru tells him to do. Their conversations never exceed five minutes. The disciple was taught very early in his age about expressing needed communication in lesser words.

The disciple walked inside the dim temple, bare feet, chanting a forgotten hymn. He sees his guru sitting in front of a large silver lamp and staring at the flickering flame. He stands six feet behind his guru and waits for him to break his concentration.

His guru would go into trance like meditative state when he wouldn't come out of the temple for days. "Meditation is the food for the soul." His guru would always say. He would nod his head and wouldn't dare to look into his guru's eyes directly; he feared he would burn knowing the intensity behind his guru's eyes.

The disciple's spine becomes straighter than it already is as he senses a shift in the air. The flame flickers rapidly with the guru's hastened breathing. He was coming out of his trance. The disciple perks up when he hears his guru's, the Sadhu's, gentle tone.

"Truth can be adapted to various forms and shapes and while doing so, it is the true essence gets morphed and misrepresented to a different thing – convenient. Our ancestors took the rituals which made our land Karma Bhoomi and gave it an ugly twist to be condemned centuries later. Now it has become hogwash with every other person talking about sanskriti and parampara without understanding their existence in the first place." The Sadhu has crossed the chasm of social and cultural evolution and has an understanding of existence and force for what they are and not what they represent.

The disciple bows down as his guru, The Sadhu, stands up and turns to look at his disciple with gentleness. He mutters a blessing under his breath and the disciple knows it would be for longevity and good luck.

"The task was completed two nights ago." The disciple still has his head bowed.

"I had no doubt you wouldn't, my son." The disciple looks up and sees a pleasant smile on his guru's face. He feels he has won the world itself. Only a true disciple knows the happiness one receives with his guru's elation. That's what he was taught.

"The police are investigating." There is a catch in the disciple's throat; a prelude to an incoming wrath of a wronged God. The Sadhu senses it but doesn't materialize that unknown glitch with words. Because then it would be real.

"Don't they always?" The Sadhu's voice is flippant. The disciple smiles serenely.

The disciple shifts his eyes to his clenched palms avoiding eye contact with his guru. "This one is checking for old cases."

The silence is melee.

"What are my further orders?" The disciple wants to go back to field and fulfill his destiny.

"Observe and report." The order comes immediately. "Are they here?" The Sadhu asks picking up a glass of milk. It's his first food source from last thirty hours.

"The health minister is already here and so is the lobbyist for the drug company. They are waiting for you." The disciple whispers in a monotone.

"How is the widow coping up?" The Sadhu adjusts his white attire. The disciple maintains bowed head as he answers.

"If she is distraught, she isn't showing it." His answers are short, like how his guru expects.

"What are you not telling me, my son?" The Sadhu's voice resembles that of a concerned parent. The disciple looks up his normally impassive face traced with emotion.

"The police met her." He stressed on 'her' as if he was talking about a monster.

The Sadhu's face discolors momentarily but it clears up immediately. The disciple feels sick in his stomach. When the Sadhu speaks, there is a mild tremor in his voice.

"Observe, record her every movement and report frequently." The Sadhu's face is gentle again. All traces of momentary fear are erased.

"Tell the visitors I will meet them now." That was the disciple's dismissal. He shrunk back to darkness and hastened away from the temple leaving his guru alone with his thoughts. His guru would ensure all of this to go away and he can continue to fulfill his destiny.

What more does one have other than waiting for their destiny to complete its course?

The whole concept of "sadhu" and "disciple" is and will always be very fascinating to me. It was this devotion that caused eklavya to cut his right thumb off as gurudakshina for Dronacharya.(In case the story is not known, the significance of Eklavya's sacrifice would be lost, in which case please feel free to scrap me. Scrap, NOT PM)

well written...update soon..😊

The more I read this ..the more confused I end up..

Her, this has to be Khushi and the fact that she is being observed makes for interesting reading. The disciples and the police are watching Khushi, what is all this? Where will it lead us?

Just caught up after a long time. Cousin's wedding drains you out, you know. So much had happened after chap 7, like always it's growing interesting and cryptic. K had been married to Mr Jha who was sacrificed by the sect, hmm. I find this Sadhu not pristine and calm but with a dark aura. Like a fox in sacred garb, hiding his ulterior motives. When he spoke of the widow, I thought it was Khushi, but no, it's her. Wow.

Here comes the church connection. So this update is pointing to the Sadhu being the order giver and the brainwashed disciple being the executor. A Sadhu with connections to the political and business world. The DCP warning to Arnav is validated in this chapter. Sounds like the wife was perhaps involved, did she ask for her husband's death? Is the Sadhu the cult leader? The Her is Kushi related and it is fascinating to see that both the Sadhu and the disciple were slightly nervous when talking about her.

RB u r opening the pandora's box it seems ...looking forward for u to unfold ...