VII

It has stopped raining outside. The yellow Sun has created a beautiful rainbow, which is being seen by three of them through the same window. Even, three of them had learned about the law of nature equally, through the same window of one source. The last night, had hidden a lot of secrets in its darkness. But, today the Sun, has revealed all of them at once. Three of them, are busy in talking with each other.

“What would you do now?” asked the Publisher

“I knew till this phase. I don’t know what to do next.” replied Anamika

Both the Publisher and Anamika are busy in talking with each other. Finding both of them to be busy in a conversation, Jeff took out the letter out of his pocket. He went out of the room and started reading it. His mind is trying to solve, the last riddle which is in this letter. He has already read the letter three- four times. But, he is still not able to decode it. The letter only has one topic, which is freedom. After reading the letter for the fifth time, his eyes trapped a word attached to the word ‘freedom’. This word is ‘The Island of Freedom’.

Jeff’s mind started concentrating on the last words in the letter. But, he is not having a single clue about this ‘Island of Freedom’. He came inside the room, with the letter in his hand. Only Anamika is sitting inside the room, while the Publisher has gone somewhere else.

As he entered the room, she ran towards him and hugged him tightly.

“I am sorry. But it was necessary for both of us.” said Anamika

“Anamika, do you know about this word?” asked Jeff, while pointing out at the word in the letter.

“Whose letter is this?” asked Anamika

“My teacher had left it for me.” replied Jeff

Jeff had received the letter from the monastery. His teacher had died and left a letter for Jeff.

Anamika instantly started reading the letter of the old wise monk. The words which were scribbled in the letter were:

***

Son, now I am the past, and, you are the present. Whatever we are doing in life is to gain ‘similarity’. People spend their whole life in becoming what the others already are. That is, they want to be similar in each and every respect, to their role models. But the real purpose for which we have been created is ‘differentiation’. The more you’ll differentiate yourself, the more you’ll learn. The biggest knowledge in this universe, is to know yourself.

I know until now, you might have been through a lot of experiences in your life. You might have seen snow in glaciers, burning heat in the deserts, rain, shadows of clouds, pinnacles of huge mountains, blossoming of flowers, darkness of jungles. The basic thing which is behind all of these, is a person who experiences all of it within you. Find this person inside you, by going to ‘The Island of Freedom’.

***

Anamika has finished reading the letter. She came across two diagrams, drawn at the end of the letter. On one diagram, Africa was written while on the other India was written. The Island of Freedom was shown as a point between both the diagrams.

After reading the letter, her memory started flashing ‘The Island of Freedom’.

“I know about this place.” said Anamika

“What is it?” asked Jeff

“I’ll tell you on the way.” replied Anamika

“On the way?” asked Jeff

“Yes, we are leaving very soon.” replied Anamika

As both of them were discussing , the Publisher entered the room with a briefcase in his hand. He opened the briefcase. Both Jeff and Anamika, are shocked to see, that the briefcase is full of money.

“You’ll need it.” said the Publisher, while handing over the briefcase to Anamika.

Anamika laughed a bit and said:

“We are running away from desires. This is the thing which produces cravings and desires.” replied Anamika, while pointing out at the money

“We have enough money to reach there.” said Anamika

The Publisher closed the briefcase and placed it on the ground. She had already discussed with the Publisher that, she is going with Jeff to some isolated place. So that, Jeff’s learning could be away from the reaches of the society. But, she was not knowing about the place. Now, the place which she was looking for, has been mentioned in the letter.

On the other hand, Jeff is eager to know about ‘The Island of Freedom’. At the same time, he does not want to disturb Anamika and the Publisher’s conversation.

“Would you like to sleep for some-time?” asked Anamika to Jeff

“No, I am fine” replied Jeff

“Ok, then get ready. We are leaving in the afternoon.” said Anamika

“Are we leaving today?” asked Jeff

Jeff asked her because he is thinking: how to convince his parents.

“Yes, we are. Is there any problem?” asked Anamika

“No” “But, don’t you think that we are leaving quite early?” asked Jeff

“We are already late. We have already wasted a lot of time in our life.” replied Anamika

She told him, she wanted to spend more time with her father and grand-father. She went out of the room. Even, Jeff has returned back to his home. He shared everything with his family on phone. He made his parents to understand about his problem. They freed him from each and every bondage, and, gave the boy their blessings. After talking to his parents, he packed up his luggage.

Again, he came back to the Publisher’s house in the afternoon. The Publisher and Anamika, are already sitting in the lawn. Her luggage is lying outside the main door of the house.

“Only one bag?” he said to himself

He placed his three suitcases along with Anamika’s suitcase. She looked at his luggage.

“We are not going on a vacation. Adjust your necessary items in my bag.” said Anamika

Without uttering a single word, he opened his bag and took out important items. He opened her bag which is half-full, only a limited quantity of things are in her bag. There are some clothes which have been kept in the main portion of the bag. In the upper transparent part of the bag, are kept some of the important items. After keeping his clothes in the bag, he joined Anamika and her grand-father.

She asked for a small motor-boat from her grand-father. Jeff is looking at both of them. The Publisher took out his car and went somewhere. After one hour, the Publisher came with keys in his hands. He handed over the keys to Anamika. May be he has arranged a boat for both of them. She told Jeff, to pick up the luggage and both started heading towards the port.

Now, even the Publisher has understood the real purpose of life. For the first time, it had happened that a father has inherited something from his son. This inheritance was ‘Freedom’. This inheritance was much more valuable than, what he has earned throughout his life. His billions of dollars could not match with, what he has learned within one day of his life. He came to know that, life and experiences teaches more than the books.

“Are we going in a boat?” asked Jeff

“Yes, because nobody is allowed to enter ‘The Island of Freedom’” replied Anamika

It took only half an hour for both of them to reach the port. There on the port was floating a small-beautiful blue coloured motor boat.

“Are we travelling in this boat?” asked Jeff

“Yes” replied Anamika

He kept the luggage in the boat and took the command of the boat in his hands. Slowly, the boat has started leaving the territory of society and entering into the territory of freedom. They looked backwards, the port of Sanglon, is now quite far away from their motor-boat.

The backside of their boat is creating waves in water. Up from the sky, their boat is looking like a serpent moving with a huge tail of water behind it.

“We could have travelled in a ship?” asked Jeff

“No. It is not possible” replied Anamika

“Have you ever been to the Island before?” asked Jeff, while steering the boat

“Yes, I have been there in one stage on my enlightenment process.” replied Anamika

“But you had mentioned in the diary that, you were in the Himalayas” asked Jeff

“There are two ways of reaching to ‘The Island of Freedom’. One way is through physically going there. The other one is a not a physical way that is, one can reach there through years of meditation and concentration while, sitting in Samadhi state.” replied Anamika

She told him that, ‘The Island of Freedom’ is a place which, a normal individual cannot find. Basically, it is a state of mind, where only a person with free thoughts could enter into the dungeon of freedom. After getting inside that dungeon, nobody comes out of it.

Very few people have been able to reach this Island. It has been hidden from the common world. The huge palm trees encircle the Island, which protects it from the materialistic trespassers. If you reach near the Island also, you would not be able to see it. There is a hidden work of karma which can unlock the Island for you. It is out of the reach of societal impurities. There you’ll find pure energy, which protects this Island.

“What is this energy composed of?” asked Jeff

“There is a story behind it.” replied Anamika

***

Long time ago, the first enlightened person wanted to establish a place, away from the reaches of the society. He was the first person who found this Island, so that other people could attain liberation. For protecting the Island from materialistic society, he left a part of his soul in this Island. The other part of his soul got liberated. With the passage of time, this energy escalated, when more beings got enlightened. It is said that his soul would liberate, after liberating all the other sentient beings. So far, thousands of people have attained enlightenment from ‘The Island of Freedom’.

***

“What do you know more about this Island?” asked Jeff, while taking a turn

“It is another world in this world. The real freedom there is of thoughts. Nobody interacts with the outer world. Everything over there is free from the shackles of the society. Only pure mind can reside there.” said Anamika

The pen placed inside the spiral binding of the notebook, has come on the first page itself. The slight movement of the boat, is making the pen to move on the paper. The shadow of the pen is moving, along with the pen on the paper. The moon is visible in the sky as well as in the turbulent sea. The sound of the sea is creating the trance at the moment. Now, Anamika is on the wheel of the motor-boat. The waves themselves are taking the boat to the Island.

“What do you mean by freedom and enlightenment? asked Jeff

Anamika smiled and said:

“When you perceive in all the four directions at one time, then it is called freedom. If you are able to perceive in only one direction, then it is called bondage.”

“While, enlightenment is that state, in which your desires are in balance with their fulfilment. It is a state in which, the ‘seeker’ has already got what it wanted. In this state, there are no desires.

(desire) 1 : 1 (fulfilment)

When the above ratio occurs, it means non-existent state, that is one has attained liberation. It is the middle path which is the non-existent state.” said Anamika

Jeff has not understood, what Anamika had just said. He wanted to know more but thought not to discuss it now.

“Why are we going to ‘The Island of Freedom’?” asked Jeff

“Well, I was expecting this question in the beginning. But any how, there is a reason for it.” replied Anamika

“And you know the reason.” replied Anamika

Jeff knew, the reason being the control of his mind by the society. As both were concentrating on the sea, which was becoming more violent. All of a sudden, a voice emerged from the sky. They looked at the sky and the black figure with enormous light was in the sky. Jeff got scared. Anamika told him not to be afraid of the figure.

“The feeling of freedom is life itself.” Whispered the black figure

“Who are you?” asked Anamika, while looking at the sky

“I am............” the black figure whispered

(to be continued......)