The LEGACY

"So, what dream did you have today?" asked a man sitting on his couch with a notebook and pen in his hand. He was a psychiatrist."Well, it was almost the same as usual. A man was giving me a speech, and in the background, people were killing each other," the man replied."Anything else special in the dream?""I don't think so.""There must be something. Tell me the whole dream, from start to end. Whatever you remember.""Okay, here it goes."The man then started his story."I was in the middle of a battle. People were fighting and killing each other. They were using swords, arrows, spears, and many other sharp weapons. I could smell blood and dust all over the place, see blasts going on, and feel the shockwave from them, but I didn't smell any gunpowder.The noise around me was deafening. It gave me a headache. I could feel my veins throbbing in my head.You understand, right? I was in the midst of a proper war but in some ancient era. People were wearing armor— not the usual armor but the iron chain type. The more powerful people, perhaps kings or other leaders, wore heavy armor.I could see there were two different types of armies. One army consisted of inhuman creatures. They looked like monsters, creatures running on two legs like humans but with inhuman faces, heights, and bodies. On the other side, I was there. I saw that my body had a lot of hair on it. I could feel something moving on my back. People around me looked the same. We were not humans, but we were close to humans— a sort of hybrid between animals and humans. I was holding a mace-like weapon, feeling angry with blood all over me. We all were screaming. The war was very loud. I swung my mace and struck those monsters. They died on impact.The sun was in the sky, slowly setting. I knew I had to finish the war before the sun went down completely, or I would have to fight again tomorrow.It seemed that someone from our team had killed one of the strong opponents. We all were celebrating. The enemy forces started hugging each other. I too felt better; maybe someone who died was a particularly strong opponent.But suddenly, the sky began to darken. The joy turned into fear. I sensed negativity spreading across the battlefield. I saw an enormous monster approaching us. It was so huge that we looked like ants in comparison. It started grabbing people from my group and eating them.He was so gigantic that I couldn't even see his face without tilting my head upward at more than 60 degrees. Can you imagine? So huge. Then, a small man appeared. A proper man, a human. But in the fight of inhumans, a man? No, he wasn't just a man; he had a different aura. His aura was very strong. He had strong arms and a bow in his hand without any quiver for arrows.Out of nowhere, an arrow appeared in his bow. It was a shiny arrow. That arrow flew and cut off the monster's left hand, the one holding my army's people. The second arrow took off the right hand. The third arrow struck the head. The enormous monster was dead within seconds, killed by a single man with just three arrows while we had been struggling to kill it with multiple weapons. Isn't it amazing?""Hmm... our dreams are creative, defining and creating many things. Also feeling something for them, feeling fear—it's good. You should start writing, I would say."I left the psychiatrist's house and walked towards home, thinking about the events in the dream. It all seemed as if I knew what was going to happen next. That was a war I had never been in, but I knew it. I had watched it before, not as a first person but as a third person. It was happening, and I was watching it, maybe on TV?Confused, I reached home and started watching TV to refresh my mood. In my kitchen, there was a painting on the wall of Arjun and Shree Krishna. Shree Krishna was the 'SARTHI,' guiding Arjun through the war.I picked up some chips and went back. There was another painting of Ram and Lakshman. They were holding bows, and Shree Hanuman was behind them, protecting them.I had a flashback of my dream. I was in the war, a man, dark-skinned, wearing armor with a strange bow in his hand. His personality was different from other humans nowadays. He seemed to be a true leader, a great warrior. His skin was glowing, his vest had blood stains, and the dust on his face didn't make him look bad; rather, it glorified him."किं करोषि मित्र? किमर्थं त्वं अकेंद्रितः असि?" asked the man. "What are you doing, friend? Why are you unfocused?""I..." I was not sure what to say. I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what was happening. I saw myself, wearing armor with weapons in hand. I felt strange power in my body. The strength and agility I felt were incalculable."अहो, त्वया शरीरं परिवर्तितम्। न भवतः सम्यक् समयः मित्रम्। पुनः गच्छतु। मम साहाय्यार्थं पुनः भवतः समयः आगमिष्यति। परन्तु अधुना, मम तस्य आवश्यकता अस्ति, न तु भवतः।" said the man.Everything turned bright. I closed my eyes. I was back in my room with chip packets in my hand.I sat on my sofa, shaken by the experience. I was unsure if it all happened in a dream or in real life.I called my psychiatrist again and told him everything."Maybe someone wants to guide you into something. It's fine, just note it down. We can discuss it in the next session," he concluded.Something was strange. I just couldn't figure out what. I started looking things up on the internet, putting all my thoughts there and going through the articles.Nothing came up, but there was one article that made me read all related articles. It was about the epic Ramayan. I saw a few pictures claiming that locals had found footprints of Lord Ram, Ravana, and even Kumbhkaran. I started reading about it and saw Kumbhkaran's picture—he was a monster, so huge, his whole body was buffed."The monster! He was in my..."I blacked out. When I opened my eyes, I was in jail. I saw many injured people sitting outside the jail, and police officers were writing reports."Why am I here?" I asked."You!! You entered our house without permission and started beating us, and now you're asking why you are here," said a man. His lips were red; he must have been eating paan a lot. With him was a lady, his wife, wearing bandages on her hand, elbow, and head. There were marks on her body."I? I don't even know who you are.""Shut up," the officer shouted. "How did she get injured?" The officer pointed to the lady."He beat her," the man said."What weapon was he using?""Umm... he had a big bat in his hand.""If he had a bat and used it to beat you both, how does she have belt marks on her arms?"The man was dumbfounded."You were beating your wife?" The officer stood up, grabbed the man, and threw him into the jail. He came to me and opened my gate. "I know it wasn't you who was beating them. Don't worry, you saved the lady. You can go home now."I hurriedly left, took a cab home, and was unsure of what was happening. Suddenly I was in jail, and now I was free. The officer just let me go. I was not sure what I did, but it seemed too easy."Why?"I reached home, sat on the floor, and started meditating. I tried to focus my mind and remember what happened while I was blacked out.I was in a war again. This time, the people around were more human-like than before. They had big mustaches and beards. Horses, elephants, chariots—everything was on the field. I saw myself holding a huge sword in one hand and a head in the other. I did not panic. I felt some energy. A man was looking at me directly. He was also dark-skinned. I looked closely; he was the same man I saw in my last dream. But this time, something was different. He was not wearing old-fashioned armor; this time, it had gold coatings. He seemed to be a king now. He was in a chariot, but not on the warrior side—he was driving the chariot. He was very far from me, and I saw him speaking. His lips were moving. No one around seemed to react to him, but his voice came to me.He said, "एषः सम्यक् समयः मित्रम् नास्ति। त्वं तत्र कस्यचित् आवश्यकतावशात् साहाय्यं कर्तुं गतः, परन्तु त्वम् अत्र अपेक्षितः। तत्र कार्यं पूर्णं कृत्वा शीघ्रम् अत्र आगच्छन्तु अन्यथा, भवतः अन्यः संस्करणः म्रियते।" And then I was back in the jail.I opened my eyes, went online, and started searching for a translation of his verse. He said, "This is not the right time, friend. You went there to help someone in need, but you are required here. Fulfill your task there and come back quickly, or else your other version will die."I searched again for the last verse I had before blacking out. The man had said, "Oh, you changed your body. Not your perfect time, friend. Let's go back. Your time will come again to help me. But right now, I need him, not you."Both statements were similar. I was curious about what "time" they were talking about. I was not sure.I asked my psychiatrist about this. His response was as always:"Let's discuss this in our next session."I started reading about different wars, trying to find the war I saw in the dream. None of the war stories resembled the one I had dreamed of."Maybe because I saw it from my perspective, but in the internet or books, it's described by someone else."The point of view can change according to the person writing.The day came—the day of the next session."You have been exploring a lot. It's good. And the dream you told me about—it seemed to be from the epics.""Yes, I think so too. That monster might have been Kumbhkaran. But I don't know about the man who spoke to me in Sanskrit. And what about the time I blacked out and went directly to jail? What could it mean?""It's good to explore, but sometimes humans need to stop their exploration. They need to understand their limits and the plan.""What plan? What are you talking about?""न सम्यक् समयः मित्रम्। सर्वं अवगन्तुं भवता प्रतीक्षितव्यम्। मम भवतः आवश्यकता भविष्यति। यदा अहं श्वेताश्वेन आगमिष्यामि तदा मम आवश्यकता भविष्यति यत् त्वं भ्रष्टाचारविरुद्धं युद्धं करोषि यथा त्वं सतियुगात् आरभ्य मम साहाय्यं करोषि। अहं विष्णुः प्रजापतिः त्वां पुनः आहूयिष्यामि।"I saw his face; he was dark-skinned, with a smile on his face. He was the same man I had been seeing in my dreams. He was the creator of the universe—VISHNU.I blacked out again.सः पुनः आगमिष्यति। तस्य अस्माकं सर्वेषां आवश्यकता भविष्यति, तस्य अस्मात् संसारात् सर्वा शुद्धतायाः आवश्यकता भविष्यति। तस्य अस्माकं आवश्यकता भविष्यति।