Scene 3
(Dhruva is wandering in the forest all alone, looking for some spiritual people. He sings.)
Dake amai dake
dake akash dake batash
dake shashi tara
dake shyamal nibir kanan
dake jharna dhara
hasi dake ashru dake
dake kshina sur
dake prabhat sandhya dake
dakichhe dupur
sabai khunje khelar sathi
dake amai ai
charidike ekiy dhwani
bela baye jai
dake amai dake
(The sky calls me,
The wind calls me,
The moon and the stars call me.
The green and the dense groves call me,
The dance of the fountain calls me,
Smiles call me, tears call me.
A faint melody calls me.
The morn, noon and eve call me.
Everyone is searching for a playmate,
Everyone is calling me, “Come, come!”
One voice, one sound, all around.
Alas, the Boat of Time sails on.)
(Finally Dhruva comes to a spot where he sees seven sages meditating together. Most humbly he bows down before them.)
DHRUVA: Dear sirs, please help me. I am looking for someone to teach me to pray and meditate.
FIRST SAGE: We shall help you, we shall teach you. But before that, tell us who you are and what brings you here.
DHRUVA: My name is Dhruva. My father is King Uttanpada and my mother is Suniti. This morning my stepmother, Suruchi, insulted me so cruelly, so brutally, so unbearably. She said that my brother, Uttama, will inherit the throne.
SECOND SAGE: So you want to inherit your father’s throne. Is that your prayer? Is that why you have come into the forest?
DHRUVA: No, certainly not! I don’t want my father’s throne. I want to have joy and inner happiness that will forever last. I want to share with my mother that kind of joy. My mother has taught me that earthly possessions have no value. Let Uttama have my father’s throne; let him have everything from his kingdom. I do not need earthly possessions to make me happy. I wish only to see the Feet of God; I wish to realise Him. I wish to be eternally happy, divinely happy, supremely happy.
THIRD SAGE: We are so pleased with you, Dhruva. We shall help you.
FOURTH SAGE: You have to pray from now on to Lord Vishnu. It is he who will be able to grant you the boon. He will be able to make you the happiest man on earth and your mother the happiest woman on earth.
FIFTH SAGE: We shall teach you how to pray to him, how to meditate on him.
SIXTH SAGE: Your sincerity, your inner cry for God, your true love of God, have given us tremendous joy and we offer you our blessingful pride.
DHRUVA (again bowing down to the seven sages with deepest gratitude): O divine sages, then please teach me how to pray and how to meditate.
LEADER OF THE SAGES: Come and sit in front of me, Dhruva. Dhruva, this is how you will pray. You will pray to the Lord Vishnu: “O Lord Vishnu, I wish to please you, I wish to serve you, I wish to become totally, unconditionally yours.” And this is how you will meditate: you will not allow any thought to enter into your mind; you will keep your mind absolutely free from thoughts and ideas. Only try to feel all the time within your heart the lotus-feet of Lord Vishnu. This is how you should pray and how you should meditate. Your prayer and your meditation will undoubtedly bring Lord Vishnu right before you. He will bless you with his infinite affection, with his infinite compassion, love, joy and pride. If you pray and meditate, in the near future you are bound to see him and your desire, your aspiration, is sure to be fulfilled. You are a young boy. You have been mistreated by your stepmother, your father has been indifferent to you, your mother has been suffering for a long time and you are dissatisfied with this world. When your aspiration is fulfilled your whole being will be flooded with joy, eternal joy. You and your mother will be the perfect instruments of God on earth. With our blessings go to pray and meditate over there. That place is called Madhuvana, the honey-forest. You pray and meditate there and from here we shall keep our conscious concern on you. We shall think of you and meditate on your divine, supreme success. Now go and pray over there. Madhuvana is most beautiful and most inspiring.
(Dhruva bows to the leader of the sages, then to the other six sages with utmost humility and gratitude.)
DHRUVA: O sages, O seekers of the highest magnitude, O greatest lovers of God, my whole existence is grateful to you.
(All the sages bless Dhruva with utmost joy and pride and Dhruva departs.)
