Scene 2

FIRST GOD: That King Shibi, on earth, is disturbing my inner poise.

SECOND GOD: Mine too.

THIRD GOD: Dear friends, what is wrong with Shibi? What is wrong with you two?

FIRST GOD: That Shibi has become a very great aspirant. Soon he will become a most advanced soul.

SECOND GOD: Shibi’s heart is as vast as the ocean of love and compassion. His soul is illumination itself.

THIRD GOD: So what? If Shibi really becomes great or is already great, then we should be proud of him instead of jealous. He is, after all, God’s most devoted son.

FIRST GOD: Today Shibi is great. Tomorrow he will be greater. The day after tomorrow he will be the greatest. And then he will outshine us all.

SECOND GOD (looking at the third god): When the matchless glory of his life badly eclipses your inner sun, perhaps you will know what a stupid god you are. Don’t be philosophical, for God’s sake. Be practical.

THIRD GOD: It is a real shame that even the gods are jealous of a human being. (Looking up.) O God, You are truly kind to me. You have made me a perfect stranger to jealousy. Whosoever is great, whosoever possesses God’s Divine Greatness, will be admired and adored by me, be he a human being or even an animal.

FIRST GOD: Since you have come to that kind of realisation, to me you are worse than an animal.

SECOND GOD: You are absolutely right, my good friend. He is undoubtedly inferior even to an animal. (Looking at the third god.) Go back to your most undeveloped stone life, to the mineral kingdom, for that is where you belong.

THIRD GOD: You two are corrupting the purity and beauty of Heaven with your impure and wild jealousy. I pronounce my most powerful curse on you. Heaven will soon get rid of you two. You two have cast a slur on Heaven. Poor Heaven, my Heaven, Indra’s Heaven, Brahma’s Heaven!

FIRST AND SECOND GODS: One more word and you will be found in the stone life. We shall extinguish your life in Heaven!

(Enter Brahma and Indra.)

(The three gods, as if nothing has happened, show their utmost reverence to Brahma and Indra.)

BRAHMA: Occultly we have observed your most deplorable dispute. Even Indra and I are not sure if Shibi is that great.

INDRA: So we have decided to go to Shibi’s palace on earth to test him.

BRAHMA: If he is really that great, then we should and we must admire him — his love, his concern, his compassion and his sacrifice.

INDRA: And if he is not all that we hear about him, then the jealous gods can be happy.

BRAHMA: Hard is it to conquer jealousy.

INDRA: Alas, I suffered from that disease for a long time, but now jealousy and I do not live together. We live separately, we think separately and we fulfil our ideals separately. Now I am ready to touch the feet of anybody who is superior to me in spirituality.

BRAHMA: Indra, I admire your sincerity. I adore your humility.

INDRA (to the minor gods, smiling): You three wait here and see. We two are entering into the world. Brahma will assume the form of a huge hawk and I shall assume the form of a tiny dove.