Spiritual Story – No Body, No Mind, Only Soul
Zen Meditation Stories: Advaita Vedanta
(Warning: This story contains some strong language. Please do not read if you find that offensive.)
Chapter 1: The Getaway
The airport was bustling with activity. It was the busiest time of the year for traveling and Injin knew that this was to his advantage. He nervously checked himself in the mirror. Making sure that his mustache was securely fastened, along with the brown curly toupee. All looked in order and Injin assured himself that the disguise was immaculate and that there was no way the authorities would recognize him.
He strode out of the men’s room with renewed confidence and made his way to the book store. A smug smile crept across his lips as he glanced at the front page headlines of the London Times…
“KOHINOOR DIAMOND STOLEN… THE IMPOSSIBLE HEIST !!!”
“Not so impossible,” Injin mused as he paid the cashier for the paper.
He made his way to the gate, briefcase in one hand, the times tucked under his arm, his topcoat hanging over the other forearm and the Kohinoor diamond wrapped in a scan proof plastic container surgically placed inside his stomach.
It was almost too easy. The metal detectors had been fooled, the extra police checking passports had been fooled, the plain clothed Interpol agents had been fooled. Injin was thrilled, his row had been called and it was time for him to the board the plane. But what Injin saw up ahead rudely ended his short lived euphoria.
Clearly that was an Interpol agent, he felt sure of it. It was the tense, suspicious looking fellow in his early forties who Injin had noticed loitering around the waiting area earlier. This fellow was now boarding the plane ahead of Injin. Injin was perplexed. He could think of no good reason for an agent to want to actually board the plane… did they have a lead? Injin forced himself to stay calm, “He’s probably just a guy afraid of flying and so is looking anxious. He’s not an agent,” he tried to convince himself. “Everything is going to be just fine.” Injin nervously boarded the plane.
Chapter 2: Confusion
Injin leapt at the agent who had just risen from the aisle seat diagonally across from him and who was in the process of drawing his weapon. The 9mm pistol went off twice. The first bullet smashing through Injin’s chest and the second imbedding itself square into the container sitting in his tummy. Injin blacked out.
Injin heard the voices. They were faint and faraway at first but then gradually grew louder and clearer.
“What a brave soul this man is,” he heard the first say. “He was the first guy who jumped that hijacker and wrestled free his weapon, after that half the plane pummeled that terrorist.”
“Yeah, this guy has the heart of a hero,” the second said.
“Fucking hijacker!!!” Injin couldn’t believe it. “That guy was a hijacker. Shit, just my luck. Well at least I’m alive,” he thought. Then a terrorizing thought occurred to him. “One bullet hit me in the stomach. Shit, shit, shit, they are going to find the diamond if they operate. Damn!”
Injin wondered where he was. He couldn’t open his eyes or move at all. He felt no pain either. He could hear the roar of the traffic though but did not hear any sirens. He tried to speak but couldn’t. He felt a bit confused. They were not in an ambulance but they were on the road. He heard the second voice say, “Damn traffic, Bill is the convoy still behind us?”
“Yeah, I can see the trail of lights. Looks like all the passengers and their families are coming to attend this poor chap’s funeral.”
“Funeral… what…?” Injin was baffled. “Funeral… I’m not dead you fools. Hey morons… I’m not dead,” Injin tried to shout… in silence. “This must be some kind of joke,” he mused. “Everything is going to just fine.” The hearse sped onwards.
Chapter 3: The Burial
“Friends, we are gathered here today to put to rest Mr. Drake Parkson, a brave brave soul…”
“My eulogy…. they must be kidding!” Injin had tried yelling, moving, breathing, coughing, spitting and every other bodily function in an attempt to get noticed but it was all for naught. Apparently the airline’s effort in locating any family of Mr. Drake Parkson had been defeated and then to put this whole incident to a quick end they had sprung for a lavish funeral and labeled him the Solitary Hero. He had been pronounced dead on arrival and no medical treatment had been administered to him.
It was now that the most horrifying thought occurred to Injin, “Maybe, I am dead and this is what happens when you die!” He felt sick… well he thought he feel sick. He just wasn’t sure. He was not breathing, as a matter of fact nothing seemed to be happening. He was not sure if he was actually feeling anything or if he simply thought that he was feeling something. In any case he did not like the looks of it. An eternity of just doing nothing! He could hear the thud of the mud as it struck his casket. “God help me, I am being buried alive… dead… I am being buried.”
Chapter 4: Nothing at all
Days had passed. At first Injin thought that maybe he was in some sort of a coma and that he would wake up. He wasn’t so sure that he wanted that to be the case. He then figured that maybe there was some sort of a waiting list or something and that his turn would come up eventually. That assurance didn’t hold up for long. He decided that the best thing to do was pray and he recited whatever he could remember of the Bible. He did that for about 2 full days.
He hoped he might just fall asleep, but that never came to pass either. No sleep, no dreams just endless boredom of his chattering mind.
Maybe this is hell. He challenged the Devil to show himself. Then he challenged God, then he challenged anybody at all. He was all alone… forever.
He tried to will himself to die, thinking that maybe he was hanging on and that was causing the problem. He tried to recollect from what he had read anything at all about death and after-life. He looked for the soothing lights, listened for the angelic music, waited for the grace of God but heard nothing but the echoes of his relentless mind.
He was itching to move, to run, to take a deep breath. He wanted to laugh, to shout but all he could do was cry and all that fell were empty tears from lifeless eyes. Weeks passed.
Chapter 5: The Getaway II
“They are digging me up,” Injin couldn’t believe it. But sure enough the bulldozer had dug up 6 feet of mud and the casket creaked as the crane hoisted up the Solitary Hero’s coffin.
Injin heard the cacophony of workers voices and the revving of a truck’s engine as his coffin was driven out of the burial area of the cemetery. After a short ride, Injin could make out that his coffin had been rolled into a building, down an elevator and finally after being set down it was being pried open.
“Doctor, is this the fellow who you sowed up?” he heard a calm voice ask.
“Yes… yes this is him, Injin Banister…. I am sure.” a familiar voice replied. Injin recognized the voice as that of the surgeon who he had paid off in London to sow up his stomach. So they had eventually cracked the case of the missing diamond. “Fire up the incinerator,” he heard the calm voice command. “Yes sir, Inspector, right away,” another replied.
Injin heard the hissing of gas followed by a low pitched thump signifying the lighting of the oven. He wondered if it would hurt. He almost felt that even that would be better than this nothing that he had had to endure for so many weeks.
He heard the heavy breathing of men, a few grunts and they a loud thud.
“Shit, sorry about that,” he heard a voice exclaim.
“They DROPPED me, Jesus Christ, these freaks,” Injin was pissed.
“I think we broke his arm, and maybe a leg too,” one voice stated shakily.
“So what he’s a corpse you dunce, jeez the incompetence these days, just get him up and toss him in, ” the inspector commanded. A few thuds later Injin heard the whipping of flames and crackling of burning skin.
A couple of minutes passed and then all of a sudden he felt very strange. He started to feel himself contracting. He felt his whole being pulled inwards to a single point. It got tighter and smaller. He felt tremendous energy being focused and brought in. Then… just as suddenly he felt himself explode. He was moving in all directions all at once. There seemed no boundaries and sense of space seemed to stretch infinitely everywhere. A sense of unending joy and peace seemed to flood every corner of the limitless space. Injin lost his sense of time and self but only momentarily as he suddenly felt himself being sucked back to the nightmarish state of somethingness.
The sound of the whipping flames came to an abrupt end .
“Oh man, the incinerator malfunctioned,” cried out one of the voices.
“Jesus Christ,” wailed Injin, “For God’s sake get the fucking thing working again.” Injin was distraught. He couldn’t believe it. “The incinerator stopped working… get it working again you dorks!”
“Has he burned through yet?” the inspector was inquiring, “Can you see the Diamond or the container?”
Injin held his breath… or at least he tried to.
“O please Lord, let them continue,” he pleaded, “I have to be rid of this body and mind.”
“Un Un, I can’t see it yet,” he heard the rustling of a poker against metal and bone.
“Well, lets fire up her up again boys, we want this meat well done!” commanded the inspector.
Whoosh, the familiar sound of flames captured the air. The body ignited, Injin exploded again, and merged with the blissful silence. All that was left this time was a pile of ashes, 2 bullets and a sparkling diamond.
