AN EPILOGUE TO LOVE

This epilogue is the last story in the author's trilogy of short stories about love, lust and friendship in man-woman relationship. Love transcends the boundaries of space, form and time to reach a spiritual plane.

He loved her. She too loved him. Two had met a few years ago under circumstances that could best be described as acts of fate. During these years they had come as close as a man and woman could ever be. They had shared some of the most beautiful moments of life. They had cried at each other's shoulders. They had played with each other as if there were just two of them in the universe. Not a day passed when they did not talk to each other; not an hour passed when they did not think of each other. Immersed in each other, they were at times ecstatic, at times like children, and at some times like wild beasts swayed by a thousand hurricanes.

All this is now history - a secret history known to only two of them. Fate and circumstances led to a parting of ways. No, they did not part with a big fight; they did not even drift away. They understood each other's compulsions. They wished each other well. They knew that they must go their own separate ways to let each other grow, develop and live life to the fullest. So they decided to move into different directions. They parted like the best of friends. They had travelled together and cherished the sweet memories of the divine journey. The blissful memories of life in heaven were not marred by anything, not even a minor tiff.

They had walked out of heaven, willingly and happily. May be they were fools to do so! May be that it was God's wish and that they were just following the Supreme Being's commands without even realizing it. Of course, there were circumstances and factors that forced them. But surely they could have resisted. Was their love too weak? Did their passion lack something? Was it flirting that should have ended after the first few meetings but had extended for years?

Uncomfortable questions that kept raising their ugly heads! Both of them must face these questions. The questions just refused to go away. But even worse was the pain gnawing away at their hearts. One does not often realize that pleasant blissful memories can be intensely painful. The joy of divine selfless love can be an exhilarating experience for the lover as well as for the beloved. But memories of the same love are painful, indeed very painful.

When they were parting, the first signs of pain were already there. She was feeling it more than he was, or was it the other way round. Neither of them had cried at that time. But in the months that followed, both have cried many times. Unfortunately, they cannot even cry openly. Tears have to be suppressed lest anyone comes to know of their secrets. So, the eyes do not weep, but the hearts cry every moment.

A friend recently remarked that this was like a mobile phone sending out a signal every five seconds without anyone realizing that such a process was on. Unknown to everyone around them, their hearts were sending out signals. At every other moment, irrespective of what he was doing at that time, his heart would bring up her name. She faced a similar situation. Initially, this disturbed her more than it disturbed him. He was able to face the storms in his heart more calmly, at least externally. She was affected physically. She lost her health and was depressed. Of course, no one knew the reason for her falling health. Only he knew, though he was at a distance of more than a thousand km.

Days, weeks and months passed. Their hearts, though separated by hundreds of miles, were chanting each other's names with the same frequency as on the day immediately after parting. Both suffered anxious moments when they wondered if the other had forgotten all about it. The temptation to call up using a phone or send at least a letter was too strong. Something held both of them back. Neither of them wanted to do any act that would adversely affect the other's life. Neither wanted to be selfish. Each one was suffering pain, tears and sorrow, but did not want to share it with the other. Both had given each other the best of pleasures and now were suffering in silence and solitude. Both prayed and wished for well-being, pleasure and happiness of their dear one. How could he or she give the beloved any of the pain, sorrow or tears? So, anxiety had to be suffered as and when it came.

But these anxious moments were short lived. Though months had passed without any communication by letter or phone between them, something had kept them linked to each other. This can be called mysterious and is inexplicable. Two of them had linked at a non-physical level. Their bodies were hundreds of miles apart, but their souls had become mates.

Baptized by pain, tears and sorrow, their love had grown beyond the physical. When they separated, they did not know that they were inseparable. They walked through an ocean of fire, that separated their bodies but could not break the bond between their souls.

The souls have mated in a fashion that the bodies could never have. Every act of physical mating is a short affair that lasts just a few minutes. The soul transcends all limitations of space, form and time. The unification of souls is eternal.

With their souls entwined in an inseparable bond, they walk together through the ocean of fire, their bodies separated by distances that cannot be bridged. The pain, tears and sorrow have sublimated to provide the energy for a fusion of souls.

Traditionally, love stories end with "and they lived happily ever after". This normally means that the boy and the girl get married. In this case, they have not got married, but they will live as one soul ever after, enjoying the divine experience of love in happiness and in sorrow. Will you pray for them to be physically together once again - if not in this birth, may be in the next birth?

The above short story is third in the author's trilogy of short stories on love. Please read the other two short stories of the set.

If you like to read about love, please read the author's trilogy of articles about love.

LOVE FOR YOU
Download the above three articles and three short stories in printer-friendly pdf format. Beautifully illustrated, the mini-book (33 pages) is an ideal gift for someone you love.

ANIL CHAWLA is an engineer (and now a lawyer too) by qualification but a philosopher by vocation and a management consultant by profession.