11th October 2009

A group of eagles had been told to be at a certain place by a certain time, as the Lord Would Teach them to war.

The group of eagles dilly dallied. They stood chatting at the foot of the mountain. They were so enjoying their inane conversations that when they did decide to fly off to the certain place, they did so reluctantly.

Now in all that chatter they’d forgotten where that certain place was. One eagle came forward and said, ” I know where the certain place is. Let me lead you. Follow me”. Within some minutes after their take-off, the sky was suddenly, covered with dense dark clouds.

Visibility was zero.

The eagles could not see a thing before them, but they continued to fly. One eagle asked, ” Why has it gone so dark? When we took off, it was light”. The leader-eagle, cried out, ” Eagles, we seem to have mistakenly entered a pitch dark tunnel.

From within the dense dark clouds came blood-curdling sounds of loud screeching. There were sounds of fear and dismay.

” Eagles, there are bats and deadly alien creatures, here in this dark tunnel,” warned the leader-eagle. “The creatures are out to annihilate us. They do not want us to live. Fight for your life and the life of your fellow eagles! It’s war!” The eagles fought with a great fury. The fearful sounds emanating from within, testified to that.

There were horrific sounds of pain and fear and screeching. This war continued for quite a while.

Suddenly, though the major portion of the sky was still covered in dark clouds, a little light shone through a portion of the clouds. Visibility was now no more zero, but poor. The eagles emerged into the gray clouds and caught a glimpse at how bloodied they all were from the war in the dark tunnel.

As they continued to fly, bloodied and in great pain, they saw a rocky place and decided to stop there for a while so they could at leat rejoice in the victory they had in that dark tunnel, that they’d emerged alive, and also to take time to examine their wounds. As the eagles all stood on that rocky place, they let out a shout of victory. “We won, we won, we won”, they yelled out, ” our enemies did not triumph over us”.

All the eagles were hurt and bloodied and in pain. Most had their wings attacked and were scratched and grievously cut and there was bleeding all over their bodies.

Nonetheless, they thought themselves brave to have emerged victorious from the attack in the pitch dark tunnel, and all thought that inspite of the grave wounds and profuse bleeding, a little rejoicing was certainly called for.

Suddenly, they all heard the Lord’s Voice, through the clouds.

” Why are you rejoicing?” Asked the Lord.

“We won a bloody battle in that pitch dark tunnel, against the giant bats and the deadly alien creatures which were out to annihilate us, to kill us……destroy us…but we fought valiantly, and are wounded but alive, so we thought to celebrate”, the eagles replied. ” Which tunnel was that?” Asked the Lord.

” There”, said the eagles, pointing to the place from where they had recently emerged. ” Under those dark clouds, that have now gathered, is the pitch dark tunnel.” A strong wind blew and the dark clouds were swept away. The sky was filled with light. To their shock, the eagles could not see the tunnel they had come through. It had disappeared.

As they stared at the place where they had come through, to their utter horror, they began to realize that there never was a tunnel there. They had mistaken the dense dark clouds for a tunnel.

But the bats? The deadly alien creatures? The bloody battle? The battle wounds they bore upon their bodies?

The eagles were now in a state of shock.

It began to dawn on them, that not only had there been no tunnel, but neither had there been any bats or deadly alien creatures.

The leader eagle had said it was a tunnel, and all had believed. After that there had been a great fear among them, which led to panic and mayhem and it was not bats and deadly alien creatures that had wounded them, but it was they who had turned on each other in fear and ignorance and fought and wounded and bloodied each other in that dense black cloud.

The loud rejoicing of a moment ago, now turned to a great lamenting. The eagles wept.

They had all been disobedient and foolish, to not start out for the certain place, at the right time. They had allowed themselves to be led by one who had been as disobedient and foolish as the rest of them.

They all repented.

They now understood that the Lord would heal them, and they would learn from Him, about what they were to war against.

Bombay-India

Swarna Jha