Anxiety in his voice was palpable as Ashish spoke with me over phone. His predicament was understandable – he had inexplicably seen the same sequence of events in his dream on two consecutive days in the wee hours.
I know, Ashish is rational in his thoughts and would not get perturbed even by the most horrifying dream. His fear, however, came from the unusual repetition of the same dream in his sleep. He could not drop it as a mere coincidence. ‘How can the dream repeat itself bit by bit? There has to be some meaning behind.’ – as if he was seeking validation.
I rubbished all speculation running in his mind as he was interpreting his dream.
Ashish had described his dream to me with bated animation. To tell it in brief, he was walking aimlessly through the Cat Street market in Hong Kong. He is quite familiar with this market as he has visited this place many times when he used to live in Hong Kong. This is a market that attracts tourists looking for antique household objects often representing ancient religious and cultural heritage of the Chinese. He has, in the past, picked up several interesting objects in this market which adorn his shelves back in India. He enjoys telling stories behind these objects to his guests at the slightest interest shown by them.
Coming back to the dream event, Ashish was walking through the busy and narrow lanes of shops with shoppers competing to seek his attention. Suddenly a small placard caught his fancy and he followed a narrow pathway to a tiny shop that sold ‘mirror for the blind’. The prospect of finding something new was exciting him from within. There were many interesting things on display on the shop floor, but he found no mirror. Mirror for the blind seemed an unusual thing to explore. On enquiry, an old, bearded person appeared who looked like a wizard of the fairy tales. He spoke in a deep and heavy voice and bore a mystic aura around him.
The old shop keeper told Ashish to his disappointment, ‘The mirror for the blind is for sale only to the blind. I am afraid we cannot even show it to you. It may indeed be harmful’. The old man was trying to dissuade Ashish from buying the mirror.
But Ashish did not give up – he had rather become more inquisitive. As he insisted, the old man cautioned, ‘This is no ordinary toy, gentleman! It has supernatural powers’. He paused a little; took a deep breath and stared at Ashish for few moments. He was perhaps evaluating how much money Ashish would be willing to shell out for a piece of magic mirror – Ashish thought. The old man went on to say, ‘When a blind person holds and concentrates on the mirror while chanting some given verses, the mirror tries to detect if the person is naturally blind. It then induces some special powers in him and the blind receives heavenly blessings to see a glimpse of the world around him, specially presented in the mirror – he can even see his family and friends.’
‘Wow, that is incredible! It would be as good as having one’s vision back.’ – Ashish exclaimed.
‘No, not exactly’ – said the old man and went on, ‘- this can happen only on three occasions in the life of a blind person and it would last only for few seconds each time’.
Ashish was excited with the story and was determined to buy it. He knew it would be a nice addition to his collection of Chinese antiques. He was prepared to pay the asking price after a little haggle. The old man cautioned again, ‘This mirror is for the blind and not for you. Please do not try it yourself and never chant the verses while you look at the mirror. The verses are written behind the mirror and contained in the sealed envelope placed in the packing!’
Ashish was thrilled at his new possession as he walked out of the shop. On reaching home, his curiosity overtook him. He knew how sellers of antique objects create unique stories to sell their products and try to spin their perceived value. Ashish was simply laughing at the seriousness with which the old man had cautioned him against experimenting with the mirror.
The mirror in any case looked beautiful and out of the world with a carved wooden rim and a mystic bluish shade. Ashish held the mirror in front and chanted the short verse. Nothing happened, as expected. But on his third jocular attempt, Ashish got a jolt. He saw a big flash of light coming out of the mirror carrying the glow of thousand suns – the glow pierced through his eyeballs and in a moment, he was groaning in pain. The worse had happened – he had lost his eyesight.
In a state of shock and helplessness he woke up and realized that it was a horrifying dream. It took him some time to realize that the mirror, the old man and the blinding glow of light were just as real as the dream itself.
Does anyone ever see the same dream again and again exactly in the same way? I was not sure.
Few days later, I came across a similar shop at Colaba Causeway in Mumbai. Walking along the busy pavement, I saw a board with an arrow showing the way to a shop selling ‘magic mirrors’. Curious, I wanted to buy one. It was an ordinary looking mirror though very old. The stains on the glass and its broken handle gave an impression that it was in use hundreds of years ago. The shop keeper claimed it to be the rarest of the rare, a part of the hidden treasure secretly recovered from an ancient temple in the far south. The seller also emphasized that the mirror was an original piece although duplicates are available in the market aplenty.
However, the most interesting part was the story attached to the mirror, which justified the element of magic that held it apart. It seems the magic works only once in forty years, when the earth moves to a specific relative cosmic position. At that very moment, if a person looks at the mirror with meditative concentration, he would be able to see his next birth – his reincarnation as reflection on the mirror. The image of the next birth remains on display for few seconds, after which the glass breaks and the magical power of the mirror disappears. Nobody has any clue when that fateful day would arrive in the life of a magic mirror. The strands of the story could never be disputed, as it was impossible to verify the claims. ‘How nice it would be if one could get a glimpse of one’s reincarnation?’ – I thought to myself.
I bought the mirror and kept it at a prominent place in my study.
Next morning, I stood before the mirror to see if it worked. To my utter surprise it did. I hardly realized that I was standing in front of the magic mirror at that rare moment in the cosmic time line, when the planetary constellation matched the secret code of the magic mirror. What a rare occasion it was!! The magic mirror revealed to me the body to which my soul would enter after I give up the earthly body of a human being! I could hear the clinking noise and the glass breaking into pieces. My excitement knew no bounds – only if I could record this moment to convince others that such a supernatural thing did take place. The magic mirror indeed showed its magic. The shopkeeper in the Colaba market was not fooling me with a random story. I was feeling blessed. The broken mirror was hanging in front of me.
But amidst all this excitement I could not register in my mind, the image that represented my rebirth. Was it an animal, a bird, an insect or a human being? Did I see a blank – a nothingness on the magic mirror? Would that mean salvation instead of rebirth?
I was not sure if it was a dream. If indeed it was, how I craved to see it once again to be more mindful of every detail.
I decided to call Ashish, my good friend, for help.
****
Manoranjan Mishra 