Sample chapters of
'The Ultimate Revelations'
by Jamshed Akhtar
Excerpts are provided
from three chapters - 'The Fire', 'The
Preacher' and 'The Creator Factor'.
He could feel the chill of the mountain air seeping into
his bones. The plain expanded from the mountain's foot as smoothly as an
inland sea, its distant shores invisible in the golden haze of the setting
sun.
The temporary settlement that dotted the area seemed to
belong to some nomads of this place. Hamza first heard the collective bleat
and then saw the sheep returning amidst an air full of golden dust.
Through the fleecy turmoil, he saw a tall shepherd moving
towards a large tent. The man was wearing a homespun cloak, and looked
exceptionally graceful, strong and stately. He watched, fascinated by each
single movement of this man, who seemed to have a kingly bearing even in
this desert setting. He was walking among sheep as if a king was moving
among his subjects.
As the man reached a tent, a woman emerged with a pitcher
of water and greeted him with a smile. The gentle woman who must have been
his wife, was wearing a loose flowing robe with a head covering. Her face
had a soft ethereal quality which he had never seen among the coarse nomadic
tribes he had encountered in the Thar deserts of India. Who were they?
He knew that a lot of gypsies still preferred a nomadic existence, but
these nomads seemed very different.
The woman who was looking towards the mountain pointed
out something to the tall man, who turned to look. Others also arrived
on the scene. They too stopped to look at the mountain. A hush fell suddenly
on the assembly. Even the sheep seemed to fall silent. Hamza whose back
was towards the mountain, turned to look at the object of attention.
The hill soared for thousands of feet into the sky. There
was nothing to halt the upward path of the eye, except here and there,
an irrelevant tuft of vegetation curling from the rock-face on a single
stalk or a straight damp smear of some spring's overflow, like a snail
track. But near the top, a strange luminescent glow was visible, lighting
up the cloud layer that must have been near to its source.
Was it some kind of forest fire at the top? Hamza turned
to look at the nomads. These people seemed equally perturbed about the
cause of the light. The man was saying something to his wife. He gestured
towards the path in the mountain and then towards the setting sun, which
suggested that he was going to identify the cause of the fire, and promising
to return soon.
Hamza felt a strong urge building up inside him. He wanted
to talk to that man. But what was he supposed to do? Wait for his return
or go after him? Hamza decided to go after him. He too wanted to see the
source of the fire.
The shadows were lengthening. The sunlight was now mellow
and golden. A deep gorge opened before Hamza, which narrowed and rose along
a chasm between the mountains. He saw the man climbing steadily, and scrambled
behind as fast as he could. Hamza had barely reached the end of this gorge
when the sun dipped below the serrated edge of the hilly range. The mountain
ahead turned greyish blue - sad, cold and threatening…
…"The light you saw was the start of the ministry of Moses."
Father Joseph was looking at the jungle of skyscrapers from the wide glass
wall of Hamza's apartment. He was a friend of Richard and a Bible scholar.
His work was recently published, under the title, 'How the Pentateuchal
traditions were transmitted'. Richard had already told him about his dreams
and he had come straight from the church to Hamza's apartment. Throughout
the narration, he had maintained an absolute silence without any interruptions
or questions. It was only when Hamza finished his monologue that Father
Joseph began speaking dreamily. "How strange it feels when one considers
the fact that you personally saw an event that had actually occurred more
than three thousand years ago...All the while that you were fighting wild
dogs and hyenas in the mountain, and Moses was climbing higher and higher
for a tryst with destiny, who knows what sufferings were being encountered
by Hebrew families in Egypt. The same moon must have been shining on the
opulent palaces of the Pharaoh and on the slave labor camps, where the
slaves were rebuilding the fortified cities of Pithom and Remesis. I wish
you could have stayed behind and waited for the return of Moses." He looked
literally crestfallen. "Just imagine, the source of light you missed seeing
last night was God's light Himself, the most mysterious event in the history
of humanity. It was the key incident in the whole drama. The gift of Moses'
staff came from within that fire. The plagues, the turning of Nile into
blood, the shadow of death, the exodus, and the parting of the sea all
followed later. It was that light, the fire that was all important. I wish
I could have been in your place, I would have definitely waited for Moses
to return instead of taking this stupid risk and losing the chance for
ever. Oh my God!" He covered his face with both hands.
Excerpts from
The jungle trail became an aural, visual and olfactory treat
for Hamza. He had never seen so many birds of different varieties, size
and shapes, flitting from one branch to another; so many flowers, in hundreds
of different shades and hues; butterflies of breathtaking beauty; droves
of animals, known and unknown that came to the trail, stopped for some
time, looking quizzically up at the humans and then vanishing into the
lush dense growth. Never before in his life, had he encountered such diverse
and exotic smells that were emanating from the combined array of flora
and fauna, present in this tropical forest. And he had never heard such
a symphony of jungle sounds that included multitude of bird calls, animal
calls and the chirping of the ever present crickets, having a rhythm of
their own. Hamza had a musical ear. He reacted to musical compositions
much more intensely than his colleagues. Sometimes, even the prosaic mundane
background sounds of a rural or urban day, blended into pleasing compositions
for him. But, this aural experience was something different. It was much
more richer than anything he had heard before. He wanted to stop and savor
each and every note, every movement and color that was dancing before his
eyes, and every exotic smell he was experiencing. But the monks were moving
inexorably towards their destination. And Hamza did not want to be left
behind.
The jungle had kept him so engrossed that he lost track
of the time. Suddenly, he heard the voice of the boatman calling the monks.
He was not visible from here, the trail had curved ahead into the forest.
One by one, all of them joined the old man.
The forest had thinned from this point onwards. Through
the branches, a large clearing was visible, where hundreds of men were
sitting cross-legged on the ground, listening to a discourse being given
by a man, not clearly visible from this distance. Hamza saw scores of people
coming to the clearing and joining the congregation from all sides of the
encircling forest. Many of them were in monks' apparel but common people
too were sitting among them.
The boatman and the party of monks with him joined the
congregation. They sat reverently in the last row, which soon got filled
up by the new comers.
The rows were neat, and the large gathering extremely
attentive and silent. Barring the clear and melodious voice of the preacher,
Hamza did not hear a single murmur, whisper or even somebody coughing.
Sometimes one of the monks from the front row spoke something, but that
seemed to be in reply to a poser by the preacher himself. The discipline
was absolute.
Who was this man? How come so many monks and common people
were getting attracted to his sermons? Did he belong to some Buddhist order?
Buddhism was very popular in the eastern lands but it had practically vanished
from India, long long ago. Hamza did not know about any preacher in India,
Buddhist or otherwise, with such a mass appeal. Then who was he? He had
seen the photographs of Dalai lama. But he was sure that this man was somebody
else.
Hamza decided to take a closer look at the enigmatic preacher.
Together with the young boy, who had not joined the congregation, and walking
on the periphery of the clearing without disturbing the congregation, he
reached behind a tree, from where the man was clearly visible.
Sitting still on a raised mound in the lotus position,
he seemed to have absolute control over his perfect body. The hair neatly
tied up in a bun on the head, showed his clear broad forehead, the sharp
long nose, the glowing complexion and the large eyes that were closed in
meditation. All these factors had combined to give him an extremely handsome
and stately appearance. But, the thing which struck him most about this
preacher, was the peace and serenity on his face. Such calm, such peace,
he had never seen in a human face before.
Suddenly, the man opened his eyes. And even from this
distance, Hamza felt the power behind those black, unfathomable eyes. As
the man looked around, he looked straight at Hamza and Hamza felt, as if
he had been scanned by a very powerful source of X-rays…
Excerpts from
"Just a moment, if you are implying that we must look for
a coded solution to our present problem in the Scriptures of the world
religions, then before proceeding any further I suggest that you find out
at least some credible answer to the question of the existence or non-existence
of the Creator itself. If the atheists have a stronger case, and we have
only a vague faith based on Scriptures whose accuracy is anyway doubtful,
then let us not waste any more time on this wild goose chase. Let the masses
wallow in their opium, fighting each other, and let the scientists do what
they are best at doing, that is, let them try to find a way out of this
crisis. If they succeed within time, we will be saved. If not, well the
extra-terrestrials who may pass by this planet some day in the future,
would know that at least we tried, and failed. After all, from the beginning
of civilisation till today, several townships have been wiped out by natural
catastrophes, and not all of them can be accused to rival Sodom or Gomorra.
In those towns, there must have been children, too innocent to differentiate
between right and wrong, and some citizens who were God fearing, loving,
and good to others etc. etc." Dr. Keplar was the first to react when Hamza
floated his suggestion before an assembly of his space station colleagues.
The vehemence, the passion, and the anger showed that he was either a chronic
atheist or an easily excitable man.
"Creator factor is a fascinating and mysterious subject."
Dr. Drake was a senior scientist and resembled a very likeable half human,
half Vulcan character Mr. Spock from an ancient Tv serial 'Star Trek'.
Hamza could not guess his age, but it must have been within the age limits
prescribed for a space mission. "It has always excited the most intelligent
and the most stupid..," Hamza was again unable to guess which category
was meant for Dr. Keplar "..And it is still being studied vigorously by
extremely sharp men of knowledge and intellect, from all walks of life.
But, no one has yet succeeded in really proving or disproving the existence
of a Creator."
"Dr. Drake, two third of humanity is supposed to believe
in the Creator factor. Do you really think that all this faith is without
any tangible evidence of His existence?" This question had come from an
eternally inquisitive young engineer Reeve, responsible for maintenance
of life support systems of the space station.
"Surprisingly yes, but the statement should be amended
to include that we neither have the proof for His existence nor for
His non-existence."
"What do you mean?"
"There are basically four ways through which humanity
has tried to discern the reality behind the concept of a Creator." Dr.
Drake opened his broad palm and began counting on his fingers. "Through
experiences and knowledge of spiritualists and mystics; through philosophical
reasoning; through the testimony of prophets down the ages; and through
scientific examination and observation of the world for evidences of a
Design and a Designer of this Creation."
"And did none of these sources provide a definite knowledge
of Creator?" Reeves asked again.
"The metaphysical experiences of mystics and spiritualists
the world over, not only do not tally with each other, but such experiences
also can not be verified individually. Therefore they are unreliable by
their very nature."
"What about philosophical arguments for the existence
of God?" Hamza asked.
"The philosophical reasoning started with Greeks, who
tried to comprehend the reality of the First Cause but could not succeed.
Then Arab scientists coming in contact with Greek logic tried to correlate
the philosophy and reason with their Scripture, but that movement also
failed and Creator factor remained a matter of personal belief. Saint Anselm
in the west meanwhile, provided Ontological arguments for the existence
of God, and after him Saint Thomas Aquinas gave arguments that became known
as 'Five Ways'. But, unfortunately, as later philosophers showed, none
of them could succeed in proving the existence of God satisfactorily."
"What about the third way you outlined. Doesn't the testimony
of prophets provide a definite concept of Creator?" The question was asked
by Dr. Isaac, the science officer of the space station, a serious and sensitive
man, and a devout Jew.
"Except Buddha, who did not want to talk about metaphysics,
Scriptures of other world's authentic religions, do provide us a definite
concept of God. But these concepts are contradictory. The belief in the
Vedas as a revealed wisdom is an essential part of Hindu religion. But
the latitude permitted in the interpretation of Vedas is so wide that atheistic
Sankhya philosophy of Kapila and the polytheism of Puranas are both recognized
as orthodox. Besides Vedanta philosophy give us an organic concept of God
while the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is understood to be an
ultimate 'Father in the Heaven' figure. And even this 'Father in the Heaven'
concept is not without differences. The God of Israel and Islam is single,
but the God of Christianity is a Trinity of three persons. Then this is
not all. There are differences in the God of Israel and Islam also. It
is for these reasons, and the fact that there is no infallible way to judge
the accuracy of these Scriptures, that men of knowledge have always found
the exercise of scientific reasoning as being the more acceptable way to
prove or disprove the existence of God."…
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