Random walks

Jignasu liked to walk on the streets all alone at nights. He liked the strange silence that inspired a tide of peace to swell in him. He walked on these very roads many times but everytime he felt a strange sense of attraction to the transformation that came about in few hours. Roads that were so full of life a few hours ago seemed to be deserted. People were in their houses, sleeping in their warm beds, talking to each other in their rooms or staring at their televison sets. Jignasu saw the lights of of televison sets and heard the muffled voices and laughter as he went past the windows of houses that lined both sides of the streets. The cool breeze brought him back to life after a day of strenuos work. It was on one of those walks Jnani asked him long ago, how exactly do you define fearlessness? It was a day when he felt very depressed, looking at the world. There were divisons of every possible kind..based on gender, race, religion, caste, relationships. How can he live in this world so full of selfish motives? He decided that he should renounce the world and live a religious life in a forest and attain salvation. He went to Jnani to ask him to initiate him as a monk. Jnani instead told him that one of the first characteristics of a religious man is his fearlessness. A religious man would not fear even God. Jnani reasoned that someone who is afraid of anything is not bold enough to withstand the truth. If he is still afraid that he will loose something then there are traces of ignorance still left in him. What is there to loose if you believe there is god in everything?

After that day, Jignasu is still in the world he thought was full of petty motives, working with passion to do his bit and perhaps... a little more, in improving the life for people around him either with kind words, or a patient ear or a small gesture of kindness and understanding.
He celebrated life yet was unattatched to things around him and most importantly was at peace with himself and the world around him. Neither did he fear the world nor did the world fear him....

Epilogue:
In stories, I always tend to use the words Jnani and Jignasu as I feel they accurately describe what I want to say. I do not know english words that capture the richness of the characters, their dilemmas I mean to convey just with their names. Both these words have a metaphysical/spiritual sense attatched to them. But I'll try to explain what the words mean...

Jignasu is a sanskrit word which means seeker/someone curious to learn.
Jnani is another word that means one who knows/realised one.

Jnani therefore has been through all the confusions and vacillations that Jignasu finds himself in.
Every Jignasu has a future, just as every Jnani had a past. Its my firm belief that Jignasu's quest is never wasted.