RUDRA, THE CARETAKER

He followed the sound to its source—a baby boy lying under a pine tree, unclothed and uncared for in the wilderness, where an obviously helpless parent had abandoned him. Perhaps an unwed mother or perhaps, a weak father; who would know?

The baby seemed to sense this act of primal betrayal, and catching Rudra in his eye, started wailing even louder. In an auto response, Rudra’s hands reached out to pick the baby up.
But in another split second, the action was reversed almost as spontaneously and the hands came back to Rudra’s sides.
A horrible thought had struck Him. How could He possibly tend to the baby? On the journey that He had undertaken, He would Himself have to spend days in solitude, only to come down to the mainlands once in a while, to beg for alms for sustenance. He would never be sure of His own meals and knew there would be times He would have to forego them. He had accepted this impending fate, as His own choice. But caring for the child would be a totally different matter. He couldn’t impose the same fate upon the child. Rudra began to turn, and the baby sensed a second betrayal. This time he went silent and copious large tears started flowing from his newborn eyes. Rudra found His own eyes moist in empathy. He began to pray to a God He did not know; began to converse with an unspoken voice that He longed to hear.
And then, a second  thought came to Him. “Imagine what would happen to this world if God were to abandon care and feeding of all His creation, leaving them in the wilderness?”
“Now,” thought Rudra stoically. “If this God could take care of the entire world, all the creatures and beings in its fold, why couldn’t He, Rudra, then take the responsibility of just one child?”
“This is it,” He thought resolutely. His mind was suddenly made up. Rudra picked up the baby, wrapped securely in a tiny napkin like a family heirloom, and held him tightly to His chest.
He girded his loins to resume His journey with His new treasure.
Slowly, but much more surely, He started walking to the mountains, once again.


Read more in SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
A modern rendition of Great God Shiva's story.
Now on Amazon :http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017ECI6CU
Shiva art especially created for this passage by Sai Teja Vuttaluri Animator )