The Ten Sons of Indu

Morning was settling over the Sarayu when Rama asked, “Gurudev, can many creations exist at one and the same time?”

Vasistha said, “Rama, consciousness holds a strange power: it can create itself many times over. There is a story about this, of a sage named Indu and his ten sons. Listen.”

Ten

Indu was a sage, and the scriptures give no name for his wife.

He performed great tapas, and Brahma was pleased. Brahma asked, “What boon do you seek?”

Indu said, “I want ten sons.”

Brahma said, “Very well. You shall have ten sons.”

And ten sons were born to Indu.

The ten sons grew up, and all ten became sages and took to tapas.

Then Indu grew old and one day passed away, and his wife followed soon after.

Now the ten sons were left alone.

They spoke among themselves. “Brothers, what should we do now?”

The eldest said, “We will perform tapas, each of us according to his own wish.”

Then each of them settled into his own place.

All of them began the same tapas.

And all of them asked for the same boon: “We wish to become Brahma.”

In this way many years passed.

At last Brahma was pleased, and appearing before each one in turn, he put the same question to every one of them: “Son, what boon do you seek?”

And each gave the same answer: “Lord, I wish to become Brahma, I wish to create a world.”

Hearing this, Brahma stopped short.

Ten sons, ten Brahmas, ten creations.

Brahma thought to himself: I have given my word, I cannot refuse.

And he stretched out his hand and said, “Son, you are Brahma.”

Ten times Brahma said this, and all ten sons became Brahma.

Now each Brahma began his own creation.

One Brahma made a world holding earth, sky, sun, moon, human beings, and living creatures.

The second Brahma made a second world, and it too held earth, sky, sun, moon, human beings, and living creatures.

In the same way the third made a third, the fourth a fourth, and the fifth a fifth.

The sixth made a sixth, the seventh a seventh, the eighth an eighth, the ninth a ninth, and the tenth a tenth.

In this way ten worlds set off together.

Each held its own people, its own sages, its own kings, its own birds, its own rivers, and its own mountains.

The people of each world think that their world alone is real.

The people of each world think that their Brahma alone is real.

But in truth, each Brahma has his own world, and each world is real in its own place, and still no single world is the most real of them all.

Rama asked, “Then, Gurudev, what of this world of ours?”

Vasistha said, “Rama, our world belongs to one Brahma, but there are many such worlds and many Brahmas. We think that ours is the only world. There is truth in that, and there is more that the thought does not hold.”

“And behind all these worlds?”

“Behind them all is one consciousness. That same consciousness can create every Brahma, can create every world, can create every one of us. It has no limit.”

Rama looked toward the water, where the morning light was spreading, and above, in the sky, a single cloud drifted.