The Bleeding Bear and the Bottle of Water

Blood and water flows

Photo by Florian Krumm on Unsplash

Baldev was on the search for enlightenment. He had not found it in the last few decades as a hermit. In his youth Baldev had lived a life of excess, having been born into a rich and affluent family. It was after the death of his parents, that he decided to mend his ways. He realized that all the wealth in the world, could not bring his loved ones back to him. He was the eldest son, in his family, so naturally, all the wealth would pass on to him. However, Baldev decided to give the keys to his material wealth to his eldest sister and told her to divide the land and property with their two younger sisters, who needed substantial dowries to get married. He could not bear the weight of the family fortune and responsibilities that it entailed in the real world.

The young man joined a monastery of martial monks who were known for their strong and rigorous ascetic practices. Was this an escape for the young Baldev, to run away from his world and look for something more powerful on his spiritual path? Whatever the reason was for him exiling himself, it was deeply personal.

However, Baldev’s life as a monk was peaceful at the start. Over the years he went under strict training in martial arts, spiritual and mystical studies. The teachers always told him, that studying was a continuous process and transcendence would come to him at the right time, it was something that could not be rushed. The road to transcendence was a torturous one and the fires of his life experience, would burnish and purify his soul.

After a decade at the monastery, the life of peace and tranquillity was shattered when the monastery was attacked by jungle rebels. The tortured and killed several monks. After the rebels looted whatever, they could find. They burned the monastery to the ground and killed the people of the local village. Baldev managed to escape through an underwater tunnel system. He could hear the helpless voices of his fellow monks, the innocent children, the villagers as they pleaded for their lives. He was injured and managed to survive the trauma.

Baldev kept moving over the years and now as a septuagenarian, he was still on a quest to reach that unattainable level of peace. Over the years, Baldev survived animal attacks, as well as being hunted by animal trappers whose paths he had crossed, when he saved several animals from the traps that were laid for them by the hunters.

A drought had come to the land and both humans, plants and animals were dying in large numbers. Baldev had found temporary shelter in the ruins of an old temple. He was always on guard for dangers that were lurking in the darkness in the forms of marauders and wild animals. Although Baldev was a septuagenarian, he was independent and could forage for food as was well defend himself.

There was a small well behind the ruins of the temple, that had very little water in it. Baldev had one bottle of water left for him and he had just one sip from it. There were no water sources for miles around. It was a sunny morning when Baldev saw a large bear come out from the forest, it was injured, possibly shot and wounded by the traps set by poachers.

The monk could see that the bear was in great pain and it was bleeding. The animal would not live for another day. Baldev knew that an animal in pain would not trust a human to tend to its wounds. The sand was soaking with the blood from the gaping wounds that were on the paws of the bear.

The monk watched the bear from a distance and then he gradually moved slowly towards the bear and kept speaking to the animal.

“Hello, noble black bear, I can see your pain. Please allow me to tend to your wounds, so that they can heal”.

The large bear looked at him and growled.

The monk continued, “I do not mean to harm you brother bear. We were both created with the same chisel by our Creator.”

The bear looked at the monk and growled once again.

The bear put out its wounded paws and placed its head on the ground, as a form of acceptance for help from the monk. The animal had stopped growling.

The monk nervously came closer to the bear, and gave it water to drink. Blood and water flowed onto the soil that warm afternoon. Baldev attended to the large open wounds on both paws of the bear, where it had been caught in the metal jaws of a trap.

The bear closed its eyes as the monk tended to its wounds. Baldev went back into the temple ruins to prepare a meal for himself and to offer a few of the fruits he had collected for the bear to eat. He gave the bear the fruits and berries he had collected which the animal ate and went to sleep.

Baldev was tired after the long day. When he slept, he saw the Bear spirit appear and the animal glowed with a bright radiance. It was at that moment Baldev awoke from sleep and realised that he had found transcendence. He was the bear, the independent survivor, the wounds were the life experiences he had and the scars of not being able to forgive himself for being the only person to have survived that brutal attack on the monastery, where his fellow monks were massacred, as well as the death of all those innocent villagers. The water that he poured from the last bottle of water into the mouth of the injured bear was the water of forgiveness and mercy, that he needed to drink himself. Baldev was at peace after this transcendental experience and lived to be a hundred years old, when he walked into the forest to tread the pathway into his spiritual eternity.