Scene 2
(Inside two forest caves Sunda and Upasunda are chanting, praying and meditating only to please Brahma. Each one has a picture of Brahma in front of him.)SUNDA AND UPASUNDA (chant together three times):
Hiranyagarbhaya vidmahe
veda purushaya dhimahi
tanno brahma prachodayat
(We know Him as the Cosmic Creator.
We meditate on Him as the Purusha of the Veda.
May Brahma awaken the Supreme in us.)
SUNDA AND UPASUNDA: O Brahma, do appear before us. Do make us immortal like Indra. Everything we have, except Immortality. We don’t want to remain inferior to Indra. O Brahma, O Ocean of Infinite Compassion, it is you alone who can and will fulfil our inmost desire. O Brahma, O Father of Creation, do bless us with your divine Presence supreme.
(Enter Indra secretly. Having observed the severe austerities and penances of the two Asura brothers, Indra is terribly frightened. He feels that soon these two brothers will be more powerful than he is, and then they will seize his kingdom, dethrone him and chase him out of Heaven. Indra gets an idea and exits in silence, going back to Indra Puri, the City of Indra.)
(Soon he returns to the two Asura brothers with four extremely beautiful dancing girls who, he hopes, will tempt them and ruin them. The dancers offer their superlative performances to the two brothers. In every possible way they try to lower the consciousness of the two aspiring brothers. But all their efforts are in vain. The two genuine seekers are rapt in meditation. Frustrated, disheartened and defeated, Indra leads away the four dancing girls.)
