Scene: Dharma Under the Banyan Tree
🌄 Setting: The Kurukshetra battlefield, thick with the scent of turmeric and iron. Tigers roar in the jungles beyond, while mothers clutch children to their chests, their eyes reflecting the flames of war. An old woman grinds rice with a stone, humming a hymn to Kali. Sun Wukong lands in a backflip, crushing a chariot wheel under his heel, while Moses steps forward, staff glowing like a serpent of light.
I. Arjuna’s Despair & Krishna’s First Teaching
Arjuna (voice trembling): “Krishna, how can I slay my kin? Their blood will stain the Ganga, and their curses will haunt my sleep!”
Krishna (calm, eyes like galaxies): *“The wise grieve neither for the living nor the dead. The *atman* (soul) is eternal—it does not kill, nor is it killed.”*
Moses (gripping his staff, recalling Egypt’s plagues): “But Lord, what of the mothers here? Their sons’ bodies will feed vultures. Does your ‘eternal soul’ dry their tears?”
Sun Wukong (perched on a cannon, peeling a mango): “Ha! If souls don’t die, why not let the monkeys rule? I’d toss these kings into the sea!”
Krishna (smiling): *“Action is your duty, Moses, but *fruits* are not. Lead your people, but let the Red Sea’s parting be your act, not your obsession.”*
A tiger lunges from the brush. Moses raises his staff, splitting the beast into two stone statues. The old woman gasps, then laughs.
II. The Gunas and the Storm Within
Krishna (gesturing to the chaos): *“Three forces bind all: *sattva* (harmony), rajas (passion), tamas (ignorance). Your Pharaoh drowned in tamas; your Israelites raged in rajas. But you, Moses, sought sattva—truth beyond the staff.”*
Moses (staring at his hands): *“In the desert, I struck the rock in anger… Was that *rajas?”
Sun Wukong (mocking): *“Anger? I once upended Heaven’s wine jars! *Rajas* tastes sweet!”*
Arjuna (suddenly lucid): “But Krishna—how do I fight without hatred?”
Krishna (voice thundering): *“Perform your *dharma* as worship! The bow in your hand is not a weapon but a prayer!”*
A child tugs Moses’ robe: “Will the tiger return?” Moses kneels, staff-light softening: “The soul doesn’t fear tigers. Remember that.”
III. Sun Wukong’s Illusion & Moses’ Revelation
Sun Wukong (snapping his fingers): The battlefield dissolves into a bamboo forest. Arjuna sees his sons as monkeys, laughing in the trees.
Krishna (unfazed): *“Illusions fade, Wukong. Even your ‘Havoc in Heaven’ was a play of *maya.”
Moses (to Krishna): *“Your words… they mirror the Burning Bush. ‘I AM’ spoke through fire, but you speak through *this.” He gestures to the weeping mothers, the tigers, the grinding stone.
Old Woman (interrupting, voice cracked): “The soul is eternal? Then why do I mourn my husband?”
Krishna (gently): “Mourn the vessel, not the voyager. Your tears water the soul’s journey.”
Sun Wukong, bored, plucks a hair and blows—a golden staff appears in the child’s hand. “Here! Fight tigers with this!”
Epilogue: The Jungle’s Whisper
As Krishna’s chariot rolls forward, Moses whispers to Sun Wukong: “Your staff divides; his words unite.”
Sun Wukong (grinning): “Unity? I’ll split the moon instead!”
But that night, as tigers prowl and mothers sing lullabies, Moses writes in the sand: “The soul is a sea… and I am but a wave.”
Key Themes & Citations
- Eternal Soul & Duty: Krishna’s teachings on atman and dharma .
- Gunas & Human Conflict: Moses’ struggle with rajas (passion) vs. sattva (truth) .
- Illusion vs. Reality: Sun Wukong’s maya vs. Krishna’s cosmic order .
- Compassion in Chaos: The old woman and child humanize the Gita’s abstract truths .
This scene bridges Exodus’ liberation theology with the Gita’s nishkama karma (selfless action), framing Moses as a seeker torn between law and transcendence—a counterpoint to Wukong’s divine mischief.