"Make way, make way for Shandu the magician." A ten foot tall grey elephant with a dark man wearing a turban slowly approached the royal palace of King Bhadrayu. The day was sunny, and the kingdom was at peace. On such days the king took great delight in being entertained. The king had seen many illusions performed by magicians, but there was one trick that he longed to witness. That feat of magic was the ancient Indian rope trick. Many had heard of it being done in the past, but none had ever seen it performed in their lifetime. King Bhadrayu offered the most precious prize to anyone in his kingdom who could do this trick. He knew that he was growing old and had failed to have a son, and so he offered his daughter Chandrika to the clever man who could perform this feat of magic. The possessor of such skill would alone be fit to rule his kingdom. Many had answered his invitation, but all had failed. The only reward for their effort was a royal execution. So on this bright summer day the magician Shandu decided to leave the jungle and accept King Bhadrayu’s challenge. Once Shandu was a prince in another kingdom but by the decree of dark fate, he was driven into the jungle after being defeated in war.

For many years Shandu had lived in the jungle practicing Tantric yoga to gain supernatural powers in the hope of regaining his kingdom. He worshipped the fearsome Naga serpents and could command them to do his bidding by his awesome mantra power. He contemplated the clouds and by his mystic rites to Indra had power over the weather. He concentrated on the lord of death, Yama and learnt the science of reviving the deceased. He prayed to the spirits of the ether and could cause objects to be transported from their world to this world. Shandu had gradually acquired the power to fly through the air with the grace of the wind god Vayu. He cam to King Bhadrayu’s palace armed with every Tantric power, except one. Shandu had not conquered desire. He falsely saw reality in the changing illusions that were created by the power of his mind’s concentration. He lived trapped by the wild desires of his own mind. He was a stranger to the realm of the cosmic truth of God’s existence. For Shandu the only god was his mind’s lust for power. This mental god he had cultivated well by exercising it in the visualization of ideas to such an extent until the ideas became materialized into the shapes of earthly reality.

"Show me what magic you possess," came the stern voice of King Bhadrayu. Shandu cast a blazing glance at his elephant and whispered some secret words into the ethers. Suddenly the huge beast collapsed dead at his feet. Feeling an air of confidence, Shandu calmly commanded "arise oh servant of the master." In an instant the elephant arose perfectly normal like nothing had happened. Shandu cast his glowing eyes at the sunny sky, and quickly clouds appeared over the royal palace, and the rains began. Chandrika cried out "father tell him to restore this sunny day." So Shandu quickly invoked Indra, and the sun shone peacefully again. Shandu looked at Chandrika and desired to marry her. He prayed to the spirits of the ether, and instantaneously a diamond necklace appeared which he put around the trembling Chandrika. Chandrika admired Shandu’s magic powers but thought that he was very arrogant. At last King Bhadrayu said "oh Shandu, you have impressed my kingdom with the powers of your magic illusions, but still you have not shown us the Indian rope trick."

Shandu sat still for ten minutes concentrating on a cobra that he kept in a basket. Shandu opened his eyes and took a flute out of his pocket. He tenderly put the flute to his lips and played a melody that put everybody in trance. King Bhadrayu and his people all felt that they were leaving their body and flying toward heaven. Slowly the cobra unwound itself and slid out of the basket. It began expanding and extended its body all the way up to a cloud that appeared one thousand feet above King Bhadrayu’s palace. The giant magic cobra had now become a rope that Shandu was climbing in front of his entranced audience. Higher and higher Shandu went until he finally disappeared into the cloud. He had courage and ambition, but he was not prepared for the mystery that awaited him in the glowing cloud. "Shandu, we have been awaiting you" came two voices deep inside the cloud. Shandu, the master of illusion, could not believe what his own eyes were now seeing. The divine holy couple and origin of all Tantric yoga, Siva and Parvati, met him face to face. "Your feats of magic are mere child’s play compared with the divine creative power that sustains all the worlds," said Parvati. The Divine Mother, at the command of Lord Siva, raised her hand and streams of luminous cosmic bubbles flowed out which became endless universes pervaded everywhere by the divine holy couple. Parvati showed Shandu visions of all his lives, always striving for power but never satisfied. She showed him how he was trapped by his mind’s desires since he was blind to searching for God’s reality. Then the Divine Mother touched Shandu’s heart. He felt the ecstatic bliss of being a soul that was expanding into infinity, while yet being in one place at the same time. Shandu realized that beyond life and death the bliss of God was the only reality. Shandu bowed touching the feet of the divine holy couple and prayed for forgiveness for his mind’s ignorance.

Slowly Shandu descended from the cloud and reached the royal palace. By now the cloud had disappeared. King Bhadrayu and his people were amazed by Shandu’s magic. King Bhadrayu offered Shandu his daughter Chandrika and his kingdom. But then Shandu did the biggest miracle of his life. He renounced his craving for power. Shandu told the people his vision of Siva and Parvati in the cloud. The people looked up, and all saw the holy couple blessing the kingdom with beams of light descending from their hands. Shandu had now experienced something greater than all the illusions of magic. By the grace of the divine holy couple Shandu the magician had become transformed into a saint who saw beyond this fleeting transient world. Shandu’s whole being now experienced God’s reality everywhere. All the people witnessed the radiant light coming out of his bliss filled body, and they also felt the reality of the divine presence pervading their soul.