“No way!”, Zina shouted in shock.
“But I see now that it is true”, she recovered and turned inwards to look.
“You were Mandragora the demoness. We called you the poisonweed. But I still can’t believe it. You are the most amazing person; when you came from Earth you were even more impressive than my husband the Buddha, and he was the most impressive person who ever came from there; the most pure, wise and aware”, she fumbled words in shock.
“Look who’s talking”, smiled Lord Shiva, and ruffled her hair as she started smiling. “The Love of God herself”, and everybody gasped, as Zina’s title changed and she blushed so hard she was almost purple, and silently and worshipfully kissed Shiva’s hand as her tears welled up.
Mary’s eyes glistened with tears, as she smiled and nodded. “Indeed, that used to be my name. I had many incarnations on Earth since; this was my seventh, and Lord cast all those seven demons out of me as he opened my eyes to God’s light”, she turned to look at her husband adoringly. “I can’t say those lives were what you would call demonic. I had families, I learned to love, to nurture and care, and it changed me, but I was completely Earth-bound. I was so intoxicated with the idea of family life that I kept returning to relive it again, and I was a young woman in this last life when I joined the people who listened to John the Baptist. It changed something within me, as I started feeling that there’s something more to the world, to life, to reality, than just having a family and obeying commandments and customs diligently”, she reminisced, and looked into distance.
“And then he came”, she gripped the arm of Christ firmly. “One look at him, and my soul was filled with such light, such reality, truth and meaning, that everything demonic left me forever, and I cast away my old name. I followed him ever since, and loved him with my entire soul. We were married in Cana of Galilee, where his blessed Mother annoyed him into miraculously making more wine, as it was the duty of the groom”, she smiled, as Lakshmi smilingly bowed and mouthed “guilty as charged”.
“She was my most advanced, most beloved disciple”, Jesus continued. “She intuitively grasped the meaning of everything I taught, and spiritually progressed at an exponential pace, which caused some jealousy from my other disciples”, he grinned. “I had to remind them to be respectful more than once”.
“You don’t know how it feels to be here, what it’s like for me, Adonai”, her tears started streaming down her face. “This is heaven. I mean of course it is, but you don’t know what it was like when you were gone. Kefa and others summarily dismissed me and basically sent me to the kitchen with other women. They didn’t want to hear anything I had to say, as if I were a creature somewhat smarter than a goat, but nowhere near a man. I couldn’t believe that those were the people who were with you, who saw how you treated me and other women, who saw that you looked at each person as a person, and individual, and not a category or a class”, she continued sobbing. “They didn’t even try to make me feel less because I was a woman; they just assumed it as if it were an absolute truth. I felt such injustice. Not because I was a woman, because I loved being a woman. With you, it was everything I could ever dream of. But they thought I would have taken the leadership of the Church after you were gone, and they felt as if it were an abomination for a woman to lead, so they completely marginalised me. I never wanted to lead anything or compete with men, so I felt it as a grave injustice. I just wanted to be asked about you, so that I could relish in the memories, but nobody cared. It was as if they thought there was nothing of consequence I could possibly know, being a mere woman. Initially, I felt terribly disrespected and humiliated, and angry because of the injustice, but soon I got my senses together and started meditating on you, reliving the memories, thinking about your teachings, going back to the details of how your consciousness felt when you were the presence of God. I worked on purifying my emotions, thoughts and actions. I attained multiple initiations and spiritual experiences, and I continued meditating until my body crumbled from under me and I returned to you”, she smiled through tears.
“And you can’t even imagine how it feels for me here”, she smiled more brightly. “I was greeted by the honoured angel Azrael, and the precious Goddess at his side, Zina the Love of God, and the first thing I felt here was being truly seen for what I am as a person. They saw my naked soul in its truth, and talked to it directly. I felt seen, acknowledged, listened to, understood and loved. It was as if I was in your presence again, Adonai”, she leaned into her husband’s side.
“And then I saw the rest of the women and men of God here, and what most shocked me was how natural and free they all were in their mutual respect, how they saw each other and how recognition flowed naturally as worship, respect and love, without inhibitions, and how the women are lovely and feminine, how men are powerful and masculine, and they absolutely and unconditionally adore each other with their entire being, and my heart just bursts with happiness at the sight. Being among them is everything I would ever have wished for, had I known enough to be able to dream of such wonder”, she choked on words, as Zina and Kay rushed to embrace her.
“Most worshipped and respected Goddess, I bow to you, again and again”, spoke the Angel of Death. “I have seen many things, wonderful and terrible alike. I spent eons in Heaven, surrounded by my own kind, the spirit-crystals of vajra. I was there when the first souls started arriving from that hellhole they call Earth, where Satan rules supreme, and I saw Gods and Goddesses in tears and shock, as the souls insane from trauma retold their tragedies, and I saw lady Zina dying from pain on the floor. I saw the most holy mother of your Lord in tears as she tried to console the sobbing Light of God who gave birth to Time and Space, the most terrifying and powerful Lady Shakti. I saw the terrible and awesome Lord Shiva in tears, and I saw his power set loose in anger as he cracked the world and killed the fool responsible for this tragedy, planting the tears of the Gods in the foundations of Earth, which is how the mother of your Lord was conceived. I saw corrupted angels speaking horrible blasphemies, and I saw the blessed Lord Buddha appear before me as the purest, brightest crystal of blue vajra straight from the Earth, without any adaptation, addressing me and the blessed Lady Zina with full awareness and knowledge; and I’ve seen them both becoming Gods within hours. However, seeing you arrive today is the most impressive thing I have ever seen”, he bowed deeply. “Had you been in Heaven where I spent most of my long life, you would have scraped at its ceiling, as the most powerful, purest and the most subtle, gentle and fearsome being there. You were so close to godhood, that you indeed achieved it within minutes from arriving. I don’t know which is more awe-inspiring; your kindness, your intelligence or your power. I don’t wish to offend anyone, but people who marginalised you and treated you as anything less than the most awesome angelic being in existence, are at a great loss, and they are to be pitied”, he bowed to her again, as she smiled at him angelically and tried to bow, as much as it were possible, with everybody hugging her.
Zina knelt at Mary’s side and took her face in her hands, looking straight in her eyes. “Sister, I was never a very intellectual person when I was human, so I was never in your position; the usual female role in our culture gave me everything I wanted. But I can imagine what it would have felt like for my husband, were he a woman-buddha trying to get people to listen, and I see you and your frustration and pain. I am so sorry you had to experience that”, Zina kissed her sister’s forehead and touched it with her own.
Her husband sat down as well. “Don’t sell yourself short, my Lady, for you are the first person ever to beat me in an argument, and so thoroughly that I accepted you as my guru and begged for your guidance, and became a God at your side when I worshipped your wisdom”, he gently moved a lock of hair that was in front of his wife’s eye.
“This”, Mary both sobbed more powerfully and smiled like a sun. “This is heaven. Let me just stay here and experience this forever and I will wish for nothing else”, she looked at the two of them. “The way the two of you see and treat each other, is heaven”.
“Jesus, bro, what the fuck have you been teaching your disciples there, man?”, Azazel looked at the Christ with mock consternation.
“I don’t think mine were that much better, either”, Buddha added, scratching his head in slight embarrassment.
“He tried”, Mary defended her true love. “He taught by example, he warned, but it is as if some things are so profoundly culturally ingrained, people just assume them. People assume women are stupid, especially if they are beautiful, and especially if they are feminine, and I was both”, she recalled.
“I fail to see how that follows from anything”, Kay looked shocked. “Beauty, femininity and mental capacity are three completely independent variables”.
Mary started laughing so hard that she stopped crying. “Thank you for this, sister. For being such a crown proof of their foolishness, as you embody everything those men would consider impossible; for in you, all three of those variables are converging into infinity, and yet you exist here, as the most real and wonderful comfort to me”, she smiled and caressed the beautiful, feminine face of God’s Mind.