The doot's mistake [3]

So explain again for us what the error was and how we can have other doots avoid it in the future, a dispatcher said to the doot. The doot was in the eye of a semi-circle of dispatchers sitting on the ground. He shifted his legs and got into a more comfortable position.

There were two errors on my part -- on our part rather, myself and a few other doots under the guidance of -- throatclearing cough -- yourselves. On the first attempt to collect the soul in the royal garden, I went in by myself considering this was a regular collection. I was aware there was an ascetic of great power nearby and I'm aware that cautiousness is of utmost importance when interacting with such holy men for...they have control over positioning of their souls as much as -- or perhaps more than -- we do. In any case, I was extra careful with the pickup and when I reached the garden I checked my notes and they said to pick up an attractive woman, a woman of many arts who had won over a thousand hearts.

The dispatchers, mostly men a few women here and there, nodded. Some smiled. They all understood the charms of a beautiful woman with a good voice skilled in the various arts. A slight smile flickered across the doot's face as he looked around. He had them.

In any case, I see this beautiful courtesan sitting under a mango tree with her two maidservants, singing in her sweet heavenly voice that's lulling the birds nearby into dancing and deer into frolicking around. As beautiful as apsara, her breasts full, her voice sweeter than the holy nectar, I was entranced by her, just as every other being in the garden, including the ascetic and his disciple. I come to my senses soon and realize that the description I have is of her. My dear friends, he said looking around, no complaint --  my friends, with a heavy heart I understand duty is duty and our karma is our most primary obligation. I slowly walk to her ... the ascetic and his disciples can see me, I can see them observing me and I nod at them... and at a close enough distance, extract her soul.

The crowd grew as more dispatchers joined in to hear the story. They had heard about something big having gone wrong due to ascetics using their powers in some way or another, but no one had any idea on the real background.

It is here, after I bring her soul into these very steps, do we realize there has been a mistake. She insists her name is Vasantasena, which does not match the name of the soul to be collected in the books. We check with one of you there -- a sitting dispatcher waves his hand and nods to everyone looking -- and realize she is right...it is indeed not her soul I needed to have collected. Now as you can imagine, this is a grave mistake but mistakes like that are not completely irregular here, particularly given several special -- throatclearing -- circumstances. We explain to her the situation, and the woman of worldly arts she is, she understands the implications of it. After having conversations on various spiritual-philosophical issues on which she has been trained to converse, myself, with two other doots and a dispatcher go back to the Earthly realm to return back the soul and bring back the correct one.

Agreeing nods. No confusion yet.

It is at this point we are really in trouble. For in the garden of the king, we find that the body of the courtesan is healthy and alive and scolding everyone in there. Instead, the body of the ascetic who I had observed earlier, lay lifeless beside a tree. As we are aware, ascetics are not to be messed around with, their anger can have far-reaching consequences. On advice of all the doots and dispatchers, we come to an understanding that the best course of action is to return back the soul to the body of the ascetic and not worry too much about what is happening there. We do not want to anger the ascetic, for he has been known to have a short fuse. We bring the body back to life and escape from there, hoping to get the correct information for the original soul to be extracted.

Nods of agreement. A dispatcher shouted So what's the problem? How can we assist you now, now that everything has been fixed? Murmurs of agreement.

And that is where I need your help dear gentle persons of the realm of the Yamadev to whom we serve. It has come to our knowledge that the body and the soul have been exchanged between the ascetic and the courtesan and since it was us who injected the soul into the Ascetic's body, he will have to permanently vacate his body of the courtesan's soul to go back. Thus taking her away untimely. Since that cannot be allowed to happen, we need a team to go to the Earthly realm, explain to the humans the ways of our errors and fix them, and bring the correct soul back so balance may be restored.