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The Saga of Odin/Chapter Nine: Return of Olav

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Chapter Nine:
Return of Olav

Gentle hills overgrown with blossoming heath… Its little pink-lilac flowers shine in the rays of the morning sun.

Pines, covered with morning dew, rise over the heather carpet.

Sometimes granite stones protrude from the heather. They were here even in those times when Ódin walked in body through these lands.

Since childhood, I loved these beautiful places, still not knowing that it was the Divine Presence of Odin, which made them so incredibly beautiful, giving a hard-to-describe joy!

And now I, having known Him already for many years, am overflowed with gratitude to Him for His Love, for His Care!

His words fill me with unearthly Happiness, and the Mergence of consciousnesses gives great Bliss!

Odin — in response to my emotions — expresses by His emotions and words Love between God and the embodied human soul:

“I’m Omnipresent!

“From any corner of the universe — in an instant — I can be close to you!

“You can — in the body or without a body, that is, as a free soul — call Me. And I — at the same moment will be next to you and in you!

“The Ocean of My Transparent Peace embraces you always. But if you want to turn your love to Me, then the Flame of My reciprocal Love flares up!

“I am ready to direct Flows of My Tenderness towards you, in you — whenever you think of Me!

“If you invite — then I enter into your loving heart, granting a state of Happiness.

“I am ready to pour My Power in your body, filling it with the Fiery Stream of My Love!

“I say these words not only to you: I want everyone, reading these lines, to try to be in your place — for feeling Me, for hearing Me!

“I address these words to everyone who loves Me! I am ready to embrace everyone who is faithful to Me, who is directed to Me!

“I am One of Many, Who have attained the Divine Oneness in the past! And Each of Us is ready to lead to the Divine Universal House — the Ocean of Primordial Consciousness — everyone who sends to Us the emotions of love!

“The soul, who has learned to love, overcomes the obstacles that seemed insurmountable before, and quickly approaches the Creator!”

… Having immersed me in His Light, Odin continued to tell the saga.

* * *

When that terrible storm was approaching, a sensation of irreparable misfortune piled on Annika. Her heart trembled and compressed, as if in pain. A loving soul always feels if trouble happens to the beloved.

Storm clouds approached, thunder rumbled…

Vagni already several times called her into the house. But Annika did not leave the top of the cliff.

“Oh, Great Gods! If Olav has died, then it’s time for me to follow him! Because I would like to be with him in life and in death! I want to share his fate, to accept, too, the fate that You have prepared for him!”

“Do not rush, Annika, you can spoil everything with your haste! That which for a small soul can seem a disaster or even a death — the same for the Great Soul has a completely different meaning! Wait! He will come to you in three days!”

“… Do I hear You?! Am I not crazy due to waiting and anxiousness? Are You talking to me?! Can I converse with Gods?!”

“Of course! And everyone can do it! But why else did you turn to Us? Did you not expect Us to answer and advise you?”

“I never heard answers before…”

“Everything happens once for the first time! You’re growing up, Annika! You have cultivated love which unites souls! A soul which has become love, can very much! It can learn both to see, to hear, to talk at a distance with other people! Also such a soul can communicate with Gods — as with Friends and Teachers! You have to know all this, since you firmly decided to share the fate of your beloved!

“You must wait three days more!”

… A terrible storm was raging.

Vagni spoke to Annika, trying to calm her down:

“Do not be afraid! Olav is wise and will never risk the lives of his friends and the vessel! In such weather, they certainly took refuge in some quiet bay!”

… Annika could hardly hear Vagni. Sometimes she saw — as if in a fog — the face of Olav, consisting of Light, and other radiant Divine Faces. This gave her hope. But then she again did not see or hear anything, and from the alarm, she felt that she would die in that very moment…

* * *

It was the morning after the storm. Not the slightest breeze!

Annika stood on the cliff and looked at the sea.

… The vessel of Olav was approaching. There was no wind, no rowers, no sail on the mast…

Invisible Force propelled the vessel to the shore.

Olav stood at the stern and held the steering oar.

She hardly recognized her beloved. His hair was now white, like snow, lit by the sun. And the shining of Light was around!

She ran from the cliff to meet.

He went ashore and hugged her!

“Now we’ll go for my friends, Annika! They were captured because of their loyalty to Me. And we must free them.

“After that, if you do not change your mind, it will be our wedding.”

“How could I change my mind?!”

“I have returned. But I am not exactly what I was before. I am now one of Gods. And the Great Power is now in Me! I will have to do many deeds, obeying the Will of the One!

“And I will never be able to deviate from His Will — even out of love for you.”

“I belong to You forever, my Beloved, and I do not want a different fate, except to live with You!”

* * *

Olav now knew that navigating a vessel could be much faster than it used to be.

Now He controlled the movement, embracing Annika who was pressing to Him, and at the same time continuing to listen to His Divine Brothers and Sisters:

“You had gone through the ‘gates of death’ — to the Eternal Life! And yet your body did not die. This is a great opportunity to convey the Divine Knowledge to people directly, without intermediaries. To be God, having a body like the bodies of people, — this is a great fortune!

“Now you need to learn how to control the Divine Force.

“You can display It as the Great Calm or — in the required quantity and intensity — as the Divine Light or Fire. And also — directly by affairs, surpassing usual possibilities of men.

“But You no longer have to and will not be able to display the former personal human desires. This is, first of all, the desire to help or change anything in the lives of people — in your personal discretion. But only the Divine Will will be manifested through You!

“Now You must not forget even for a moment — Who You are and why You are here!

“You, as the Cognizer of the Unity, now can reveal the Omnipotence of One God, His Wisdom, and Love — with the help of Your material body. And many people will be able to see and hear this!

“Your job now will be — with the help of your material body — to nurture, bringing up souls, direct their growth. And this is a long and, at first sight, very ungratifying work!

“But You can now show in detail the Path — to those who will rush to Us and are able to overcome the tests of the Path!

“Remember always: great responsibility is in possessing the Divine Power!”

… Olav was accustoming to His new state and learned to control the Force, Which was now at His disposal.

His Omnipotence, however, did not mean the possibility of doing whatever it pleased… Divine Omnipotence implied not only the Force, but also the One Divine Will that cannot be transgressed for the sake of personal desire.

The sense of Power, the perception of Himself as the Ocean of Divine Consciousness — was new to Olav.

And He studied the Power, Wisdom, and Patience of God.

The Power of all the Lords of the universe was connecting with the Power of Olav!

He was One of Them — the Set of Those Who, like the Waves of the Great Ocean, create Their Work without detaching Themselves from the Oceanic Depths. Or They are at Rest — and there were no Divine Waves, but only Blissful Peace inviting and waiting for the Worthy into Oneness.

Everything that Olav first knew, feeling only for a short time in meditations — all this became His Essence, His new Divine Life!

The body did not hinder this. It was a small part of His Being, but allowed to manifest — by the Words and Power — the Divine Whole.

He could see — with help of the eyes of the body or without their help: directly as the Divine Soul.

He also realized that the One Divine Ocean can now look through the eyes of His body. And, seeing the gaze of such eyes, evil and vicious souls would tremble. But those who strive for good, love, and purity — would be filled with happiness!

He could now speak the Words of Divine Wisdom with the help of the body — so that they would be heard by ordinary people who had not yet acquired the ability to personally understand God directly. But also — He could inspire thoughts in the soul without the help of words.

It was enough for him to pay attention to any soul and take it on the Palm of the Hand of Consciousness — and He knew the destiny of this soul, saw all its qualities and thoughts.

Annika, friends, the people of Bolly, who wanted to harm him,… — all were now in Him-Ocean! And not only they…

He has become the Lord of all beings in the Ocean of Life, but there was in Him no personal desire to command.

From the Great Unity — He saw now the reasonableness and expediency of all that is happening and understood the right of free choice of each soul.

Olav now learned to see also those rare moments when the Divine Power can intervene in what is happening, — with the purpose of helping people understand the Divine Laws and gain love.

And one such moment approached.

… Here — already was before them the bay, where recently unfolded the events with the attack on their vessel. Here was the camp of Bolly’s people: boats, robbers guarding the riches and captive friends of Olav…

* * *

The people of Bolly noticed the vessel quickly approaching on the surface of the water — while windless, without sail and oarsmen.

There were screams of horror:

“Ghost! It’s the ghost of Olav! It is he! He wants revenge and to take our lives!”

… Even the most fearless Vikings wavered before the sorcery and other manifestations from the immaterial worlds.

Olav approached the people of Bolly who were frozen in astonishment and fear. Now, none of them had any doubts that it was Olav: alive — or only seeming so…

Olav began to speak, and Divine Love was in the sound of His voice. The Divine Peace was filling the space around His body.

“Yes it’s Me! I come for My friends! Yes, I’ve returned from the realm of death — to fulfill the Will of Gods! Untie them!

But before the stunned with astonishment people of Bolly rushed to carry out the order — the ropes crumbled to dust.

The joyful exclamation of Roon broke the silence:

“Olav! I knew, I believed that it will be so!”

… Roon ran up and, without hiding tears of happiness, embraced Olav!

Bolly wanted to throw a knife in Olav, but he could not even move his hand. And none of his people could move or say a word…

Olav continued:

“Yes, I returned from the worlds, where souls go after the death of their bodies.

“Do not try, Bolly, you cannot kill Me anymore, no matter how much you want it!

“Yes, I returned, endowed with Wisdom and the Power of Gods, — to tell people about the Divine Laws.

“I will not take revenge on you, Bolly, and your warriors for the evil that you caused my friends. The evil created is already a terrible punishment for those who commit it! This evil always returns to the one who committed the atrocity, it predetermines for that one a terrible fate in future!

“It is due to ignorance — people, most often, transgress Divine Laws and create troubles for themselves and others!

“But these Laws are called upon to help souls in reaching the Divine worlds! They are very simple:

‘Do not harm anyone!

‘Help all in all good!

‘Give others love — and love will fill with happiness also your life!’

“Knowing these Laws, one can understand also that there is a Divine Justice.

“I will now show each of you what will happen to him in later life — as a reward for already committed evil.”

… And before each of the people of Bolly — like a dream in reality — went pictures of his possible future, with an understanding of causes-and-effects connections, which are usually revealed before souls only after the death of their bodies.

After a long pause, during which each saw and understood very much, Olav continued to say:

“Sincere repentance will allow each of you an opportunity to build your destiny differently, changing the sad fate created by previous affairs.

“The fate of one does not depend on what one was awarded at birth by ‘Goddess of fate’. This fairytale only reflects the reality that a soul comes into incarnation on the Earth with a plan-fate, already formed, and Gods only determine what from this and in what sequence is to be realized.

“But no less important is what and how one does in this life. This also predetermines one’s future — both close and remote in time — and can change one’s own destiny for better or for worse.

“The manifestation of hatred, the resistance against good and love, the infliction of evil upon others — are, in fact, means to oppose the Divine Will! It means killing the potential of Divinity in themselves and hindering the growth of the Divine in others!”

… The words of Olav penetrated into the depths of each soul, and if there was even a little bit of good and light there, then the understanding took root there…

Then Olav suggested to the people of Bolly:

“Now — get ready for the journey! You will drive the convoy with the jewels you have stolen — to whom these values \x{200b}\x{200b}were promised by Me. Go to the konung Ingvar and tell him that I kept my promise and that Annika is now my wife and will always be with Me.”

* * *

Bolly lay alone by the cooling fire. His former associates wanted to bind him, but realized that this was already unnecessary.

All his former assistants now left him. It was somewhat easier for them to survive what had happened to them, because it was he who commanded them, but they — only carried out criminal orders…

Bolly was worse than he had ever been before in his life. Anger smothered him! And yet every outburst of hatred caused a sharp pain in the body. Once he was filled with the emotions of hatred for Olav — and his body was twisted by convulsions and severe pain. But he could not reconcile himself to what had happened, and repentance did not come.

He was lying, unable to get up. He accused in his mind the magic of Olav in this state of his and still could not understand that his own anger engendered every subsequent attack of pain that shook his body.

And suddenly Bolly saw the reality of a woman’s face which he also saw in that vision, when Olav showed them all their deaths. And this death in the vision was from the woman’s hand. It was both painful and humiliating for him!…

And then he saw this woman really before him…

She was tall. Men’s clothes were on her body. The dagger flashed in her hand…

Vagni also saw this stranger, who raised the dagger over Bolly, who was crouching on the ground at the burning fire.

And, even though Bolly deserved the most terrible punishment, Vagni stopped with his strong grip the already poised arm with dagger.

“It is not necessary to finish off the defeated foes!” — he said softly.

“What do you understand?! He deserves the most terrible and painful death! He robbed our village when our men did not return from the campaign! And in winter, women and children were dying of hunger! I vowed to find him and take revenge! And you — you cannot stop me! I’ve been looking for him for a year!”

“You will stop yourself: because a quick death now will only relieve his torment! Look how pathetic and insignificant he is!

“And mercy is more becoming for a woman than vengeance! Let him now be sick with remorse! Let all those innocent people, who were killed by him, be recalled!

“And now he himself is already worse than a dead man! And to no one else can he do harm!”

… And then in front of Bolly again began to swim terrible images — like dreams in reality.

Those people whom he did not remember, but who died because of him, surrounded him from all sides. Bolly shouted at them, trying to justify himself: “I never killed children! I did not fight against women! I’m just a robber!… Yes, I cheated, betrayed… But I fought only men…”. But he was silently staring in the reproachful eyes of many souls… Bolly burst into tears…

This hell, which he was experiencing, finally gave rise to his repentance…

The pain of the body began to let go. It was replaced by the pain of the soul, which needed a great cleansing…

* * *

Grieving over the sobbing Bolly, the stranger allowed Vagni to unclasp from her hand the dagger. Vagni himself put her weapon into the sheath on her waist.

He embraced her soft broad shoulders and led her to the companions of Olav, who were preparing the vessel, damaged by the storm, for sailing.

Vagni asked:

“What's your name?”

“Gerd. I’ve been looking for this scoundrel so long to take revenge…”

“Now you can be sure that he will inevitably be punished in full.

“And death is not the most terrible punishment…

“Revenge — always only sows the continuation and multiplication of evil!

“Moreover, it makes more cruel the avenging soul, which — according to God’s Intention — was called to blossom in love…”

… He stroked her hand tenderly, not knowing where his tenderness came from…

Vagni did not think that he was capable of falling in love… Gerd did not think that she could still meet someone who would be her favorite husband…

* * *

Soon the convoy with jewels went to konung Ingwar. None of those who escorted and guarded the cargo thought about stealing part of the gold and, fleeing somewhere, to start a new free and rich life there.

These people have gained the understanding that the beginning of their new life should be honest, also that robbery and theft, even unsolved and un-identified by other people, cannot serve as the foundation for a happy and joyful life.

They had now new understanding of the meaning of life — and this truly new life could not be entered with the help of stolen gold. It had to be started by changing each oneself. And of all the exploits this is the most difficult…

… Olav and his comrades put the vessel in order and set off on a journey.

“It seems that we are waiting not for one wedding, but two!” — friends joyfully joked over Vagni.

And Annika, with light anxiety, asked Olav:

“Tell me, can you make me die before I grow old and become not good-looking?”

… Olav laughed, embracing his beloved:

“Why are you so foolish now?

Well-well, I promise you will look age-appropriate, too!”

* * *

Many joys, difficulties and achievements waited ahead of Olav and His team.

Not so easy was the fate of the one who became His wife and raised their children. But nothing would Annika prefer to exchange in this fate, which included life with the Beloved!