Of course he was! He was the Prime Minister of India! He had a great life! He had it all!

But… how happy?

Of course there were… a few minor issues – strictly within family – but….

Anywhere near bliss?

Would you call yourself enlightened?

“So…”
He looked across to Pierre, anxious to end this rumination –

“I suppose you are over 100% – in permanent bliss. Is that what I am supposed to believe?”
Pierre laughed –

“Not at all – and please – feel free to believe what you want.”

“But you raised this… nonsense. Where do you place yourself on that silly graph?”

“Not in permanent bliss, that’s for sure.”

“So what’s the point?”

“The point is that I have been there.”

“Mmm.”

“And I can get back there any time I want.”

“I see…”
This answer, like many of Pierre’s answers, did not satisfy the P.M.

“But if it’s so good– why not stay there all the time?”

“Because nothing gets done up there,” Pierre said with a grin.

The P.M. had to laugh – he couldn’t resist the perverse ring of truth. Everyone knew that sadhus were completely hopeless when it got down to practicalities – the eighth wonder of the world is that they get through each day!

“So seriously, where do you put yourself Pierre – tell me?”

“I don’t like talking about myself.”

“But it’s just a number – pick one.”
Pierre sighed –

“I float around between 60 and 100. Sometimes things annoy me and I drop. But I have never been anywhere near depression since I renounced. Frankly – approaching normal on the way down is depressing enough for me. If I get anywhere near normal I tend to do something about it.”

“You can honestly say that?”

“Yes – sure, I say it.”

“So what’s the change?”

“I told you – now I have faith.”
The P.M. knew it would get back to this – in his dealings with Shard and the sadhus it always got back to this. But now that he had Pierre alone, without the powerful presence of Shard, he decided to challenge it –

“Faith?”

“Yes – in the existence of an interested God.”
This had never been good enough for the P.M.

“Why call it faith? Why is it not just common belief? Why is your faith not just the same old belief that your “normal” citizens hold in the billions.”

“Because I have experienced something.”

“Something?”

“Yes something– something I can’t explain.”

“Can’t explain or won’t explain?”

“Both.”
The P.M. sat for a moment in a rumbling, dissatisfied silence.

“Tell me Pierre – do you think renunciation is necessary to get to one hundred percent happy?”

“I’m sure there are other ways.”

“Do you want everybody to go through this… this experience?”

This was something the P.M. had wanted to know from the outset – a question Shard always managed to avoid.

“We just want to give everyone the choice, that’s all.”

“Everyone?”

“Yes – everyone.”

The P.M. smiled cynically –

“I know my father was a keen supporter of Shard,” he said. “But personally I’m very dubious about this.”

“Of course you are – and so you should be!”

“And as for Max – you may see something in him that makes you think he may do something extraordinary… but I haven’t seen any convincing sign of it myself.”

“Oh… that’s a pity.”

“I mean – that writing you’re so keen on – the graph.”

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing much is it?”

“It’s an idea – a perspective – an overview of life.”
The P.M. flashed a look of mild disapproval –

“It’s really just another facile little theory – isn’t it?”

“Of course it is,” Pierre shrugged. “But that doesn’t make it entirely worthless.”