Does a Metaphor ever become Real?

by Dr. Sushil Fotedar

Does a Metaphor ever become Real? Well,  all metaphors are real in the metaphorical sense,  but do they ever become real in the actual sense?

To begin with, for example, Lord Shiva is a mythological figure with many stories attributed to Him in our Puranas. Some people interpret those stories literally wherein He exists in some parallel world, the Shiva-loka, intermittently making some essential trips to the Mrityu-loka of ours on the furtive call of His Bhaktas. Others, who apparently are intellectually sophisticated, read a more symbolic meaning into these stories and then describe their importance in the human context--moral or spiritual. This is similarly true of quasi-historical personages like Krishna and Rama etc. 

But then, does a Metaphor ever become Real?

What happens when a Surdas is held by Balkrishna and guided to his home on a dark wintry night when he is deserted on the wayside by the heartless trader who earlier in the day had ironically beseeched him to be a guest at his home--and moved immensely by the intensity of the experience writes one of the most beautiful poems of his life?

What happens when an Andal or a Meera sees, plays with and ultimately "marries" a Giridhar Naagar ?

What happens when a Ramkrishna Paramhans sees his "Mother", sits in Her lap and asks Her innocent childlike questions?

Are they mad, hallucinating psychotics?

Or does a Metaphor become Real in the actual sense?