Siddhartha decides that he shall stay near the river since it holds secrets from which he may learn. He feels love for everything and recognizes himself as a part of it and not as an outsider. Colors are around him everywhere, just as before he had entered Samsara. Things make sense to him now. Siddhartha walks along the river and sees the ferryman standing in his boat and asks to be taken to the other side where he had come from so many years before. Instead of judging this man to be simple-minded, Siddhartha praises him and, offering his rich clothes as a gift, asks to remain there as the ferryman's assistant. The ferryman, named Vasudeva, agrees happily as Siddhartha reenters the hut he had slept in years before. He tells his entire life story. Vasudeva listens well, since this is what the river has taught him to do, replying to Siddhartha that the river is Siddhartha's friend and likes him. Siddhartha becomes excited since the two connect so well in their understanding, and he knows that he, too, shall learn to listen to the river like Vasudeva.

The two ferrymen go to sleep. Time passes and old Siddhartha grows older. The Brahmin's son learns to listen to the river, and his emotions continue to open up and embrace the world, without selfish desires. He begins to realize the importance of himself as a part of a greater whole. Siddhartha speaks to Vasudeva about another lesson the river teaches, that time does not exist. "The river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth...in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future...Siddhartha the boy, Siddhartha the mature man and Siddhartha the old man [are] only separated by shadows, not through reality...Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence" Chapter 9, pg. 87. The river is like Siddhartha himself, and the life of any person. It is unchanging and yet it is always changing within, deeper inside beneath the surface. He now belongs not to a group, such as the Samanas or Brahmins, but instead to everything.

Please do visit these blogs

1-Lessons A Millennial Child Learnt From 90s Epic Ramayan (https://www.womensweb.in/2020/05/lessons-a-millennial-child-learnt-from-90s-epic-ramayan/)

2-Era of stories in India(https://chaotictrain.blogspot.com/2020/04/era-of-stories-in-india.html)

3-Must watch if you are crazy about movies and web shows(https://wemedia.co.in/article/wm/38b3b9da5b3c468197768a632f703dd2)

4-The bird, the squirrel and little me (https://wemedia.co.in/article/wm/38b3b9da5b3c468197768a632f703dd2)

5-Health Benefits of Fenugreek ( Methi ) (https://wemedia.co.in/article/wm/0eb7ff49c68848c397dd3f844d96eef2)

BY- Kaushiki

happy listening