BEGINNINGS

Heraclitus: A man never steps into the same river twice.

For as the man steps into the river, the river changes the man. It swirls around him, but also starts swirling within him.  He mingles in the water and becomes of the water. For some surreal moments, the man becomes the river.

Then, when the man steps again in the river, he looks the same but he isn’t. He has grown stronger.

The river too changes a bit. The man came in and left his imprints on the riverbed. He came carrying a weight on his shoulders, but went out a little stronger. As he left, his footprints on the riverbed were soon dissolved. But the river adjusts herself around his footprints. She gave to the man and took from him too.

When the man steps again into the river, she looks the same, but she isn’t. She has grown wiser. 

So, when the man steps again into the river, the water droplets which touch the man are those that had never touched him.

But the river knows and and she remembers. The man knows and in the river forgets himself.

Each time they meet, the two become one. And then they change a bit, imperceptibly, when they go again their separate ways.

Each time, bit by bit, drop by drop, through eddies and swirls, the two travel further.
And this beautiful journey of a thousand lifetimes begins when a man steps into a river.