Life in the mirror

The old man, a tramp with a grey torn cloak, while dumping all that trash into the river, suggested silently, asking me to look at how the river flows, how it continues to remain clear and clean. Did he speak to me? It felt so strong, making so much sense. It must've been my own observation.

He left me bewildered. There was a silent pause, with so much in it so fulfilling, so alive. I was dazed, and I was aware. I didn't have to do anything, didn't have to ask anything, didn't have to seek anything, it was all just there.

My impression of him, an image I created of him as a tramp just vanished into that daze. He was now a mirror to me, showing me ... I wasn't looking at what I wanted to anymore, everything around me showed itself, the bewilderment it cast over my senses was only a layer which got shattered, broke - a layer between me and the mirror.

There was no burden of trials or errors, quest or pursuit. No preferences in between, I was now 'one' with what I was drawn to, so magnetic, so free, so fulfilling.

Life, I would call it, was now displaying itself more than it ever did before.

The calmness, the silence, where was it? I could hear the birds singing, the river moving, the wind dancing but what was that silence? Curious, surrendered to this pull, I whispered... the silence is within. Is it, I asked?

Is my question any different from my answer? They both appear to be the same. In that silence, I saw everything very differently - rich, complete and filled.

My calm mind, yes, it was the calmness of the mind; I saw every thought moving, so freely. I was only a witness to those thoughts which inspired me, enlightened me and provided me with the information required to live. But, at that very instance, the thoughts were pure from my wants and desires; a subtle realisation so clearly telling me, that's how these thoughts truly are. As I sat back and witnessed them, I kept realising how connected I was with them; I wasn't separate from them.

A voice of silent sensation within me, kept speaking to every pulse of my existence. "I am not separate from anything in my life, I should pay attention to everything, pay attention to everything that's connected to me, rather than only feeling the things I want to feel, looking at things I want to look at."

Life is a mirror, showing me more of myself. Either I look at what I want to, or I let the mirror show me what it's there to show. It now appears as my own extension, the people I meet, the situations I am put through are only there to help me activate a certain inactive attribute or ability within. * The plot of a tramp and a girl is a continuation of the first article published on March 23, called 'River a movement'.