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"Time and the Voices According to the River" E.M.

In this quote, in the chapter ‘The Ferryman’, Siddhartha learns from the river. The river tells him that there is no time, and everything is separated by only shadows and nothing real. The river only knows the present. Saddhartha also notices that the river has the voices of every creature in it, and Vasudeva the ferryman tells him that the voice in the river is Om. This is significant because the river is like Siddhartha’s inner voice that tells him what to do, like his conscience, and gives him advice. Siddhartha also learns that the river can teach everything if he listens to it. Also, Siddhartha’s life mirrors the river in that his past selves such as the Brahmin, the shramana, and the rich man are not completely separate, but separated only by shadows and nothing really substantial. I think that the river is right; that there really is no past or future, because all of these supposedly different points in time are actually the present. What we think is the future right now will become the present eventually, and what is perceived as the past was once the present; therefore everything is the present and there is no time, like the river says.


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