Chapter 3: The Eternal Return

Beneath the cool shade of the Peepal tree, Adi lay once more, watching the clouds drift across the sky. A slender blade of grass dangled from his lips, the taste of earth familiar yet distant, like a forgotten memory resurfacing. He had been here before. Many times.

"How many times has it been?" he wondered. "A dozen? A hundred? A thousand? A million? Billions?"

The numbers stretched beyond comprehension, beyond time itself. He no longer knew when it had begun, nor when—if ever—it would end. He had lived countless lives, played infinite roles, but the cycle remained unbroken. He asked himself, "When will it stop? When will I know the truth? When will I be free?"

This time, he chose differently. Instead of following the path of knowledge and duty, he renounced it all. He left behind the comforts of home and the expectations of society. He became a wanderer, a sadhu, a seeker of truth. Barefoot, draped in simple robes, he roamed the land, forsaking all attachments. His days were spent in meditation, his nights beneath the vast sky.

People marveled at his purity, at the way he lived untouched by greed, anger, or desire. He had freed himself from the temptations that bound others—the seven sins never found a home in him. But was this true freedom? Or was he merely playing another role in the grand cycle?

"What is free will?" he asked himself. "Is it the will to act? Or the will to not act? If I choose not to act, is that still my will? How does one live devoid of karma? Is such a thing even possible?"

He had spent his life seeking answers, yet in the end, only more questions arose. The cycle was unbroken, the wheel continued to turn.

At seventy, Adi sat by the sacred Ganga, feeling the end approach. The river, ancient and eternal, whispered secrets in its flowing embrace. He had seen it before, had sat upon its banks in lives long past. And now, as he took his final breath, the familiar sensation returned.

And then, once again—

The Peepal tree.

The clouds drifting.

The taste of earth on his tongue.

Again, a new life unfolded. Sometimes he lived long, sometimes brief. Sometimes he loved and lost, sometimes he walked alone. Sometimes he was poor, sometimes he was rich. He was a warrior, a poet, a servant, a king. Over and over, the dance of existence played out.

And then—

Adi awoke beneath the Peepal tree once more.

But this time, something felt different. A realization stirred within him, deeper than before. For the first time, he sensed the edges of the circle, the faint outline of the path that had bound him through eternity. A glimpse—just a glimpse—of the truth that had eluded him for lifetimes.

"Today is different," he thought. "This might be a different journey."

His eyes fluttered shut, embracing the revelation that had haunted him since the beginning. And as he surrendered to it, the cycle continued—toward what, he did not yet know.