Samsaara : Devadoot

A Rose By Any Other Name

We both followed the cow through the woods and walked for a few minutes through some mildly dense autumn woods. We then came to a small clearing between the woods. There was a pond on the left side of the clearing brimming with lotuses and colourful tailed guppies.

On the far end of the clearing was a small hillock covered with vines of money plants. The hillock had a crack on its base which was about 2 feet wide and 8 feet tall. A sparkling fresh water spring was replenishing the water in the pond. The clearing was showered by ample sunlight which kept the trees and plants alive along with the fresh water stream. The surroundings were resounding with the sounds of song birds and I could see yellow butterflies flitting about happily. The cow moved towards a small bush and began to eat its leaves.

Old man Ishrafil said, "We have reached, let's just wait a few moments till mother comes here."

"Great! I'm parched," I said and went to the stream and had some spring water.

It is hard to express the taste of a tasteless substance but I will give it a good attempt. It was just the right temperature, tasteless yet somehow it tasted healthy. Imagine the most expensive bottled mineral water being given to a dehydrated person in the desert.

It was so refreshing that I exclaimed, "Wow!"

Ishrafil explained, "This is called the stream of life. It is what humans misunderstood to be the fountain of youth. It was the cleanest and purest water you could find supercharged with minerals that are very good for you. If you have enough of this water it will help you heal quickly from injuries and recover from diseases. That is where this rumour about the fountain of youth originated."

"Well I have been particularly accident prone since I found the core. Hopefully this will make me as good as new," I said.

The old man just sighed with impassiveness. The sound of the rustling of dried leaves came from the hillock. I stood up and turned around and saw a woman stepping out from the crevice on the hillock. She looked in her mid thirties with streaks of grey hair and mild laugh lines next to her eyes. She wore an orange robe of the same flimsy material which loosely covered her plump figure.