13.6

The sadhu who had taken him there sat quietly beside Max, fully engrossed, tapping out the rhythm on a matchbox.

Occasionally the music would boil up and erupt into a wild crescendo. At these times, as his slender fingers tapped flamboyantly on the drum, the drummer sadhu would lean back, close his eyes and appear to drift into a state of unadulterated ecstasy – pure bliss.

What do you think?

Was this guy a musician who one day decided to become a sadhu? Or a sadhu who turned himself into a musician…

With all that time on his hands.

K-chunk.

All that time…

Time…

Like you would need to write a novel.

K-chunk, K-chunk, K-chunk.

Is that the way it works?

Is renunciation not an end in itself – just the beginning of a new path?

Is it the beginning of a path to creativity?

“You will approach a gate.”

Is renunciation the gate?

“A gate only you can open.”

Does renunciation enable a release of talent?

An explosion of the potential within?

Is that the way it works?

But he knew it couldn’t be that simple. Plenty of people had renounced! They wouldn’t all have ended up like this drummer – brilliant, shining, a genius.