So Much for Bookish Knowledge

A professor of English Grammar once got into a boat with a boatman. Proud of his accomplishments in the literacy field, he asked the boatman, "Have you ever studied the science of grammar?"

The boatman said, "No, I haven't"

The grammar professor exclaimed, "Then you have wasted half your life". The boatman was upset by the professor's rudeness but he remained cool.

Soon, a storm moved in as they sailed across the water. Suddenly, the boat became caught in a vortex of water and they could not maneuver the boat out of it. Fearing that the boat would capsize, the boatman yelled over the roaring waves. "O professor, do you know how to swim?"

The grammar professor replied with contempt, "Certainly not. Don't expect me to know swimming I never wasted my time with such a pastime".

The boatman told him, "Then since the boat is going to sink, it is you who have wasted the other half of your life by not learning how to swim, because you are about to drawn!"

This story told by Maulana Rumi in his Masnavi point to an important truth. It asks us to contemplate how we spend our lives and what we value. The professor was filled with pride and ego about his intellectual knowledge, but it did not help him when it came to the practical experience of swimming. His life depended upon his ability to swim, but he did not value that activity during his life. He was busy studying grammar books and did not feel he would ever be in the position to need to learn anything else.

Most of us spend our lives pursuing physical and intellectual goals, but we remain ignorant of spirituality. When the total wave of physical death is upon us, we have no spirituals skills to help us through the end of our life. When we get the news that we have a terminal illness, or suddenly we are faced with our mortality, we panic. We do not know what to do. We have not spent our lives learning about the true meaning of life and death, and we fear our end.

Those who have spent their life learning to swim in the spiritual stream through meditation have nothing to fear. They face their end with calm and fearlessness. They have already seen the splendors of the afterlife while in this life. They have learned the art of rising above body-consciousness and have witnessed first-hand the realms beyond. What have they to fear when their physical boat of their body is about to capsize.

Too many people ignore the reality of physical death until it is too late. They feel that intellectual knowledge and amassing physical wealth, name and power are more important. But when death nears, they discover that their intellectual knowledge and worldly possessions are of little use. At this kpoint, they regret that they have not spent more time learning about their soul, about God and the realms beyond.

Those who learn about spirituality early in life are fortunate. They can devote some time daily to their spiritual practices so that they can master the art of rising above body-consciousness in this very life. Like swimming it takes practice. Daily meditation will build up our spiritual abilities so that we can reach a point at which we can experience the spiritual realms within.