Rivers are considered lifelines of humanity. They not only nourish us physically but also emotionally and spiritually. No wonder, our culture has rightly given them status as mother's.
Imagine, if rivers could speak, what message they would like to give us. Here are few lessons that we can learn from them. In fact if we remain in the mood of submissive students of life, there is so much we can learn even from "so called" inanimate objects. Many of these lessons are from Radhanath Maharaj's memoir - 'The Journey Home'.
Lesson 1 - MAGIC OF SETTING GOALS
The river is so desperate, so determined, so focused to reach the sea that nothing can stop it. It goes over, under or around all impediments. It never gives up. It has learnt the art of overcoming all obstacles. In fact it is said that, obstacles are those things that you see when you loose focus of your goals. The river teaches us that the first and most important key to overcome obstacles in life is to have a goal that inspires us from the core. We need to develop a kind of monomaniacal madness - obsession for our goal. As someone rightly put it up - If one doesn't have a goal worth dying for, one really has nothing worth living for. There is great magic in discovering and connecting with our goal, our dream, our calling in life. In fact an empowering goal is like a powerful magnet that literally pulls us towards it.
Lesson 2 - DIVING DEEPER IN LIFE
The river creates new art at every moment with her ripples and swirls. But interestingly, as soon as the art is created, it disappears simultaneously, never to be created again. And in the next moment a new art is created. Isn't life exactly like this? What appears to be so true - so real now, changes in no time. As it is said - The only fact in this world - is change. We cannot cling onto anything. But below the superficial changes on the surface of the river, there is a constant, steady current. Similarly if we learn to dive deeper in our own hearts and access the constant unchanging, steady truth, then we can find steadiness and peace in our lives even amidst external chaos.
Lesson 3 - KEEP MOVING
Just imagine if a river had to tell you all the history it has witnessed. So many civilizations come and go on it's bank, but it continues to flow patiently to the sea. Truth too is unchanging, nothing can disturb its flow, however dramatic. We get so fixated at this moment in history that we feel 'this is the most important thing' but nothing in this material world really matters so much. Don't take this material world too seriously, because what you take seriously today will change tomorrow. The river ultimately teaches us that the purpose of life is to keep flowing, keep moving despite the ups and downs, highs and lows and the other dualities of life.
Lesson 4 - BEING VIGILANT IN LIFE
There are many objects that gets swept by the current of the river. Sometimes uprooted trees, flowers, leaves or dead animals fall into the river. If these objects remained in the river's flow, they would reach the sea. But most things would be diverted to the bank's and their progress halted. Similarly in the pursuit of our goals especially our spiritual goals there will be so many temptations that come, promising comfort and happiness that will divert us, stop us from reaching the sea of our aspiration. We need to remain very vigilant in life. What we need to understand is that - commitment to reach our goal is not a one time affair, it is a daily one.
Lesson 5 - OBSERVING LIFE WITH DETACHMENT
If one is inside the river, one will be greatly affected by all its turmoil, but if one sits on it's bank, one can peacefully observe it with detachment - without getting affected. The best way to deal with this world and more importantly to deal with our mind, is to create a distance, view it as the observer. We are not what happens to us, we are the silent space around which things happens. This can be a wonderful and sobering exercise - to observe the river of our life in a detached spirit.
Lesson 6 - THE POWER OF ACCEPTANCE
Sometimes it is seen that a huge and powerful animal like an elephant falls in the river and is washed away. Even though the elephant tries to swim with all it's might it can't beat the power of the current. But interestingly in the same water we find a tiny fish, which is hardly a fraction of the elephants strength, swim upstream without much effort. How is this possible? What is the secret of the success of the fish? The secret is that the fish is taken shelter of the mighty river whereas the elephant is trying to fight with it. Very often the solution to most problems comes not by fighting with it - resisting it, but by accepting it - by making friends with it. As it said - What we resist, persists and what we befriend, we transcend. In fact suffering lies in resistance to 'what is' and peace lies in the acceptable of it.
In conclusion let us cherish the wonderful jewels of wisdom offered to us by the rivers and try to apply them in our personal lives so that we can navigate the river of our life to reach the sea of our aspirations. I will end this article with the super-excellent prayer of Queen Kunti, which has been cherished even by exalted sages for millennia. She prays to Lord Krishna -
tvayi me nanya-visaya,
matir madhu-pate sakrit
ratim udvahatad addha,
gangevaugham udanvati
"As the Ganges flows to the sea without hindrance, let my mind be constantly drawn to You without being diverted to anything else". May this prayer be the guiding force of our lives.
- Achyut Gopal Das
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