An old ferryman with a long white beard and merry twinkling eyes would carry the travelers from one end of the river to another. Although there were bigger vessels and more luxurious boats to do the same, his simple wooden boat, with a lantern hung at one end and the ferryman at the other, was the most popular. There was something in his demeanor that calmed everyone who travelled everyday with him. He would share stories, laugh, smile and sometimes just be silent-however, it never seemed awkward. There was something about him…
To understand why everyone chose his boat, a rich businessman who owned one of the most luxurious boats there decided to travel with him. Wearing a heavy suit and even heavier scent- he got onto the boat and watched the old man, robed in simple light white clothes, rhythmically bob his head up and down as he happily rowed.
The man asked the ferryman, “So, old man, how long have you been a ferryman Now?”
The ferryman smiled with his eyes and said, “Sir, I do not count years- but I can tell you, for as long as I remember this river, this little wooden boat and I have been friends…” with that he continued the rhythmic bobbing.
The businessman, despite himself, began to feel calm in the presence of the ferryman and as he unbuttoned his coat, he asked him in a soft tone, “So, why is it that everyone wants to travel in your boat- even though there are better options available?”
The old man looked startled and said, “Sorry sir, but I have no answer. I have never thought about this. I just do what I love and have never thought of who travels, or doesn’t travel with me.?
The businessman smiled. Something in his heart was melting as he kept looking at the wonderful old ferryman. He said, “Is there some secret you know about the river that we do not?” “No,” said the ferryman and added, “I know no secret… but the river talks to me.”
Extremely curious, the businessman asked, “And what does it say?” He replied by singing a small song in his deep, husky, almost mystical voice:
If you flow with the flow,
The river will take you,
Where you want to go.
If you go against the tide,
It’s just going to be,
One choppy ride.
Why make things so tough,
And make even this beautiful life,
Oh, so rough?
When you can simply flow with the flow,
And river will take you,
Where you want to go…
The businessman looked in wonder at the simple man before him. With no formal education the ferryman seemed to have understood one of the greatest laws of life that all of them were struggling with. There was such a peace in this boatman- because he never went against life… instead he chose to row his little boat with the tides- and never against it.
How true? The life force that takes care of everything- from the majestic mountains to the little pebbles, from the vast oceans to every little stream, from the celestial bodies to a mongrel across the street- would it not ‘know’ what is good for us, even better than us? If the attraction and repelling forces between the planets shift by even a miniscule amount- the entire galaxy would fall apart. If gravity decided to stop acting upon us for even a nanosecond, there would be chaos- if the sun chose to take a day off- life would cease to exist. And yet- all of these natural phenomena work with such absolute precision- so what makes us think that there is actually something ‘out there’ that can be against us?
The ‘tide’ that the old man speaks of is nothing but Source, God, Force of Nature- whatever name you may call it- that guides everything in our life- from the biggest decisions to the tiniest ones. And yet we sit and fret and fume- wondering why life is not going the way we want it to. How can it? It knows the best- and it will choose its own tide.
The more and more my mind quietens, I realize, the best thing we can actually do in life is learn to empty ourselves. Constant thinking needs to be overtaken by a simple wonder of everything that is.
Resistance to what is, needs to be replaced by acceptance for what is. Emotional turmoil needs to plateau into peace… and in that state- knowingly, or unknowingly, life starts going with the flow rather than against it.
I love the way my beloved guru puts it, “Men of intelligence have all the questions; men of surrender have all the answers.” For my life, God, you are the ferryman… and all I can say to you, right now is, “Whatever you say, God”.