Often, in the teachings of Hindu saints and scriptures in
Hinduism and in general idiom, life has been compared to a journey in a boat.
And living is compared to rowing a boat. Through all the ups and downs of life,
the boat of life sails past the rough or smooth waters of life, until one reaches
the other shore—the Beyond, where there is neither birth nor death. That is how
life is often described.
To understand it further, body and mind is the boat we use
to travel in the waters called life. While travelling in a boat for a joy ride may
be a pleasant experience that a tourist may look forward to, not always is boat
ride a pleasant experience. There are storms and strong winds on the way. And
one’s own resources are limited. One has to grapple with many unexpected
situations. Called variously as bark, catamarans, trawlers, steamers, big and
small ships, a boat is essentially a mode of transport, to travel through
waters to reach one’s destination. Comparing the harshness of the boat ride to
life’s difficult situations, Swami Vivekananda said, probably making a free
translation of a Bengali devotional song,
Mother! In the sea of life my bark is sinking.
The whirlwind of illusion, the storm of attachment
is growing every moment.
My five oarsmen (senses) are foolish, and the
helmsman (mind) is weak.
My bearings are lost, my boat is sinking.
O Mother! Save me!
A more detailed version of this beautiful song can be had in
the song which Sri Ramakrishna used to sing. One finds it in the Gospel of Sri
Ramakrishna describing in poignant words:
Mother! Mother! My boat is sinking, here in the ocean of
this world;
Fiercely the hurricane of delusion rages on every side!
Clumsy is my helmsman, the mind; stubborn my six oarsmen,
the passions;
Into a pitiless wind I sailed my boat, and now it is
sinking!
Split is the rudder of devotion; tattered is the sail of
faith;
Into my boat the waters are pouring! Tell me, what shall I
do?
For with my failing eyes, alas! nothing but darkness do I
see.
Here in the waves I will swim,
O Mother, and cling to the raft of Thy name!
Of our boat of life mind is the helmsman— the person who
steers the boat. A helmsman is one who maintains the course of a boat and
carries out the order given by captain and communicates with others involved in
navigation of the ship.
The song further says that ‘fiercely the hurricane of
delusion rages on every side! Clumsy is my helmsman, the mind; stubborn my six
oarsmen, the passions.’ The oarsmen are the people who row the boat using an oar—wooden
or fiber pole with a flat edge. The ‘six oarsmen’ here refer to Arishadvarga— the
six weaknesses that man has. These are kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed),
moha (attachment), mada or ahankar (pride) and matsarya (jealousy). In Vedanta,
these are also called six enemies for they are impediments in the path of
seeking inner growth and freedom.
The Bhagavad Gita refers to senses as the whirlwind that can
toss a boat and sink it. Sri Krishna says, Whichever of the wandering senses
the mind follows, that one carries away his wisdom as the wind a ship on the
sea. And, The turbulent senses, O son of Kunti, violently carry
away the mind of even a wise man striving after perfection.
Source – Vedanta Kesari – Editorial May 2015 - Excerpts