Thursday, April 25, 2019

Water inside the boat

Water for thought

The water inside the boat.

The Titanic  one of the largest man made cruise ships of the time capsized. A very tragic event that resulted in loss of hundreds of lives and dented the quest of man's suzeranity over the elements. A colossal vessel that glided over the oceans was consumed by the very waters that she navigated.
People's perceptions, opinions, and judgements are also like the waters of the ocean that each person has to deal with. They offer a resistance very similar to the waters of the sea. The motivation, self belief and confidence are the locomotive forces that power ones journey across this vast expanse. The waters also provide a buoyancy to this vessel quantified by the famous Archimedes  principle.
Archimedes discovered  that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces and acts in the upward direction at the center of mass of the displaced fluid.
Buoyancy is analogous to ones own self belief and self confidence. It is generated by and proportionate to displacing or disregarding others opinions. The greater the strength of one's own convictions and confidence, the greater is the upward force that facilitates navigating this journey of Life. 
The vessel is made impervious to the waters it navigates. Therein lies it's integrity and it's survival.
For some reason, if the waters do breach this integrity, they soon start flooding the interiors of the vessel and irrespective of the size, the powerful engines, the  vessel is doomed.
Undue importance attributed to others opinions renders the vessel of our individuality to high degrees of vulnerability.
One has the choice of deploying these opinions and responses to increase buoyancy by strictly restricting them to the outside.  These waters till they remain outside can very effectively be used to steer the vessel too.  If they breach the boundaries of self respect and find their way inside, they sooner than later will prove to be the nemesis of the Self.
Material wealth, fame and fortune have a similar effect. Till they are unable to invade the integrity of the Self till they remain an Epi phenomenon. When they invade the Self and flood the power of discriminating intellect, they soon capsize the Self.
Navigating the journey of Life successfully and uneventful entails the ability to keep the waters of perceptions of others, material acquisitions, fame success outside the Self. This requires a coating of the water resistant chemical- Humility.
A generous coat of humility, and a deep realisation that all these attributes are momentary and not entirely Self generated certainly protects the Self from these waters that are benedictory till they are outside but transform into annihilation once they find their way inside.

Dr Deepak Ranade

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Sashtang Namaskar!
Surely you are on cloud nine and down to earth in timelessness.
Koti koti Dhanyawad.