732. A Warrior should not have doubts on Warfare in the Battlefield!!

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/a-warrior-should-not-have-doubts-on-warfare-in-the-battlefield

A master had poured out the entire knowledge he had to his student who was ready to face the world, yet the student had many questions. One day to make the student who was full of question understand about life on first hand experience basis, he took him to a river in the pretext of answering his questions. After reaching the turbulent river he pushed the student into it. The student was dazed while falling into the river and when he plunged into the turbulent river he struggled to get back to the shore to save his life. At last he made it and after reaching the river bed his master asked the him why he did not bother to ask the questions when he was in the river. The student answered at that time the priority for him was to swim to safety and nothing was in his mind except action.

Master told him, “While you were trying to save your life you had no other thoughts except to reach the shore, so also in your life if there is a lot of work to do, your mind will not let you think. Thoughts are those which beam out of past and hence have only the knowledge of the past it cannot assist the present. Thoughts are useful only for preserving your endurance system and to some extent appraising your theoretical progress; but in the practical arena it becomes a hindrance. A warrior should not have doubts about warfare in the battlefield.”

The student was confused since it was the same master who had a few months ago given a sermon on how we are shaped by our thoughts and he had gone on to say that we become what we think. Now at this juncture he was suggesting that action is more important than thought. Confused he asked the master for a clarification.

The master asked the student, “How did you reach the shore when I pushed you into the river?”

“Master, I knew swimming” pat came the reply from the student.

“How did you learn to swim, my boy did you practice it on the land before entering the water or did you learn after you were in the water?” asked the master.

“Well Master, I have to enter the water to learn swimming” said the student.

“Son, if you had questions like, what if I drown? Will I be able to float? Then those questions would have been the greatest obstruction for you to learn swimming. You cannot say I think I might swim better if I learn to swim on land. The swimming instructor pushes the trainee into the pond and say just peddle to stay afloat. And from there on the lessons for swimming starts.” said the Master.

Master further said, “In our life things are not as complicated as we think. We fail to grasp them in simple nature instead we approach them intellectually which at times is not required at all. Generally in such an approach we tend to think more than necessary which makes it more difficult to understand it. If we try to figure out every movement then we will never be able to move forward. We cannot know and understand what happens every single moment as ours is a limited knowledge. Knowing is something we get after contemplation and this takes a few moment meanwhile another thing to be known is already facing us. So if we wish to live in the present then we should never stop to contemplate on each moment as it happens, we just have to flow through it and experience it”.

The student understood that the master has provided him the strength to live on the path of life. It is time for him to understand that there are no challenges in life but every moment is for him to experience and act accordingly.