862. Jnana, Karma Bhakti, Hatha…..!

A teacher in a class was telling about the importance of learning swimming. He said by knowing how to swim one can not only save his life but also save a few lives when there is floods or when someone is drowning in a lake. He asked those who are interested in learning can gather at the village big well every Sunday morning. There were four young boys who showed interest to learn. The teacher asked the boys to bring any items such as inflatable tube or dried un-punctured bottle gourd or thermocole blocks or if affordable to buy float boards from the town so that it could help them to stay afloat on the surface while learning.

Those enthusiastic boys geared up to learn swimming and finally on Sunday morning all of them gathered near the village big well. Raju was the son of a farmer and he could buy a float board from town, while the village tailors son Shyam had tied all the thermocole blocks together. Rama was the son of a cobbler and could pick up the dried un-punctured bottle gourd used by his father from the garret. Javeed the son of a mechanic managed to bring an inflatable truck tube.

The teacher first gave the boys some oral instruction on the do’s and don’ts after entering the water. Then he asked the boys to fasten those objects got from home to their waist, so that it lets them stay afloat. The boys were made aware of the buoyancy obtained from the up thrust got by the arm cycle and leg kicking. After the first session the four boys started to debate on the objects they used to fasten to their waist. All the four felt that their accessory was the best and would never agree with others. They debated on this every Sunday and explain the benefits of their accessory and disadvantages of those the others used. It became a routine for them to praise their accessory.   

Years rolled by and the four boys learnt to swim. What started as an essential need to safe guard life became a hobby and all the four friends became experts in different styles of swimming. The four boys got selected to the national games and all the four won the first place in Freestyle, Breast Stroke, Butterfly Stroke and Back Stroke. To reach that level they had indeed made a great effort. The villagers arranged a felicitation ceremony to the four young men. The four young boys who were earlier debating among themselves as to which accessory was perfect in helping them learn swimming now realised that learning how to swim was significant, not the material used to keep them float. No one had ever asked them what type of material we had used to keep ourselves afloat while they were learning to swim.   

Likewise we do have Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Hatha Yoga to get a vision of a vivid account of glory and splendour of the omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence Absolute. But it will be our own efforts like as in swimming the cycling of arms and kicking of legs, alone that can us towards spiritual progress. We have seen many scholars and pundits who have the only objectives of proving that the path that they are following is superior or more advanced. Is it necessary to talk about them which are like those accessories used at the learning process???