The story of the learned scholar and the boatman

Expressions researched:
"An interesting story has been described by our Satsvarupa Maharaja in the Back to Godhead: The learned scholar and the boatman" |"One student of technology was going home, and he was on the boat" |"There is a nice story. You'll appreciate it"

Notes from the compiler: Story: Scholar And The Boatman

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

An interesting story has been described by our Satsvarūpa Mahārāja in the Back to Godhead: The learned scholar and the boatman... So this is the point: You are trying to understand the whole analytical study of the material world. That is very good. But if you do not know how to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of death, then you are going to be cats and dogs. That's all.

Lecture on SB 2.1.6 -- Paris, June 14, 1974:

An interesting story has been described by our Satsvarūpa Mahārāja in the Back to Godhead: The learned scholar and the boatman. The boatman... In Bengal there are many rivers, and so people generally transport by boat service. So a learned scholar from Calcutta, say, was going home in the village on a boat, and he was very happy. So he was asking the boatman, "My dear boatman, do you know what are these stars, this astronomy, how they are working?" "No, sir, I do not know." "Oh, your life is twenty-five percent lost. You do not know anything." Then after some time, "You know the geology, how this earth, water, they are working?" "No, sir, I am poor man. What can I know?" "Oh, your fifty percent of your life is lost." Then all of a sudden there was a cloud, black cloud on the sky, and there was storm. Then at that time the boatman asked, "Sir, do you know how to swim?" "No, I do not know." "Then one hundred percent you have lost.(laughter) You are going to be drowned." He jumped and he drowned.

So this is the point. So you are trying to understand the whole analytical study of the material world. That is very good. But if you do not know how to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of death, then you are going to be cats and dogs. That's all.

General Lectures

There is a nice story. You'll appreciate it. One student of technology was going home, and he was on a boat... The idea is that we are making progress, certainly, in technology, in economics, in so many other departments of human necessities. But Bhagavad-gītā says that real problem of this world, or real problem of our life, it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam. If you are intelligent enough, then you should see the real problem is birth, death, old age and disease.

Lecture to Technology Students (M.I.T.) -- Boston, May 5, 1968:

The idea is that in the present consciousness I am thinking that I am this body, although actually I am not this body. This is ignorance. And body means the senses. I am acting means . . . just like I am talking. That means I am using my tongue for vibration.

So these bodily activities means sensual activities. But if you go deep into the matter, the senses can only act when the mind is sound. If the mind is not sound, a crazy man or a madman cannot use his senses properly. Therefore higher science. First of all technology of the senses, and then, next higher technology is of the mind, which is known as psychology. Thinking, feeling, willing. They are trying to understand how they are working. And above this mind, mental science, there is the science of intelligence. And above the science of intelligence, the background is the soul.

Unfortunately, we have got technology for the bodily senses, we have got technology for psychology, but we have neither any technology for intelligence nor for any technology in the science of the soul. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the technology of the science of soul.

There is a nice story. You'll appreciate it. In India, especially in Bengal, there are many rivers. The land is full of rivers. Because it is on the bank of the Bay of Bengal, all rivers are falling. Therefore Bengal, the land of, especially the East Bengal, is full of rivers. One student of technology was going home, and he was on the boat. So the student was asking the boatman, "Do you know what are the stars?" The boatman said: "Sir, we are ordinary boatman. What do we know about these stars?" "Oh. Then your fifty percent of life is wasted, useless."

Then he was asking, "Do you know what are these trees? Do you know any science of botany?" He said: "Sir, we are ordinary laborer. What do we know about botany?" "Oh. Then seventy-five percent of your life is useless." In this way the student of technology was asking the boatman, "Do you know this? Do you know that?" And he said that "I am ordinary man. What do I know all these things?"

Then all of a sudden there was a black cloud, and there was storm, and the river began to be inflated, and the boatman said: "My dear sir, do you know swimming?" "Oh," he said: "no." Then he said, "Then your cent per cent knowledge is spoiled. Now you have to go down to the river. Your life is finished." In this way they dropped in the river, and the technological student, because he did not know how to swim, so the storm and the waves grabbed him.

The idea is that we are making progress, certainly, in technology, in economics, in so many other departments of human necessities. But Bhagavad-gītā says that real problem of this world, or real problem of our life, it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā:

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-

duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam

(BG 13.9)

If you are intelligent enough, then you should see the real problem is birth, death, old age and disease. Janma means birth, and mṛtyu means death. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā. Jarā means old age, and vyādhi means disease. So actual material problem is this, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi.