‘When your last breath arrives, grammar can do nothing’ –Shankaracharya

Coming from a scholar like him, it appears to be paradoxical but actually makes sense. There is a story of a scholar, a priest and minister taking a boat to cross the river. The river had risen due to rains but they took the risk.. The boatman started rowing. The priest asked the boatman if he knew all the prayers. The boatman replied no. ‘You have lost one third of your life’, the priest said. The boatman kept quiet. Then the scholar asked him if he had read the scriptures. ‘No’, the boatman said. ‘One third of your life is gone’, was the scholar’s verdict. Then the minister asked him if he knew anything about political strategies. Obviously another one third of his life was pronounced waste, as he didn’t know anything about politics. His only concern was to earn his daily wages so he could feed his family and look after his aged parents.

The river started rising more and the boat was about to topple. The boatman asked each one of them if they knew how to swim. ‘No’ was their reply. “Then your whole life is lost’ said he and jumped and swam to the banks of river. All three of them drowned.

So one should not study? No, but what Adi Shankara meant was to not feel proud of your education because death doesn’t distinguish between an illiterate and a scholar. I write my blog every day but does that make me superior to someone who cannot write or read? Not at all. The earthy wisdom is any day more useful than just scriptures or any body of knowledge. My grand mother used to dish out these pearls of wisdom all the time, which I realized were great life skills.

So lets not sit on our literary laurels but be humble before life.

So be it!!!