There was a small village by a river; and on the other side of that river was a city. Every day people had to travel by ferry boats across the river to go to work.
On this one ferry there was a peasant and a pundit. Now, a pundit is a man who is learned in scriptures; this one was a vain man. He knew all the scriptures, and this produced vanity in him. He was proud of all the books he had read and all the studies he had made. So on this ferry the pundit asked the peasants, “Have you studied Vedanta?”
They answered, “No, reverend sir.”
“Have you studied Sankya Yoga?”
“No, sir.”
“The Upanishads?”
“No, reverend sir.”
And he used to boast, “I’m a learned man.” So everyone called him “sir.”
One day a storm came up and the boat was sinking. The peasants started diving off the boat. As one was diving off he asked the pundit, “Can you swim?”
Now, every day, these villages had to cross the river twice, going to and from the city. The peasant was a practical man, and considering the possibility of a storm brewing and the boat capsizing, he had thought, “Let me learn to swim,” and had learned to swim. The pundit, knowing all his scriptures and books, nevertheless drowned.
That is the value of practicality. So all the scriptures and all the learning and all the gurus can be parcelled up and thrown into the river.
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