New Boat or Old Boat?

[Guest guest]

The great Greek hero Jason had built a fabulous ship called the

Argos, with which he and fifty other heroes went in search of the

famed Golden Fleece.

 

Jason prized his ship highly, and took extraordinary care of it.

Whenever a plank rotted or a piece of equipment broke down, he

immediately had it replaced with a new one. Thus he maintained his

magnificent ship for years.

 

One day, a strange thought entered his mind. During the journey,

every single piece of the boat had been replaced at least once. So he

wondered whether this was still his original boat he was sailing

with, or a new one. And if the latter was the case, then at what

exact moment did it stop being his old ship, and when did it become

the new one?

 

 

The ancient Greek philosophers enjoyed telling this riddle, because

they thought it had no answer. They had created, in their view, the

perfect irresolvable riddle.

 

And yet, had they turned their attention to the East, they would have

realized that this riddle had already been answered thousands of

years before by the ancient Vedic rishis (divine seers of India).

 

Let us compare the boat to our existence. According to the teaching

of the rishis, the " planks " are the ever-changing characteristics and

attributes with which we commonly identify. The body is born, grows,

matures, and decays. Medical science has established that the human

body renews all of its cells every seven years. Yet we are still the

same person, even though we keep changing bodies. Even our sense of

self keeps evolving as we grow older, yet we remain the same person.

 

If we keep stripping away all the " planks " of our body-mind complex,

what remains? In other words, what is the real " boat " that keeps on

existing? It is the soul, the unchanging Self within us that is

unaffected by the changing of the " planks. "

 

The Vedas boldly declare: " The inspired Self is not born nor does He

die; He springs from nothing and becomes nothing. Unborn, permanent,

unchanging, primordial, He is not destroyed when the body is

destroyed. " (Katha Upanishad 2:18)

 

This is the purpose of our existence—to find the Changeless within

the constantly changing phenomena of nature. If we do not seek That,

our whole life is wasted and miserable:

 

" Push on to the ultimate Emptiness,

Guard unshakable Calmness,

All the ten thousand things are moving and working

Yet we can see the void, whither they must return.

All things however they flourish

Turn and go home to the root from which they sprang.

This reversion to the root is called Calmness,

It is recognition of Necessity,

That which is called Unchanging.

Now knowing the Unchanging means Enlightenment,

Not knowing it means going blindly to disaster. "

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching.