• The Sheep-Lion
• On a Ferry

The Sheep-Lion

We are like a king, who falling victim to amnesia, wanders his kingdom in tatters, not knowing who he really is. We are like a lion cub who, having become lost from his mother at birth, grows up by accident among sheep and takes to grazing and bleating like them, assuming that he is like them. - Themes from Hindu literature.

On a Ferry

Once several men were crossing the Ganges in a boat. One of them, a pandit, was making a great display of his learning, saying that he had studied various books - the Vedas, the Vedanta philosophy, all the six orthodox systems of Hindu philosophy. He asked a fellow passenger, "Do you know the Vedanta?"

"No, sir."

"The Samkhya and the Patanjali's Yoga Sutras?"

"No, sir."

"Have you read no philosophy whatever?"

"No, sir."

The pandit was talking in this vain way and the passenger sitting in silence when a great storm rose and the boat was about to sink.

The passenger said to the pandit, "Sir, can you swim?"

"No", replied the pandit.

The passenger said, "I don't know Samkhya or the Patanjali stuff, but I can swim." (Cf. Gupta 1942, "Sunday, February 24, 1884")

◎ Look before you leap.

To arrange conditions and personal liberty fit for id, should be good help, and sound, beneficial, and decent conformity too where it matters.

Having splendid things increases the need for vigilance or safeguards.