Once, several men were crossing the Ganges in a
boat. One of them, a pandit, was making a great
display of his erudition, saying that he had studied
various books—the Vedas, the Vedanta, and the
six systems of philosophy. He asked a fellow
passenger, "Do you know the Vedanta?" "No,
revered sir." "The Samkhya and the Patanjala?"
"No, revered sir." "Have you read no philosophy
whatsoever?" "No, revered sir." The pandit was
talking in this vain way and the passenger sitting in
silence when a great storm arose and the boat was
about to sink. The passenger said to the pandit,
"Sir, can you swim?" "No", replied the pandit. The
passenger said, "1 don't know Samkhya or the
Patanjala, but I can swim."
What will a man gain by knowing many scriptures?
The one thing needful is to know how to cross the
river of the world. God alone is real, and all else is
illusory.
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