Losing Your Way

It is a rare being who can cross the ocean of existence without a boat. Few of us are ready to see through ego's illusions and thereby achieve instant liberation. So we use methods, we use a boat, with the understanding that when we get to the other shore, we'll leave the boat. We're not going to portage; we needn't carry the boat on our heads. We'll be finished with boats. But the boat can entrap or liberate. Whether you end up as a boatman or as one liberated depends on your original motive for spiritual work. You can become a connoisseur of boats, collecting the very best. Or you can go to the far shore, beyond beyond: "Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha," beyond even the concept of beyond.Ram Das,,,Journey of Awakening