My Boat

confused traveler
bumping my boat
from shore to shore
not sure if the ports are bouncing me back
or the springs are in my boat
so strong that they push me
back into the rough seas
the moment they touch land ?
wandering
because till i see the destination
i will not know I am there

23 thoughts on “My Boat

  1. confused traveler
    knows not
    there is no destination
    journey itself was illusion
    wandering was also part of manifestation
    once i know I am
    nothing ever happened

  2. Shekhar,
    I am amazed at your ability and very touched by what you wrote above.
    I read Man, Woman and Child when I was very young and did not watch your Masoom coz I thought it wld be a waste of time. Recently I saw a clip, and realized that I did not make a sound decision.
    Himanshu,
    I am glad that you have the opportunity to travel so much and that you are enjoying your stay at Hyderabad. Let us know if Sheldon is doing good in S’pore.

  3. good morning…… ! ( may not be morning for you since you are in the U.S. )
    ” because till i see the destination i will not know im there “…….does ANYBODY ( in life )? yet, if you ‘know’ it within you much before you reach it then your journey will bring you peace…..no matter what. you may even enjoy riding the waves 🙂 as you know ‘they’ are not your destination ( they cannot swallow you ! ) !

  4. Get confused…
    but…donot get carried away by it.
    Its a dilemma for all those who are on the same(similar) boat.
    And I tell you – its better to be in the boat than out of it. Lettin’ the wind carry it and at times givein’ a direction of your own. And when you operate from your core you are sure to be on the shore.

  5. survivors of rough seas have learnt to ride the waves ? ‘rough seas make tough captains’.
    i guess what it means is not to be ‘harsh’ but to be perceptive….. yeah ?
    i try to hold my own in the gentlest possible way in life 🙂
    when in dilemma i choose a quiet corner and shut my eyes and focus on the problem and the choice of solutions related to it. the 1 that has a bright aura when i think of it is THE ONE. the 1 that resonates dullness in my subconscious i bypass. try it :)……

  6. Dear Shekhar,
    Wonderful words about the journey of life and the felling that most of us don’t know where we are going – even the ones who know. The rocky seas are where all the excitement of life lies. To indulge oneself completely in this amazing world full of experiences, often with surprizes, is what makes life so great. Keep traveling and fining new destinations.
    Lehar,
    I’ll definitely let you know how Sheldon is doing and I just feel a certain affinity for him (like I know him) and he’s done very well. Even Shekhar is visiting one of the grand casinos, “Palazzo,” build by his Las Vegas Sands corporation and I really admire him for how he (and also Steve Wynn) have changed Vegas over the last 15 yrs (even Kirk Kerkorian needs to be mentioned). When I was in 12th I kept telling God that I want a life full of travel, so that I can go to any country whenever I like and God gave me just that and more, and I really love travel even more now.
    Best Regards,
    Himanshu

  7. the journey called life
    no destination
    only a sense of arrival
    to know its a transit point
    lo! on the move once more
    for a deeper sense of belonging awaits elsewhere

  8. shekhar…. what you feel SO strongly…has to happen. maybe your destination is also waiting for you ? have FAITH and be HAPPY ! 🙂
    hey….good friends are the ANCHOR no matter how stormy the seas…..
    HAVE A NICE DAY !

  9. I think this speaks for a lot of us: trying to make sense, stumble through, and walk straight through this mystery called life.
    Looks like Vegas is really bringing out the poet in you.
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Greatly appreciated
    Best always…
    Mani

  10. ‘ or the springs are in my boat ‘………sometimes they are……..we are so absorbed with our own emotions that we exclude the other person altogether ! we use them as a ‘ feel good ‘ factor without even a thought towards making them feel good too.
    similarly……….when upset too ! its like.. eg. you share positive vibes with a person….then get mad thinking that person didnt call you..didnt think of you……..when in truth you forgot to give your number or address……..! we do this in life and feel grief and give grief. if we’re lucky we run into someone who makes us see things from another perspective……else we suffer and hold a grudge not realising that the other person maybe in the SAME BOAT !

  11. good morning :)……..
    these past few days its difficult to get posts across………! something wrong with the server.trying to say ‘hi’ to you……..lets hope this goes through 🙂
    HAVE A NICE DAY !

  12. Life is full of moments –
    To live or die,
    To fight or cry,
    To learn or curse,
    To cherish or perish,
    To fly and fly and fly
    Life is beautiful, and every moment is a new miracle.
    Let the rhythm of new moments pamper our soul &
    We fly along our dreams –
    Towards the path of wisdom, happiness and great contentment.
    Thanks for beautiful words

  13. You are confused as to whether the turmoil that you see and feel is ‘suffered by’ you, or ‘is sourced’ in you… But don’t you think that these two are a reflection of each other?
    …yet what I fail to make out is what makes you want to be stable? Its kind of contradictory because a traveler WISHES to go back to the sea the moment he touches land, specifically a voyager. Your confusion is in your self-contradiction. You don’t have to put a finger on a very visible choice. You just have to choose between (a) calling (and assuming) yourself a traveler and (b) wanting to remain at the shore (ie on land rather than in your vehicle, very aptly ‘the boat’).
    Pardon me if that was too critical.
    Kudos for such a beautiful depiction of trying to find out why what is happening is happening, that too bringing down the chioces to 2 cases only- the ideal kind of choice.
    Regards

  14. Traveller,
    meant to go through
    the rough journeys
    and then experience
    the comfort of the shores
    to tell the tales
    from town to town
    that before acheivement
    comes struggle
    and that journey is never at ease
    yet the fruits are sweet…
    Aap aise traveller ho… take care traveller…
    love n regards from the Lonely Traveller…

  15. Shekhar: Just so impressed to meet you on you site, and now to have you in my life. Looked you up after reading an article today whennyou were reflecting on Heath Ledger’s death. You are his elder brother, and I honor you for that moniker. I am an Anglican priest and in an unusual career, have been in a few movies here in Austalia. Would love to meet you just to plumb more of your spirituality. Here is something from Aeschelus which you my know…I feel it speaks to my soul and our friends: “Those who learn must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom by the awful grace of God.”

  16. Andrew, thank you for communicating and sharing. Please do watch ‘four feathers’, a film I did with Heath. It is the journey of a man who is forced to give up structure, then descends intp chaos of his own mind – so is forced to meet his demons – and only when he has come to terms with his demons does he emerge on the other side – with humility and wisdom. Knowing that love is about giving and not taking. Just watch Heath as he grows from a soldier boy into wisdom that almost ancient. Thank you
    shekhar

  17. Dearest Shekhar: Thank you. Will look for ‘Four Feathers’ in Adelaide tomorrow, and like you, will love the man Heath Ledger for the rest of my days. His life and death has had such a profound and incomprehensible effect on me that, disturbingly I want to go where he has gone…and perhaps for some of the same reasons. I am wondering what you would make of the broadcast of his Nick Drake video on Australian television the other night. It is a concerning video, and difficlt not to draw dark conclusions. Perhaps he was as obcessed with Drake as I am with him. Is this some sort of male thing?
    You mentioned the storyline of Four Feathers and the eventual chaos of the chief protagonist’s mind as a possible way of looking at Heath’s life. I feel deeply that it is brokeness and despair that speaks secretly of true and inner beauty of life(Your comment on this blog: “How did I get so lucky…am I lucky?). Thus I am listening to Allegri’s Misereri, possibly the most sublime piece of music ever written in the Western tome. It will heal my soul. It is so achingly economincal, so painfully beautiful, it seems to return me to my source, often long forgotten, often with the nearness of tears, every time I listen.
    Have you seen the doco, ‘Into Great Silence?’ It was shot at La Grand Chartreuse, the Mother House of the Carthusian order in the (Carthusian) Mountains of Eastern France. The monks observe a strict vow of silence, so there is almost no talk in the film, no narration…just an elderly blind monk at the end of the film telling us convincingly that he does not fear death. The film itself observes the vow of silence, the only sounds being the sissors cutting new cloth for the habits of the novices, the winter chopping of wood for the stove in the monks cells, the footsteps on the wooden floors, and the ringing of the bell for the monastic offices. Thus the silence of La Grand Chartreuse invades the very space of the theatre making the cinema a kind of monastery in itself. It is the converting power of silence in this film that is so shocking…something that I think Western film goers drink in, new and yet familiar, intimate and yet oceanic. The film was shot over a period of a year…the changing seasons and especially the silent falling of the snow against the leaden skies of northern winter, reinterprets our usual way of observing the seasons but now set against this backdrop of profound silence. This is the most important thing I can think of in our present time and space…silence.
    I would like to see you do a film like this…not a doco, but a major motion pic (Sidhartha Gautama). It seems to me that the resulting power of film to change people’s lives is no less evident than living a life authentically in a monastery, or listening to Misereri in a season of grief. If you could do that, Shekhar, you will have changed the world. Forever.
    Our minds are like a great banyan tree, all filled with monkeys, and all jumping from limb to limb in a constant riot of activity. Those are our thoughts, our hurts, our wounds our play. What we have to do in this life is to still the thoughts, the constant whirl of activity, and take the longest journey from the head to the heart, where, having cleansed the stain on the eye of the heart, at last we see God as (he) is.
    I want.very very much to meet you. With much love. Andrew

  18. hi shehhar,it was great seeing you..and such a huge pleasure to read u”r poetry!! you are beutiful and gorgeous!!!.hope to read more from you..m.k

  19. thank u manisha, and do keep visiting. And if u ever want to say something yourself – i will just post it, shekhar

  20. hi shekhar,
    thinking about ‘ your boat ‘………could it be that you ‘ turn your nose up ‘at the ports when they welcome you and then brood about being thrust in the rough seas ? could it be that you mistrust your destination even when you see it ?
    could it be that in these times where computer generated statements do not need signatures…..you demand one that is signed in blood ?
    my dear shekhar………when all else is so beautiful about you……….i just zeroed in on ‘trust’………
    a glance of mistrust can freeze a heart brimming with love………
    as a loving glance can melt a heart of ice…

  21. could it be that you do not respect your destination but turn your nose up at it ( “you need me…….i dont ! “)?
    perhaps the ports welcome you too, but , you are not in the mood to acknowledge them when they do and then write this poetry while rocking away in your boat 🙂 ?
    my dear shekhar……in this day where computer generated statements require no signature….. do you perhaps demand a signature ‘signed in blood’ ha ha !

  22. Pranaam Shekhar ji

    Love to spent time on your blog. You always amaze! Beautiful! No words can compliment your writing.
    The destination is along the journey,… in every step of life. Enjoy every moment of the journey, there are limitless possibilities. And yes some beautiful paths can only be traveled alone. Love you.
    Regards
    Surabhi

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