Profound Life Lessons I learnt from the Ocean

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After a few days, the Ocean started to speak, and we conversed. Mostly she shared and I listened, she showed and I watched, she moved and I felt. It was a beautiful communion, and in the process I learnt some ‘profound life lessons from the ocean’.

"The more you go inward, away from the surface, into the depths of your beings, the more tranquility you will find there."

Earlier this year, I decided to travel from our abode in the Himalayas to the Ocean in Goa, and live there for a month. I spent many mornings & evenings sitting by the sea and observing her vastness. I also spent many hours immersing in the ocean, not swimming, but just being in the water and feeling it. After a few days, the Ocean started to speak, and we conversed. Mostly she shared and I listened, she showed and I watched, she moved and I felt. It was a beautiful communion, and in the process I learnt some ‘profound life lessons from the ocean’.

Profound Life Lessons from the Ocean

Everything is deeply connected

Moon moves and the ocean follows this movement. Sometimes the tide is high and other times its low. Sometimes the ocean is touching the boundary of the shore and other times it’s far away, creating the beautiful beach front. From a distance of over 400,000 kilometers, the moon is connected with the Earth, and moves the ocean. In the universe, everything is connected with everything else, we are all connected.

Movement is life

This movement of the ocean, triggered by that of the moon, which is connected with the movement of the Earth, is what helps sustain all life forms in water, on earth & in air too. This movement is a great symphony. Stopping this movement will be the end of life as we know it.

Wind blows and waves come, cause and effect – yet on its own:

Waves rise and subside on their own, and though we can give many technical reasons for it, on the whole the waves continue to arise and crash. You cannot do anything about it. You can either surf the wave or go under, but you cannot stop the waves. They just come – it is a great law of the ocean to create waves, it is also a part of the never ending movement of life. So, don’t fight with the waves, don’t struggle, and don’t wish for the waves to end. Just surf, float and witness the rising and subsiding – all is happening on its own. You have nothing to do with it. Waves come, make huge noise, create countless bubbles and then, it crashes – disappears (as a wave but remains as water). Wave– read as thought, water – read as life.

Ocean can pull you in:

When the ocean is stormy, waves are much higher and intense. Behavior of the ocean changes and each wave starts to pull you in with great force, and if you are not careful or stable, you can be drowned. This is how emotions also behave. When they are stormy, they are very intense, and if you are not careful, aware or stable enough, these stormy emotions can just pull you in and drown you in deep suffering.

All turbulences are just on the surface. Deep in the ocean, it is all peace shanti – no waves:

As you go deeper into the depths of the ocean, turbulences become less and less. All turbulences of life are also on the surface only, on the periphery level of our minds & bodies. Deep inside the heart, we can call it our being; there is no turbulence, there exists only love, peace and bliss. The more you go inward, away from the surface, into the depths of your beings, the more tranquility you will find there.

Ocean doesn’t want to bother you – what you give is what you get back:

Life itself doesn’t want to trouble you; it is just a reflection or resonance. If you throw a bottle in the ocean, after struggling on the waves for some time, it comes back – the ocean throws it back on the shore. Ocean doesn’t want to keep anything; she returns back what doesn’t belong to her. What you give is what you get.

Ocean knows its boundary well and respects it; she knows how to maintain balance:

High tide in your part of the world will mean low tide in some other part. Ocean respects life, she never breaches her boundary, else life on land would be very difficult. But we don’t respect nature, we keep pushing her, we keep expanding our boundaries to acquire more and more from her, we are dangerously stepping into nature’s boundaries and the law of nature doesn’t like that at all. So, be aware of the consequences of your actions.

Every wave is different but water is the same:

Each wave formation is different from another, some are high, some low, some wide, some narrow, some fast, some slow – but the water is the same. So the difference is just in the form, in the external appearances. Know this and be free from all illusions of duality.

Ocean allows:

For some, it is just beautiful scenery, for others it is a play, some take it as an indulgence, for others, an adventure, for some it is a source of livelihood, for others it is a route for travelling and so on. The Ocean doesn’t impose only one way of being, it just allows. So is life; life allows you to be what you want to be. If you know the laws of ocean (life), the experience will be much more fulfilling and nurturing.

Ocean is:

This is where it all ends and this is where it all begins. The river comes and merges with the ocean, becomes one with the ocean, drops its fear and becomes the ocean – this is where it ends. And from the ocean itself, the clouds are formed; the water is absorbed and the cycle of rain begins. It falls everywhere; on high mountains, on lands, on forests and then the same water becomes rivers and rushes back to its source. This is how your inner self is – Oceanic. Everything begins from your inner self, expands, travels the whole journey, completes the full circle and merges back in its own real self – Moksha.

"The difference is just in the form, in the external appearances. Know this and be free from all illusions of duality."

Om Tat Sat, Sri Anish

"Everything begins from your inner self, expands, travels the whole journey, completes the full circle and merges back in its own real self – Moksha"