In Bengal there were so many rivers, and still there are. So people used to move from one place to another by boat service. One day a learned scholar was going home in the village on a boat.
In the middle of the journey, the scholar looked at the boatman with negligence and asked a question. "Do you know what these stars are, and how they are working?" “No,” replied the boatman. “Oh! What a pity! You have lost a quarter of your life,” said the scholar with derision. A sudden torrent appeared in this time. But it didn’t alter the course of the conversation. The boatman kept rowing. The scholar asked another question to the boatman. He asked, “Can you read and write?” “No,” the boatman replied somewhat imperturbably. “What a pity! You’ve lost another quarter of your life!” The boatman did not reply; he kept rowing. A long deep silence ensued. The scholar asked another question, “Do you know anything about horoscope?” “No, sir, I am poor man. How can I know all these things” replied the boatman. "Oh, seventy-five percent of your life is lost." As the scholar said this, the weather became violent. The tidal waves were rolling viciously. The boatman realized that it was going to sink in the middle of the ocean. At this life-threatening moment, the boatman looked the scholar and asked, “Sir, do you know how to swim? The scholar was shocked as he did not know how to swim. Being dumbfounded, he replied, “No.”
This time the boatman replied, “What a pity! Now you will lose all of your life!”
Moral: Only bookish knowledge can not save anyone in the time of danger.
