(from Oghataraṇa Sutta - Crossing the Flood (SN 1.1)):
Thus I have heard.
Once the Buddha was staying at Anathapindika’s monastery in Jeta’s Grove near Savatthi.
Late at night, a majestic deity, illuminating the entire Jeta’s Grove, approached the Buddha. Having bowed respectfully, it stood to one side and asked:
"Venerable One, how did you cross the flood?"
"By neither halting nor straining—I thus crossed the flood."
"But how exactly, neither halting nor straining, did you manage to cross the flood?"
"When I halted, I began to sink; when I strained, I was swept away. Thus, neither halting nor straining, I crossed the flood."
"For a long time,
I have sought such a Brahmin
Who truly is extinguished.
Neither halting nor straining,
He crossed beyond attachment to the world."
Thus spoke the deity, and the Buddha approved of these words.
Then the deity, thinking, "The Buddha has approved my words," bowed reverently, circled the Buddha to the right, and vanished.
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Vira Chandra: The Buddha speaks of crossing the flood—the endless stream of samsara, the turmoil born of identification with the transient world. Halting symbolizes complacency or attachment, drowning one in illusion. Straining signifies forced effort driven by the ego, resulting in exhaustion and further entanglement.
Ramana Maharshi taught the middle way - effortless awareness, abiding steadily in the Self. One neither resists nor chases thoughts, but calmly inquires, "Who am I?" This gentle vigilance dissolves illusions without struggle. Like Buddha's crossing, the spiritual journey is accomplished through serene, continuous Self-awareness - neither stagnant nor strained - revealing that the one who imagines the flood itself is but an illusion.
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