Friends today we will try to know the secret behind such a character of Ramayana, Kevat or Boatman who helped Lord Shri Ram, Mother Sita, and Lakshman ji to cross ganga, and their conditions to cross the Ganges. After all, who was the boatman who had put the conditions in front of Lord Shri Ram to cross the Ganga?
Who was Boatman (Kevat) ?
When Shri Ram, Laksham Ji, and Mother Sita left Ayodhya for 14 years of exile and reached the banks of the Ganges along with Nishad Raj in the Ayodhya episode of Ramayana, they needed a boat to cross the Ganges. Then the Lord’s eyes fell on a sailor. The Lord asks the sailor to set sail.
Kevat was scared
On which the Kevat (sailor) refuses to put the boat on the Lord and starts saying O Lord, I have heard that whatever the dust of your holy feet falls on, that object turns into a woman. Lord, I am very poor, if my boat become a woman from the dust of your feet, then I will not be able to maintain my family because this is the only means of maintaining my family.
He puts one condition
After saying this words, the boatman again starts saying that I have one condition, if you agree, I can make you cross the Ganges by making you sit in the boat and I will not even take any landing. Then, on hearing Shri Ram’s promise of accepting all the conditions, the boatman happily asks his wife to bring water and with that water, he removed dusts from the lotus feet of the Lord and makes them float on the Ganges.
Who was that Kevat (sailor) who very cleverly got the good fortune to touch the feet of the Lord ?
Information available from our mythological texts shows that during the Satyayuga period, Lord Mahavishnu was resting in the shadow of Sheshnag in Sirsagar and Mother Lakshmi was pressing his feet. At the same time, one of the Lord’s legs falls out of the shadow of Sheshnag due to which the ocean was playing the game of waves. Seeing this golden opportunity, a tortoise present there moved ahead to attain salvation by touching the toe of the Lord with his tongue.
Tortoise wanted to touch Vishnu’s feet
But Sheshnag’s eyes fall on that turtle and fearing the barking of Sheshnag, that turtle retreats and roams here and there in search of an opportunity. Soon again the tortoise gets an opportunity but again this time Mata Lakshmi spots the tortoise and chases him away. Similarly, while waiting for the opportunity, Tretayug comes from Satyug. The tortoise has now attained divine vision by his penance.
Boatman was none othern then the tortoise
Due to this, he is already fully aware that the Lord will now take birth in the earth in the form of Ram and he will be in exile for 14 years. Then they will need a boat to cross the Ganges, then hewill not let go of that opportunity. With this purpose, the tortoise took birth in human form on the earth and started waiting for the arrival of the Lord and when the Lord arrived with Mother Lakshmi (Sita) and Sheshnag (Laxman), he did not let that opportunity go by hand and started serving the Lord. He attained the abode of salvation.
