Be Like Water: Lessons From It
By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
12 November 2025
Aab Ki Tarah Ban Aur Bahta Rah Musalsal
Tere Kirdaar Mein Paani Ki Ravani, Uska Khameer Ho
(Be like water and keep flowing continuously/Your character should have the flow of water and its spirit)
The journey of water as it flows upon the earth can be a mirror of our own paths through life. Water begins its residence on earth as it falls from the sky or melts from ice and streams down a mountain into a tributary or stream. In the same way, we come into the world and begin our lives on earth. Like a river that flows within the confines of its banks, we're born with certain defining characteristics that govern our identity. We're born in a specific time and place, within a specific family and with certain gifts and challenges. Within these parameters, we move through life, encountering many twists, turns and obstacles along the way just as a river flows.
Water is a great teacher that shows us how to move through the world with grace, ease, determination and humility. When a river breaks at a waterfall, it gains energy and moves on, as we encounter our own waterfalls, we may fall hard but we always keep moving on. Water can inspire us not to become rigid with fear or cling to what's familiar. Water is brave and doesn't waste time clinging to its past but flows onward without looking back. At the same time, when there's a hole to be filled, water humbly and bravely fills the empty space. In the same way, we can face the dark moments of our life rather than run away from them.
Eventually, a river will empty into the sea. Water does not hold back from joining with a larger body, nor does it fear a loss of identity or control. It gracefully and humbly tumbles into the vastness by contributing its energy and merging without resistance. To quote Ghalib, 'Ishrat-E-Qatrah Hai Dariya Mein Fana Ho Jaana' (the significance of a drop of water is to lose itself into the river). Each time we move beyond our individual egos to become part of something bigger, we can try our best to follow the lead of the river.
For Hinduism, according to the Vedic tradition, water is the essential substance from which all forms are born. In the Upanishads, narrations that appeared around the sixth century B.C., there are constant references to water as a metaphor of purity and authentic wisdom: “As pure water poured into pure water remains unchanged, so is the ego of an illuminated thinker.”
In the Judaeo-Christian Bible we find the symbolic power of water and the sentimental intensity with which people once lived in relation with it. The word water appears 582 times in the Old Testament and it is used to describe creation and destruction, purification, regeneration and love. Water accompanies the divine spirit and its relationship with mankind in all stages of the long biblical story.
In the Christian Gospels, water has a very special significance as a metaphor of divine wisdom: “Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst, as the water I give him shall become a fountain a water springing up to eternal life.”
To encapsulate:
Aab Hai Zindagi, Aab Hai Bandagi
Aab Se Le Naseehat Jeene Ki
(Water is life, water is worship / Take the lessons of life from water)
----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian
URl: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/water-lessons/d/137606
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism