Call on god but row away from the rocks.

Blood is thicker than water.

This proverb means that the blood relations are very strong and even if we have some differences with our blood relatives we will naturally try to help them when they are in trouble. This natural instinct is being implied in this proverb. Even when we are far away from our relatives we have a sense of affection towards one’s blood relatives than towards others and so we share the joys or sorrows and affection of one towards one’s blood relatives.


Blood and water are two important fluids which are compared in this water. Blood implies close relatives and water implies the other people in their life. Everyone prefers close relatives to take part in the activities and move more affectionately with them than with others. This proverb can also be used to explain that the people always try to help their fellow human beings during calamities. This was very nicely illustrated during the Tsunami devastation in 2004 and in the Mumbai floods in 2005. Also during the earth quake in Gujarat all the countrymen contributed to the welfare funds.


The members are the same family are close to each other that to those from other families. This closeness is a matter of nature. Our sense organs work in such a way to seek the proximity of our blood-relatives.


Call on god but row away from the rocks.

This traditional Indian proverb means that we should believe in god and ask him to help us in our endeavor. When we are in trouble we should call god to help us in our troubled times but we should not stop working or equivalently when we are rowing our boat in a storm we can call god to help us but we should not stop rowing away from the rocks. If we stop rowing we may hit a rock and may sink.


There is a beautiful Arabian proverb with the same meaning…Trust in Allah but do not forget to tie the camel.


There is an anecdote in the life of the great inventor Thomas Alva Edison. He was trying to create a Gramophone disc. He was doing it by using a kind of wax coating on a disc which has been melted to a right degree. He tried it many times and was not successful and his servant remarked that perhaps god doesn’t want to do it today. Edison said believe in God and I have prayed to him. But now let me do my job. He tried the whole night and finally succeeded. He believed in god and even when he could not see success he never lost hope and worked hard and succeeded in creating the Gramophone disc.