AUSTRALIAN FINISHES ROUND-THE-WORLD SAIL AT AGE 16

ROUND THE WORLD SAILOR JESSICA WATSON
TEENAGE HERO ARRIVES BACK IN SYDNEY

SYDNEY (AP) - Jessica Watson (16) became the youngest person to sail around the globe solo, nonstop and unassisted when she cruised into Sydney Harbour in her pink, 34-foot (10-meter) yacht to a rock star welcome of thousands. She has battled mountainous seas, intense loneliness and critics who said she would never make it, but teenage sailor Jessica Watson has finally navigated her tiny yacht home to Sydney. “As a little girl people don't think you're capable of these things, they don't realise what young people, 16-year-olds and girls are capable of,” she told the waiting crowds. “But it's amazing what you can do.” Waiting to welcome her home was and the prime minister Kevin Rudd and premier of New South Wales, Kristina Keneally. In front of a huge crowd gathered on the Opera House steps, Mr Rudd paid tribute to Miss Watson, calling her “Australia's newest hero”.

But the teenager, unfazed by the prospect of disagreeing with the most powerful man in the country, would not accept the compliment. “I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream, you don't have to be someone special to achieve something big,” she said. “You just have to have a dream, believe in it and work hard, anything is possible.” Talking about her voyage, she said the hardest times came when bad weather was forecast, but that her own resilience had surprised her. “When you're in the middle of the night in a storm you can't fall apart, you have to just keep going.” Then, in the final days of her voyage, the wind picked up again, her generator engine started playing up and her toilet broke. With her mind fixed solely on her return, she patched up the engine with a bit of wire but gave up on the toilet.

It is not common to read news about a youngster who has developed these qualities: tapah (austerity), acāpalam (determination), dhritih (fortitude) and what is most astonishing, the quality of: na ati-mānitā (not expectation of honor). Her qualities should remind us about the transcendental qualities meant for making a person progress in spiritual understanding.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said:
Fearlessness; purification of one's existence; cultivation of spiritual knowledge; charity; self-control; performance of sacrifice; study of the Vedas; austerity; simplicity; nonviolence; truthfulness; freedom from anger; renunciation; tranquillity; aversion to faultfinding; compassion for all living entities; freedom from covetousness; gentleness; modesty; steady determination; vigor; forgiveness; fortitude; cleanliness; and freedom from envy and from the passion for honor - these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.

Bhagavān Lord Śrī Krishna :
“Bhagavad-gītā As It Is”
Chapter 16 - Verses 1-3
“The Divine And Demoniac Natures”