Sunday, May 24, 2009

Knowledge/ Understanding

Posted on behalf of Vichu Chitappa:

'The more you know, the less you understand' is a Chinese proverb. If one were to stretch this in the context of today’s technology driven world, one could perhaps say that knowing “how” would represent knowledge and knowing “why” the understanding part. Stretching this further, -and here I am on less safe grounds — unless one is able to transcend the “how” phase, and get into the “why” phase, understanding eludes more and more, especially since:
(a) the converse namely that the less you know the more you understand paradigm is almost absurd and
(b) the accumulation of knowledge is so intoxicating and rewarding, that it arrogates one to assume that the ultimate stage of this phase namely liberation, bliss, nirvana and what have you is already reached.

An illustration will perhaps be in order; for instance, starting from the kinder garden school teacher, who knows how to train the toddler, to the local astrologer, who knows how to ward off the bad times, to the family priest, who knows the path to salvation, to the family doctor, who knows how to cure you, and the filmy hero, who knows how to act, every one of these characters, are so intoxicated with their “knowledge” that they want more and more acquisition of the stuff, and feel no need for transcending to the next stage to lead them to salvation.

To begin to understand that knowledge is only a means to achieve something more elevating, is the first step towards transcending to the next stage. This is not easy, as the more you know, the more you are sought after, and to sustain this you need to know further more, and you are just caught in the passionate pursuit of acquiring knowledge without end and mistakenly concluding that you have “arrived”.

There is this story of Adi Shankara, when he was challenged by the wife of Mandana Misra as to his knowledge regarding marital relations; he was able to transfer his soul from his physical body to that of a king, and reunite with his own body and answer the ladies queries, later on. The same Shankara, after being told about an experience of “bliss” of the canine of the species when they sit with their tongues drawn out, enters the body of a dog, to experience this first hand.

The story goes on to say that he found it so exhilarating, that he almost forgot that he had to go back to his original body. It was with a great effort that his shishyas managed to get him to remember. The moral of this story; the intoxication of the “know-how” paradigm is so powerful that even Shankara finds it difficult to detach himself easily.

The dilemma of many of us is that while we know that we want to graduate to the ‘why” stage, we do not want to abandon the fruits/comforts of our former stage. We seem to want to have the cake and eat it at the same time. We want to get the know-how, to get to the “know-why” stage, but are unable to let go our acquired knowledge and even at times imagining that this is actually “understanding”.

From the time acharyal had asked us recently to follow the teachings of Bhagawad Gita, and path of sanaathana dharma, there has been this feeling of none-too-satisfactory comfort levels, and which made pondering it over this repeatedly, inevitable.

In Gita, Arjuna finds himself on a very big dilemma; killing his own kin for a kingdom, appalls him. Even after meticulous exposition of advaithic doctrine and the vishwa rupa darshan of the Lord, only when the Lord finally tells him to surrender totally unto Him, Arjun gets his doubts cleared, and goes thru the war as a duty, and without expecting any results.

After reflecting on this I re-read the letter addressed to us 4 brothers; The final blessings is unequivocally for all of us to have the strength and the wherewithal to follow the path of Gita, and perform our duties as prescribed under our sanathana dharma.

This is quite different from my earlier understanding, which was that he is just asking us to follow these paths and his blessings are there.

Naanya pantha ayanaaya vidyathe; perhaps conveys a similar message, namely if you follow this path, (which incidentally is the only path), He blesses you with a wherewithal to sustain this…….

Appears profound to me….. And hence felt like sharing

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