Learning to Learn

In Hindu mythology, Ravana is the legendary multi-headed king of Ancient Lanka. He had many good qualities that made him a learned scholar. He was revered as a pundit as he was well-versed in the six shastras and the four Vedas. He is depicted with many heads to symbolize his immense knowledge, but his ego led him astray and eventually caused his downfall.

As the story goes, he fell prey to his desires, abducted Lord Rama’s wife Sita and held her captive in his kingdom. Lord Rama gathered his staunch allies and with the support of his army, rescued his beloved wife Sita. In the process, Ravana was vanquished. The triumphant return of Lord Rama and Sita back to their kingdom is celebrated as good overcoming evil.

We learn from this story that even the most learned scholar faced defeat due to his weak mind. The masters explain that knowledge used unwisely is counterproductive. It creates arrogance and ego within us where we think that we know everything. However, the further we tread the path and deepen our spiritual practice, the sooner we realize we know nothing.

That is how our life should be: we need to live with an attitude of humility and understanding that we do not know anything. If we realize that we don’t know, then we are learning. Even the renowned artist, Michelangelo, said: “I am still learning.” The moment we say we know everything; our learning process stops and our ego takes over.

Learn as if you were to live forever.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
_{Mahatma Gandhi, as quoted in Quotations for all Occasions}

Every day is a new day, so every day presents opportunities to learn new things. If we open ourselves to learn and if we broaden our horizon, we will go forward. However, if we get entangled with the ego believing that we know everything, then we will not get far in life.

What we are seeking through the spiritual path is a greater awareness. As we become more aware, we understand that there is truly little that we actually know. Knowledge is vastly different from wisdom. In this day and age, information is always freely available. Search engines are the guru of information; at the click of a key one can obtain unlimited information about any subject. On the other hand, wisdom or the lessons that life teaches us cannot be bought at any cost.

The Greek philosopher, Socrates, once acknowledged, “As for me, all I know is that I know nothing,” as quoted in Socrates, A Complete Biography.

The more knowledge we acquire, the more we will realize how limited we are. Hazur Maharaj Charan Singh explains that real knowledge is to know the Creator, his creation, and to know the laws that govern the creation and the means to go back to the Creator.

What Hazur Maharaj Ji has explained can only be attained by going inward. It is through our meditation practice that we can fill ourselves with that love for the Father. When we are filled with love and devotion for the Father, we attain real wisdom. When the mind is in pursuit of the Father, then we get real intellect, real intelligence, real wisdom. A simple person who sees the Lord in everyone, in every part of the creation, he is a man of wisdom. However literate or illiterate he may be, however ignorant from the worldly point of view, he may have real wisdom.