You have Knowledge Now become Wise
You have Knowledge
Now become Wise
Question – Gurudev, I’m very smart, I am highly educated and I am an intellectual; however in-spite of this, I get easily influenced by others, what could be the reason? Why do I get influenced by others even when I can differentiate between the right and wrong? As a result, I become a pawn (tool) in the hands of people close to me. People use me and my capabilities for their own advancement. What should I do, how do I guide myself?
Answer – Dear Atman (soulmate),
You are aware that you are smart, intellectual and educated; however do you understand the meaning and difference among these three words.
Any initial information about any subject or topic is called “Information“. The testing of this information with the facts, experiences or books (which you have analysed within your own environment or circumstances) is called “Knowledge“; and the behaviour, actions and functions driven by this information and knowledge is called “Wisdom“.
A fact of information passes through different challenges, tests and levels to become wisdom.
It is your illusion that you have become wiser after gaining knowledge. You feel that you have become wiser after studying all the facts. Wisdom indicates transformation of the entire life, and it is not limited to a particular field. Wisdom is holistic and all-round. One cannot be wise in one field and not in another. Wisdom indicates understanding of the entire contexts. Removal of one layer triggers removal of hundreds of layers of ignorance.
You have collected a lot of knowledge from the books, worldly experiences and Google; and have arranged this knowledge in a corner of your mind. You have arranged this knowledge in various parts of your mind like we decorate and arrange items in the drawing room of our home. Have you ever wondered about – Transforming my own life through this knowledge instead of storing this knowledge in my mind. In reality you wish to remain whatever you are, and to stop getting influenced by others, apart from being wise and sensible.
Every person is surrounded by thousands of conceptions in his life. He does not know exactly who is his friend, who is his partner, who is his enemy and who is the secret enemy (clever, cunning)? He runs his life drunk in his preconceived notions, and therefore believes that he is properly leading his life.
The mistake is that whatever knowledge we receive, we think of it as wisdom. Knowledge is just a set of different pieces of information. Basic knowledge cannot become wisdom. Wherever you live, you will definitely find a lot of information and knowledge.
If a person shows aggressive, violent tendencies, then it means that his mind is full of fears, and that he is using violence to hide his fear. What will such a timid person achieve? He will accumulate more information, more knowledge to get rid of his fear. He will like to obtain more information on how to become more effective and influential.
“The people with timid mind are the most violent“. They always live in fear of their own trauma, and so turn aggressive very quickly. A timid person always attempts to dominate through his words and actions. He is always plagued by his inner fears and apprehensions, and that inspires him to go to the extremes.
Now you tell me what kind of knowledge such a timid person is accumulating. Where will such knowledge lead such a person to. You can yourself understand it very well.
You believe that this is a sign of wisdom. However, you remain same as whatever your inner nature is, and you keep on accumulating additional information and knowledge. You obtain this knowledge just to fulfil your purposes.
The wisdom exists at a higher plane than knowledge, and it opens the doors to self-realization. You need to open your inner doors, and for this you need to open all the inner layers together. You will continue to remain at the same level at which you currently are, through information and knowledge. You can transform yourself only through wisdom. You cannot collect this wisdom. You can collect only information and knowledge.
The real meaning of wisdom is – Whatever transforms you and your self. You will have to ask this question to yourself – Have I understood? Has the basic nature of my mind changed? Can I see with a new perspective? Alternatively, you may have decided to retain your ego, and not to change your fundamental principles. You will not leave your deep habits, you will continue to bind yourself with attraction and infatuation. Do you still wish to attain wisdom, with all this?
My dear brother, it is simply not possible …
You need to vibrate your inner strings …
What is more important than knowledge?
What does wisdom mean? Whatever you have believed until now, you will have to discard it. Wisdom means – splitting up of all your inner strings, your inner system of considering self to be all-supreme. Only when the thoughts of “I” am knowledgeable, “I” am wise, leave your mind, then you should consider yourself to be wise. You do not become wise by retaining the inner ego of “I” within yourself. You have stubbornly decided not to alter your inner nature. You only ask for 2-4 facts, to collect the information. This information is also a good thing, we can share this information with others. You also get influenced by reading the facts from the books. If knowledge was everything, then everything on this earth would have completely changed by now. People have been reading Geeta for thousands of years, and yet their minds are still filled with fear. What is the use? Learnt the facts but did not understand them. The whole life remained shallow and fake.
Therefore whenever anyone talks about knowledge, he or she uses it only to feed his or her ego. You can impress any normal average person that he does not know anything, only you are knowledgeable as you have collected all the information and experience. The so-called intellectuals speak in such vein.
Wisdom is peace –
Wisdom is completely different. It can never become a toy in the hands of any ego. The wisdom eliminates the ego, and how does one get this wisdom? The day something breaks within you, the day this world looks anew, the day you feel peace in your heart, the day you feel same both in success and failure, on that day, you should understand that wisdom has entered your mind.
What happens when one attains wisdom. Learn about this fact as well.
It is possible that you feel the earth slipping from your feet on the day, you attain the wisdom. You may feel elimination of the entire base of your life. This basic support is nothing else but your own ego. Our conceptions break when this ego terminates. We feel scared. We also get angry. At that moment, you should understand that something wise is happening, because only your ego is getting injured. Why did this happen to me? This is due to influence of your ego. At that time you should comprehend that some wisdom is entering your mind.
The alternative experience of wisdom could be that you may feel complete breakage from all bonds, and experience total mental freedom. At that moment you should comprehend that some wisdom is entering your mind.
The knowledge always binds you in chains, while wisdom liberates you.
If you do not feel any of the above two experiences, then it means that you have just obtained some more information, and you believe these facts of information to be knowledge. However this knowledge is limited to just few words. It is not enough to be intelligent and informative. What have you gained by collecting the various pieces of knowledge and information till now. Only when something strikes within, then you should realize that something new has happened.
Initially your mind will also feel a resistance, and this resistance will be welcomed in a corner of your mind as well. When this welcome feeling arises in your mind, you should realize that your wisdom is changing you from inside, you are getting a new birth, and the old-tattered is disappearing.
When the mind gets filled with a feeling that – the old is dying and I am entering a new quiet life, then you should realize that some wisdom has entered your mind.
This wisdom is not so easy to attain. You may think that I have heard Guruji’s talk and I have understood. You are wrong if you feel that this thought is so simple.
Attainment of this wisdom becomes very difficult unless your mind is fully ready or if you do not desire any change in your inner mind.
Welcome the knowledge and transform this knowledge into wisdom. Let something new happen within you. You will keep on attaining a deep quiet peace, you will develop a new perspective on the world, and will eventually attain clairvoyance.
It is wise to be sensible. Thousands are knowledgeable, millions are literate, however only one or two become wise.
And you have to proceed on the path of wisdom …