I know nothing!
What do I know?
Not a thing do I know.
When someone talks philosophy, I am at sea. I really have no clue what they speak. There are great philosophers who wrote very many beautiful treatises but I hardly understand any.
There were Plato to Kant, Panini to Shankaracharya and in today’s day and age there are quite a few around but their speak is beyond my ken and understanding.
Then there are the various languages which I don’t understand at all. Especially Sanskrit, which is the language of the evolved ones. How would I understand that too? Not having studied any one such language in my entire life, I can neither make head nor tail of them.
Today there are forums and yesterday there were temples of learning and scholars attended there but I am a man of unlettered means, who cannot compete with these great orators and speakers. I visited a website called Quora and I was stunned to see self proclaimed sages and saints there, learned people who answer such great philosophical questions with élan quoting such difficult texts. I felt defeated by their such great knowledge of stuff, whose existence I am not even aware of.
The smallness of the knowledge that this person carries could be summed up in one word- ignorance! I am ignorance personified and have no such understanding as all these knowledgeable people out there. I struggle to understand simple English and here I am seeing such big guns of knowledge. How can I compete with such scholars?
In spiritual, people like Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa once when asked how much he knew Gita, said that he hasn’t read it at all. But his little understanding is that if we were to invert the word Gita it becomes tagi which means sacrifice or renounce. He believed Gita would be sum totaled as ultimate renunciation.
On the other hand my grandfather and his father served the great Saint of Shirdi called Saibaba and knew that he wasn’t highly educated in the worldly sense. He only recited kalmas from the Koran which his Guru had taught. The rest he wasn’t aware of. He never showed great knowledge for any books of philosophy.
Then we have Kanakadasa and Purandardasa on one side, Gora Kumbhar and Namdev, Tukaram and Muktabai, Ramanna and Ramdas, Nityananda(Vajreshwari) and Kabirdas, all who never professed of any bookish learning but were somewhere trained by their unlettered Gurus. Did they become some degree holders or got special certificates pronouncing them as sages or saints? Not at all.
Just a few days ago someone from the past called and while in conversation asked what I was doing? In response I told that I don’t do anything at all. Just sit at one place and talk about spiritual. The moment I said the word spiritual, a barrage of questions flowed. These were somehow a query as to whether did I teach yoga or pranayama, told mantras or recommended poojas or prayers for deferment of evil actions, told the future or read the astrological charts, conducted classes of Vedanta or other such philosophical subjects, joined some art of living or Isha yoga ashram or did courses, prepared some Ayurvedic products or sold some spa treatments and a host of other activities. I denied everything and said that I am in none of these. Then the next question was how did I make money? Do I give some vibhuti(holy ash) or create objects out of thin air? Do I charge for anything at all?
She was stunned to know that I didn’t do anything at all or any of the things she mentioned above too. But when I told her that I do satsangs every single day then the turn of bhajans and Kirtans came up. Did I cut any discs of holy songs or wrote any? Again the answer was negative. There was too much of frustration in her world as she was unable to understand anything that I do. So finally she shut up with an understanding that I am a good for nothing person who just wastes time.
I am sure after learning that I don’t do anything at all and that there is no brand of spiritual that is being taught, you too may drop off here itself.
So if you are in for satsangs and some words on God, stick here. But if you think there will be great philosophical discourses then you will be disappointed. So take your pick.
Like I said last week, my name itself is God knows. Now my knowledge base is also in great doubt since I know nothing at all.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
