“Great are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force,

that thoughts rule the world.”

                                                                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world we live in was made little by little and behind it lies the knowledge garnered over ages by countless men and women. These were the people who continuously strived to make this world a better place to live in. Bit by bit, we have, over countless centuries, unfolded the mysteries around us and used the ubiquitous knowledge to improve our lives. Without this sustained effort and constant hunger for knowledge we would be living in wilderness, wearing skin and eating raw flesh.

All the above wouldn’t have been possible without constant hunger for knowledge. For the mankind, knowledge has opened many doors, may it be the doors of comfort by building machines and robots or may it be knowing oneself. By constantly striving hard we have made our life comfortable. However the ultimate goal of the knowledge is not to amass comforts but built lasting peace and happiness and this is not possible without knowledge and spirituality entwined. The moment we are at peace with ourselves, we shall be at peace with others and then true happiness will follow and pervade the society. But this is easier said than done as it involves a constant process of reinventing ourselves. The process of reinventing will not happen by merely reading books and  passing certain exams and courses. Unfortunately, knowledge today is synonym either with literacy or passing off of various exams and having a successful career. The process of reinvention will roll in only when society will emphasize on gathering wisdom rather than amassing data. In the process of this collection and analysis of data, the knowledge has lost its divinity and is no longer a path towards redemption or salvation.

First of all we will have to ask whether knowledge is merely a means to get a job and learn few subjects or learn to read or write. We are yet to know that the true attainment of knowledge has nothing to do with getting a job. The ultimate aim of knowledge is to know oneself and through that attains the peace and happiness. The ultimate aim is to be one with the God.

Knowledge should lead to wisdom as wisdom is the essence of life but these days people seek knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is of the past, wisdom is of the future.

Just as the ocean rises up as waves, true consciousness rises up with the help of true knowledge and the true knowledge is attained when a person constantly strives for it. Knowledge is beyond written words and can’t merely be attained by learning to read or write though it may be the first step towards attaining the divinity or enlightenment.

As liquor is able to make one see all sorts of phantoms in the empty sky, similarly, the deluded mind is able to make one see diversity in the unity. Just as a drunkard person sees objects moving, the ignorant (without knowledge) one sees movement in this world. Only through the knowledge can one discern between good and bad, right and wrong. In fact, knowledge is the only salvation in this world full of confusion and mirage. But this knowledge is more than few words in ink.

The great teachings unanimously emphasize that all the peace, wisdom, and joy in the universe are already within us; we don’t have to gain, develop, or attain them. We’re like a child standing in a beautiful park with his eyes shut tight. We don’t need to imagine trees, flowers, deer, birds, and sky; we merely need to open our eyes and realize what is already here, who we really are — as soon as we quit pretending we’re small or unholy.

This intuition of knowing oneself will come through knowledge and wisdom but before that we will have to understand that knowledge without wisdom is a process of piling up facts. Wisdom lies in the simplification but unfortunately we are great at making things complicated. Our offices, our government, our laws and regulations – all are working towards making things complicated instead of the other way round. Instead of making knowledge a weapon to fight off ignorance, we are making it a shield to hide our in-competencies and corrupt attitudes. In our society knowledge has lost its divinity but has become a dangerous weapon in the hands of babu’s and beaurocrats who are misusing it.

But  I have always believed that imagination is stronger than knowledge, that myth is more potent that history. I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts, that hope always triumphs over experience, that laughter is the only cure for grief, and above all, love is stronger than death.  In the end I remember these lines by a famous poet 

                                  “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we   have lost in information.”                                     

                                                                          – T.S. Eliot