GOAL
WHAT IS THE GOAL, SIR?
REALIZATION OF THE SPIRIT, ANSWERED SATYAKAM SERENELY.
BUT THEN, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS ON THE PATH OF SPIRITUAL SEEKING? SHOUTED A LADY FROM THE AUDIENCE, AS IF IN ANGONY.
SATYAKAM LOOKED UP AT THE WOMAN WITH UTMOST COMPASSION AND REPLIED, THE REALIZATION OF SPIRIT IS NOT AN UNINTERUPTED ADVANCE. SUFFERING AND PAIN CANNOT BE ABOLISHED AS LONG AS THE SPIRITUAL LIFE HAS TO BE LIVED UNDER HUMAN CONDITIONS. UNTIL ONE'S WHO INTEGRATED BEING IS OFFERED WITH DEVOTION TO THE DIVINE THE PROCESS OF GRADUAL UPLIFTMENT THROUGH TESTS AND SUFFERNG CANNOT CEASE. WHEN DEVOTION MATURES AND BECOMES COMPLETE, ONE HAS THE VISION OF GOD.
AFTER A DEEP SIGH HE CONTINUED. PLEASURES SEEM TO BE IN THE SATISFACTION OF IMPULSES, BUT THE GOOD REQUIRES THE TAMING OF THE LOWER TENDENCIES. CONSCIOUS ACTION TEND TO BECOME UNCONSCIOUS HABITS.
THE ILLUSIONS OF LIFE ARE TO VANISH AND OUR CHERISHED, DREAMS DISPERSE BEFORE THE LIFE DIVINE CAN BE REALIZED.
AND ANOTHER AFTERNOON, WHILE THE TEMPLE GROUNDS BLAZED BENEATH THE AUTUMN SUN, DEVOTEES WITHOUT FAIL BEGAN ARRIVING TO LISTEN TO THE MARVALOUS SERMON OF PEOPLE, ALTHOUGH THEY UNDOUBTEDLY DID, BUT WHAT HE WAS AN EMBODIMENT OF HOLINESS AND WISDOM, DETACHED TO THE CORE OF HIS BEING FROM ALL CLINGING.
THAT DY A NUMBER OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WERE PRESENT AMONG THE MULTITUDE. SATYAKAM, RELAXED IN HIS SEAT, LOOKED AT THEM QUESTIONINGLY. ONE STUDENT RAISED HIS HAND, AND MAHARAJ NODDED CONSENT.
WHAT IS TRUE EDUCATION, MAHARAJ? THERE WAS A KEEN DESIRE IN THE STUDENT TO KNOW.
TRUE EDUCATION IS WHAT LIBERATES, LIBERATES THE SPIRIT OF MAN. KNOWLEDGE MUST BE ONE WITH TRUTH BECAUSE TRUTH GIVES FREEDOM - NOT THE FREEDOM OF UNRESTRAINED FLOOD WATER, BUT THAT OF WATER FLOWING FREELY WITHIN THE BANKDS OF RELATIVITY.
THEN ALL THIS SECULAR AND ACADEMIC EDUCATION IS UNTRUE AND USELESS? ANOTHER STUDENT ASKED IN SLIGHT AGITATION.
MAHARAJ SMILED AND IN RESTRAINED MANNER SAID,
SECULAR KNOWLEDGE IS UNTRUE IN THE SENSE THAT IT FAILS TO GIVE WINGS TO THE SOUL OF MAN. BUT IT IS TRUE AND USEFUL IN ITS OWN SPHERE OF THE DUALISTIC PLAY OF OBSERVER AND OBSERVED.
THE FIRST STUDENT POLITELY RESUMED, IS THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF WHICH YOU ARE KINDLY SPEAKING CAPABLE OF KNOWING EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE SCIENCES , ARTS AND VARIOUS HUMANITIES?
IN PRINCIPLE YES, SATYAKAM LOVINGLY AND EMPHATICALLY REPLIED, BY REALIZING YOUR SPIRIT YOU KNOW EVERYTHING CREATIVELY AND BLISSFULLY, BUT IN THE PROCESS OF KNOWING, ON THE WAY ONE ENCOUNTERS THE URGES AND IMPULSES TO KNOW AND HAVE MUNDANE KNOWLEDGE, THUS,SECULAR KNOWLEDGE IS CALLED INDIRECT, WHEREAS SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE IS DIRECT.
A THIRD STUDENT ASKED, SHOULD ONE THEN RENOUNCE AN ACADEMIC CAREER TO PURSUE SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE?
NOT NECESSARILY, REPLIED SATYAKAM UNDERSTANDINGLY, IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU WANT AND WHERE YOUR ASPIRATION LIES. ULTIMATELY, THE AIM OF ALL KNOWLEDGE - SECULAR OR OTHERWISE - IS TO KNOW THE TRUE SELF OR SPIRIT. SCIENCE MAY CALL IT THE ULTIMATE ESSENCE. THE MOST TELLING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE TWO IS THAT THE SECULAR NEVER IMPARTS FULL SATISFACTION WHEREAS KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPIRIT DOES.
ANOTHER STUDENT ASKED MEEKLY, IS THERE ANY CHANGE OF RECONCILIATION BETWEEN DIRECT AND INDIRECT KNOWLEDGE MAHARAJ?
SATYAKAM RELEASED A DEEP SIGH AND SAID, YES, AND RIGHTLY SO. BY KNOWING YOUR TRUE SELF YOU ATTAIN IMMORTALITY OF SPIRIT AND THEREBY LIVE IN PERPETUAL AWARENESS AND JOY. ON THE OTHER HAND, SECULAR KNOWLEDGE IMPARTS TO YOU THE CAPACITY TO LIVE IN AND MAINTAIN THE RELATIVE WORLD.
BUT WITHOUT SPIRITUAL AWARENESS, SECULAR SUBJECTS ARE HOLLOW AND INCOMPLETE, MERE INTELLECTUAL GYMNASTICS, SO UNLESS THE SPIRIT SHINES THROUGH THE INTELLECT, MAKING LIFE AND BODY AN INTEGRATED WHOLE, THE CLASH BETWEEN THE TWO WILL NOT CEASE. FULFILLMENT OF THE MUNDANE IS POSSIBLE ONLW WHEN THE DIVINE PENETRATES THROUGH IT AND REMOVES THE DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE.
AFTER ALL, WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION IF NOT TO GET FREEDOM FROM IGNORANCE AND ATTAIN LIGHT?.
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