Blessings of Knowledge: By Pujyaswami Atmanandaji

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

I want to take this opportunity to thank Pujyaswami Atmanandaji for

permitting the list to repost the articles published by him. Swamiji

has clear vision on Vedanta and is a disciple of Swami Chinmayandaji.

Currently Swamiji is the head and founder of the Vedanta Mission in

India.

 

Warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

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Blessings of Knowledge: By Pujyaswami Atmanandaji

 

……… Knowledge alone liberates us from all miseries, pain &

poverty. It has indeed transformed our whole world & lives. The

profound power of knowledge has not only blessed our worldly

life, it alone singularly liberates us from the subjective clutches

of time & space to help us awake to the transcendental realm.

Knowledge and knowledge alone should be our top priority in

life, not only to help make our day to day lives more meaningful

& productive but also to help awake to the divine & timeless

state of Godhood. This is the summum bonum of human life ,

our ultimate goal, the real test of our right understanding, and

this is what was called as Moksha by the great Rishis of yore.

……… The secret of success of all developed nations (if at all it

is a secret) is their singular dedication to the pursuit of

knowledge. They encourage pursuit of knowledge, provide more

than sufficient funds for education & research, respect

knowledgeable people, invite good brains from all over the world

to come over to their place. They not only make laws

accordingly but even bend the rules for facilitating such

pursuits. It is their dedication to knowedge which is bearing

appropriate fruits in terms of their material prosperity &

comforts. They deserve their prosperity just as we deserve our

lack of it. If the pursuit of knowledge blesses our lives, then

the flip side also is equally true. The absence of right

knowledge and understanding is the greatest curse of human

life.

……… We are an independent nation free to plan our priorities

and plans. We have Planning Commission planning for optimum

utilization of our resources, but something has indeed gone

fundamentally wrong somewhere. The people with right brains

have to look for more fertile lands elsewhere, the masses

cannot even read & write after fifty years of self-rule, the

definition of litracy has been brought down to the ability to

read & write one's name, the state of schools is in shambles,

and it takes a supreme court diktat to put an end to

reservations in super-speciality jobs.

……… If because of some earlier social problems some people

did not get proper chance to come up, and reservation was

considered to be a way out, then fine, but it is fifty years now,

a whole new generation has been born, yet we are where we

are. It is not the figures which we are interested in but results.

The results reveal distorted priorities. Why should our

countrymen be denied the right to education, why should are

brains run elsewhere, why should we not have high-profile

in-house research wings, why cant we have tax concessions

for encouraging research & education in a big way. If the

government cannot do its job, why not pass on the baton to

other countrymen. Keeping people ignorant appears to be in

the self-interest of our politicians, just as raking up &

sustaining distortions in the name of caste is in the

self-interest of others. It is the vote-bank politics which is

really behind the present state of affairs. Politics has become a

haven for the most smart & successful criminals. We cannot

expect to have the right priorities of knowledge from those who

have had no interest in it throughout their lives. Till we have

these priorities it will be the destiny of the masses & country at

large to be condemned in this way.

……… The young ones have to indeed depend on the system for

some basic grounding, but the grown ups need not always

depend on government for helping change their priorities. We

have to do it ourself, without any help from anyone. May be

God wants us to work for such goals. Let us do whatever we

can to encourage the pursuit of knowledge. We have to work

both at the personal and social level for such goals and

priorities.

……… At the personal level let us always keep some time for

reading good books, and listening to lectures & discourses of

knowledgeable people. It is a must. Keep out some time just for

yourself and pursue the understanding of some new thing

continuously, not just for your profession but of other aspects

of life too. Poetry, litrature, philosophy, art, music etc. As a

quiet mind is most suitable for understanding anything,

appropriate measures & exercises should be taken up to make

the state of our minds most suited for this endeavor. A good

healthy body, a positively charged yet a quiet observant mind

are great assets. Let your respect for knowledge &

knowledgeable person be very evident. Invite such people at

your place, express your respect in whatever way possible, and

discuss your perceptions with them. It is also extremely

necessary that a part of our earning should always be spent on

matters pertaining to pursuit of knowledge. Purchase good

books and other things which facilitate such pursuits.

……… The second aspect is our work for such goals in the

society & professional field. Encourage the intelligent &

knowlegdeable people in whatever way felt most appropriate.

Give out sometime to work for organisations working in this

direction, help some poor children to pursue their studies. Take

out a part of your earning to be shared with the less fortunate

ones. Give charity to Ashrams & other institutions pursuing

such cause.

……… Do whatever you can to have an open & sensitive mind.

Be in the midst of nature at least for a short period in a year,

never let arrogance of any of your achievements touch you,

and never be conditioned with intense likes & dislikes. Follow

the Vedic adage that "Let noble thoughts flow to us from all

sides." Dont be under the impression that anything modern is

always good or correct and anything old is rubbish. This is an

arrogance of the most stinking kind. Do not also believe that

everything old is gold and everything new is nonsense. What is

required is an open mind, which is open to all ideas from all

over. Let us have the intelligence to evaluate the merits of

anything ourself. Conditioned people are basically unintelligent

people who cannot sieve out right & wrong, good or bad

themself. It is convenient for them to simply brand a thing as

new & old, western & eastern, religious or secular and blindly

follow one. Such people remain condemned to mediocrity and

can never be expected to rise to those great heights which a

bhakta of Gyana can. The people who pursue knowledge whole

heartedly not only make their professional & worldly lives very

beautiful & successful, but also awake to the Godly state of

transcendental divinity in this very life.

 

Source: http://www.vmission.org/vedanta/articles/boknow.htm