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Source: The Hindu

(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/02/12/stories/2002021200050600.htm)

Miscellaneous

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Religion

 

 

Pursuit of knowledge must lead to truth

 

 

 

 

CHENNAI

FEB.12.

 

The scriptures reiterate that God is everywhere. A lay person who does not have

the necessary insight into this wisdom will naturally wonder how the Lord is

present in all that he perceives. God is present as the Self in every being; He

is the fragrance in the flower; He is the sweetness in sugar, saltiness in salt,

in short the essential nature which distinguishes every object. The tragedy is

that man instead of identifying God who is present in his heart as his very

Self, searches for Him everywhere.

 

It is due to His presence that man has memory, intellect and also the quality of

forgetfulness. In the insentient the Lord is present in the form of existence,

while it is in the sentient beings that consciousness becomes manifest. Human

beings are utilising the mental faculties in worldly life for acquiring

information and various disciplines which do not help in realising inner

happiness. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna has clarified that He is to be

known ultimately.

 

The etymological meaning of the word ``Veda'', referring to the scriptures, is

``instrument of knowledge''. Literally Veda indicates means of acquiring

knowledge. They are perception, inference and the word (scriptures). Animals are

called ``Pasu'' because they take things at face value what they see

which their name indicates. Man derives his common name because he can

think (Manava). For instance, when a cow sees grass it does not wonder why it is

green while human beings have the faculty to think and ponder on what they

perceive.

 

In his discourse, Swami Tejomayananda said the purpose of all enquiries and

knowledge was to get at the truth. Man in this pursuit gets entrapped in the

maze of the sciences without persisting till he realises the fundamental truth.

There are many branches of knowledge and a person can study all of them. But is

it necessary? Any discipline of study is useful only at the relative level of

the world but there is one knowledge which is essential to realise happiness

that every individual has to learn without choice knowledge of the Self

(Atman).

 

The greatest tragedy that can happen to any person is when he does not know

himself. Lord Krishna points out that He is to be known; it is through Him that

man can know the Self and He is that supreme knowledge. This assertion of Lord

Krishna makes it apparent that the knower of the truth becomes one with it and

hence He has endowed man with the intuitive vision to see God everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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