Guest guest Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 Question: Does the acquisition of spiritual knowledge make the mind mature? Annamalai Swami: The acquisition of knowledge belongs to the realm of education, not sadhana. Seeing everything as one is the true seeing, and controlling the five senses in the body is the true sadhana. They must be controlled, and success in this endeavour is truly heroic. No traditional education can prepare you for this. Realising the Self is the true education. One of Mahatma Gandhi’s disciples was educated to a very high level. He was also a pious man and a strict disciplinarian with himself. When he realised that all he wanted in life was Self-realisation, he tore up all his academic certificates and threw them away. He knew that neither his education nor his worldly knowledge would help him. In fact by doing this he implied that his knowledge was a hindrance that had to be rejected. A proper education does not come from books. It comes from associating with jnanis. They alone can guide us and teach us properly. I served Bhagavan for twelve years. Looking back on those years I can now say that just as you cannot get a proper formal academic education without attending school, one cannot get a true spiritual education without satsang, either with a jnani or with one’s own Self. ANNAMALAI SWAMI FINAL TALKS edited by David Godman www.davidgodman.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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