Knowledge, Realization & Wisdom
The spiritual world is a world that is inhabited by many kinds of people. Some who are pretenders; whilst a few who are genuine contenders. The intermingling of such people hence leads many seekers to delusional ends; as often one ends up following someone with a preconceived notion of his greatness. Then when the seeker realizes that the person that he idolizes or follows is indeed not that virtuous or that spiritually endowed he becomes despondent. Most of the times, this leads him to turn into a skeptic, as he starts to harbor a sentiment of distrust for the path. The reason as to why this happens is primarily due to the fact that people hardly ever make a distinction between knowledge, realization and wisdom.
The three aforementioned attributes; though they may appear as similar are inherently different in their essence. Strictly with respect to the spiritual world, the difference between a realized soul, a wise master and a knowledgeable person is vast. But before we start to make the distinction between these three attributes, we first need to address the difference that exists between knowledge and information. Information is something that anyone can gain out of reading a few books and listening to a few dissertations. Information is hardly of any practical use, as the one possessing it hardly knows how to apply it in his real life. Simply put, one may know how an airplane stays in the air, but if you were to be asked by someone to make a prototype of that airplane, you would be hardly able to do so; the reason being that you have the information pertaining to the process and not the complete knowledge of the same. Information is the easiest thing to procure, and hence in today’s world, one can see many pretenders who try and collect as much information as possible to make it appear as if they possess knowledge.
Knowledge is something that is gained out of experience. It is when one puts the information that one has to action, that he derives true knowledge. The essence of true knowledge is that it is extremely valuable and hard to procure. A knowledgeable person is thus one who is truly of any real use to a seeker. However there are some fundamental drawbacks to knowledge itself. Knowledge brings with itself great pride and self-esteem. A person who acquires knowledge, is automatically elevated in the eyes of his peers; and hence he starts to cultivate within himself a strong sentiment of all-pervading, all-conquering pride. He starts to think that he indeed knows it all. That is essentially the reason of his downfall; for once he thinks that he is complete, he can no longer acquire knowledge in its truest essence; and thus he becomes complacent in all walks of life. The resultant downfall however is a precursor to the realization that follows.
Realization is something that follows a bitter downfall. Realization is inherently something that man acquires, after he lives through the worst days of his life. This is simply owing to the fact that in those days, he truly realizes that all his perceived knowledge; all his delusional greatness is indeed of no particular substance; that it is of no particular use. Thus realization brings with itself a deep sense of humility and understanding, which truly gives a divine sheen to the knowledge that the seeker bears. Realization in the end also forces the seeker to look beyond his own self; for through self-introspection, he realizes that his true self is indeed not what he perceives it to be. Thus when the realized seeker, lives through his life, with that constant bearing in his heart, only with a genuine desire and craving to be benevolent, he then acquires the divine grace that finally takes him towards wisdom.
In the end, wisdom is something that is gained through realization. When the realization seeps in infinitely and the seeker then starts to live his life in complete harmony with God, it is then that he truly becomes wise. It is only when the seeker goes beyond all despair, regret and fear, that he can truly be called as a wise person. One cannot gain wisdom. It is wisdom that arrives on its own accord. Thus it can be truly regarded as the ultimate stage in human evolution.
Tags: realization
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December 14, 2009 1:20 am
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By suvarna vyankatesh kunnur, December 15, 2009 @ 7:35 pm
is it possible that with realisation comes the quest for spiritualty.but in keeping with one’s original nature one does not renounce worldly and material things .is it possible to strike a balance between the two.does one have to give up all desire in order to become spiritual
By admin, December 15, 2009 @ 10:45 pm
not at all. the stages mentioned herein are some of the advanced stages of spiritual evolution. Foregoing desires for the sake of a benevolent purpose is something that comes with time. it is a long process and definitely not a pre-cursor to being on the spiritual path. It is actually the last step of the path. The human being is irrevocably bound to his desires. As long as he is human, he cannot elude desires, however, the way he acts is upto him and therein, he is given a choice…:)