Buzzing About Books
The end of knowledge is in Truth
Classically defined in Vedanta, knowledge has two divisions — lower and higher. The lower hosts all the secular sciences pursued by intellectual beings mainly for gaining control of nature, or for the sake of knowing as much as possible about the universe. The higher, some say, pertains to all that religion and philosophy consist of, leading right up to that which is spiritual in nature. But others aver that higher knowledge is centered around only that which is of the unique nature of direct spiritual experience itself, transcendent of all that is taught and contained in traditional religion and schools of philosophy.
Whatever the case may be, another way of defining knowledge is to contrast it against ignorance, its opposite, for if the awareness of ignorance persists, then there is still a need to gather more knowledge. The gathering of this knowledge in order to remove ignorance eventually results in refinement of mind so that it begins to partake of something subtler, referred to as wisdom. For, whereas the seeking after and accrual of knowledge once added to a store of facts in the mind, the discovery of wisdom introduces the mind to a vast field of inner knowledge based on insight which leads to realization. It is exceedingly subtle in nature, a field where direct knowing rather than secondary knowledge is more coveted, and much more satisfying.
Thus, knowledge has a big brother called wisdom, and they both have a father called Truth. In order to realize Truth, the process of knowledge must be engaged in, for according to Sri Krishna there is no more effective purifier in the work like knowledge. Without it, the presence of ignorance no only persists, but grows and overtakes the entire thinking process of the human being, negatively influencing all actions that take place in relativity and thereby leading to suffering in the form of karmic repercussions. But just as the waxy substance coating hyacinth leaves resists water, just so does the presence of knowledge deflect ignorance from the human mind.
The Height of Hypocrisy
Vultures soar very high above, but their eyes are ever fixed on the carrion pits below on the ground.
Those beings possessed of secular knowledge alone, such as pundits and scholars, though they may occupy high positions, are nevertheless ever focused only upon worldly pleasures and earthly schemes.
With this pithy statement, Sri Ramakrishna aptly describes the many hypocrites in both scholastic and religious circles who talk big but think and act small. The point is that spirituality is a matter of knowledge married to devotion, realized in meditation and tested in the fires of the world. Thus, do the four Yogas of Jnana, Bhakti, Raja, and Karma fuse to formulate the diamond of mature God-Realization which is nonpareil in all the Three Worlds.
But there are beginners and pretenders to this peerless state of pure Being. These are pundits, scholars, and priests whose intellects soar high in the lofty reaches of study, memorization, recitation, and ritual, but whose hearts are dry and whose egos are recalcitrant against Divine authority. Besides having this sanctimonious attitude marked by substantial substantial superciliousness, their daily actions are suspect as well. Speaking in a magniloquent manner, their full blown speech cannot disguise what their senses seek — the pleasures of the world — and this dead giveaway reveals their hypocrisy in no uncertain terms,. The carrion pit of name, fame, and gain, thus takes much of their attention, while their sterile study amounts to mere sophistry, their verbiage to equivocation, and their vaunted knowledge to extravagant hyperbole.
Much different than these verbose vulture-voluptuaries are the capacious and credulous chatak birds spoken of earlier, whose devotion to Truth is pure and uncompromised. They are the real teachers, not the disingenuous and disputatious. As Sri Ramakrishna states, “A worldly person should receive instructions from a sadguru, a real teacher. Such a teacher has certain signs. You should hear about Benares only from a man who has been to Benares and seen it. Mere book-learning will not do. One should not receive instructions from a pundit who has not realized the world to be unreal. Only if a pundit has discrimination and renunciation is he entitled to instruct.”
Ingrained Impracticality
An ant came away from a mound of sugar with two grains of sugar — one filled his stomach and the other, its mandibles. It thought, “I shall return later for the whole pile.”
Man, in his presumptuousness and folly, imagines that he can know the entirety of all knowledge with his limited intellect.
Boundless, fathomless, illimitable, infinite — these are some of the words that come to mind when the voluminous knowledge of the Divine Mother of the Universe is contemplated. And what to speak of the realm of secular knowledge called aparavidya, the relative and lower knowledge according to Vedic Philosophy, the abundance and facility of Paravidya, the Ultimate Wisdom, is both inestimable and incomprehensible. Yet man, in his delusion and with his limited mind, somehow thinks that he can have the entirety of it. Such a preposterous proposition led the Great Master to remark on the futility of such a venture using the ant as an example.
The ant is a prime subject for illustrating Sri Ramakrishna’s point. Greedily gathering and gobbling grains of sucrose is a favorite pastime of this little creature, and this puts us in mind of restless human beings in their rush for gaining facts and figures. If one assault on Mothers knoll of knowledge does not thereby satisfy the innards of the intellect and the “mandibles” of the mind, they will be back for more, all the while thinking erroneously that, in the end, the entire expanse of knowledge will be theirs. In their rush, none stop to think that knowledge is endless by nature. One can never truly possess it with the external mind. Furthermore, its external manifestation is unreal. Ultimately, it all exists within the mind. To quote Patanjali, The Father of Yoga, “All knowledge lies within.”
Buzzing About Books
How long does a bee buzz about, making noise? Only so long as it is not sitting on a flower and sipping its nectar.
Among striving human beings there are three types: those who only talk excitedly about what they will attain, those who actually focus and imbibe wisdom, and those who remain in rapt communion with God.
Before contemplating the lovely bee, symbolizing that being who quietly considers the truths of the scriptures, it might be an informative comparison to notice the fly. This creature, representing the worldly person, lights on filth and finery both, sometimes coming to rest on what is rotten and other times tasting what is sweet. If abdication of the world and adherence to a serious study of spiritual teachings is attempted for any length of time, it will not be long before such a being drifts back to more mundane pursuits, or even to activities detrimental to life, society, and dharma. Thus, engaging in study and spiritual practice is specifically advised for all those who love Truth and desire freedom.
Among bees, one might say there are those who spend spans of time searching for various flowers, and then there are those who actually land on a particular blossom and imbibe its fragrance and nectar. Of the former, they equate to those beings who search interminably for sincere and committed entrance into the dharmic path, and talk excitedly about matters of spirituality, but never settle to sip, coming face to face with the “flower” of Reality. Thus, there is a lot of “buzzing” going on, but no comprehension — no imbibing of the elixir of enlightenment.
On the other hand, Sri Ramakrishna speaks of this latter type of bee as the illumined being who lites and actually enters the “flower” of the Infinite. Such a one goes beyond mere study of the scriptures and takes the time and trouble to comprehend the truths contained within them, thereby putting them into practice and enjoying the resultant outcome. This puts and end to any further boisterous buzzing. If any more buzzing is heard within he sacred flower of spiritual experience after that, it is just the honey-like sound of sweet bliss that the enlightened being enjoys there, deep in Nondual Communion. Thus, the search for wisdom flowers, the flower of faith itself, and the nectar of realization within are all aspects of Reality. This is what all the buzzing is really about, and where it leads. To quote the Avadhuta Gita:
Where one knows nothing, there verily is no versification.
The supreme and free One, pure of thought,
absorbed in the Consciousness of the Homogenous Being,
prattles about the Truth.
This article is an sample from Chapter 16: Knowledge, taken from of An Extensive Anthology of Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories by Babaji Bob Kindler. A tome of spirituality for all types of aspirants — of all religions. Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings are universal and the author’s commentaries adhere to that high ideal. Multi-level teachings make this a uniquely practical handbook for living a divine life in our contemporary world.
Nearly 700 stories and sayings have been gathered together in one ready anthology especially designed for the devout aspirant and for those seeking welcome entrance into the basic teachings of spiritual life.
