Knowledge alone cannot transform life; it can become another object of the ego. True knowledge is self-knowledge—a mirror that exposes and destroys false ideas about oneself. Ravana may have been knowledgeable, but without self-knowledge, knowledge can become a tool for exploitation. Wisdom is not something to acquire; it is innate. Self-knowledge is the process of unbecoming unwise by clearing away the nonsense we have gathered.
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Questioner: Namaste, Acharya Ji. So my name is Aditya Kumar. I read scriptures and some Vedic literature and so many books like that. So I think I have a feeling of knowing what is right and what is wrong. But despite knowing all this stuff, I sometimes end up doing some immoral or bad things. So I've seen even big intellectuals have done wrong even after having great knowledge. Like, I can consider the example of Ravana. How does a great man, or even a normal man, end up doing bad stuff?
Acharya Prashant: No, knowledge is nothing wonderful or miraculous or worthy just by itself. If I tell you, let this mic enter your life and life will be magically transformed, you’ll laugh at me, right? Let me give you a book, a manual containing knowledge of the operations of this mic, the entire electronics, the whole process. I'll say, now I am imparting knowledge. That knowledge is as material as this mic. Right? So how is that knowledge going to transform your life if this mic cannot?
Knowledge too is just an object of the ego. Nothing more than that. I am the subject. This mic is the object. And if I get an instruction manual telling me how to operate this mic, that too is just an object, right? I remain the same. So what's so wonderful about knowledge? There is nothing so great about knowledge.
