If Knowledge Makes You Wise, Why Did Ravana Go Wrong?
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.
Knowledge, in fact, feeds the ego in a very big way. When it comes to wisdom, that's a different thing altogether. Wisdom implies knowledge of the self, and that's not a principle or a concept or a thought or an idea. That's an instantaneous observation. That's not something that you can write down in a book and store. Knowledge of the operations and technology of this mic is something that you can write down, codify, and store in a book, and the book can be kept here.
Knowledge that liberates is a different thing altogether. It's therefore not called just knowledge. It is called self-knowledge or wisdom. It is not a thing at all. It cannot become an object of the ego. It is now a mirror to the ego. Look at yourself. Not something that the ego can just hold while comfortably being itself. No, no. Now the object is a mirror. You will look at this object and there will be no object but the looker. I look at this, what do I see? The object. I look at the mirror. What do I see? The subject. Now that's self-knowledge. That's self-knowledge. And about that, there can be no books. Therefore, Ravana, if you say, okay, fine, a character from mythology, but let's proceed from there. Ravana maybe was knowledgeable. Gyani, probably yes. Atma-gyani, not at all. Not at all.
We are unnecessarily too much in awe of knowledge. Knowledge won't help. In fact, if you are inwardly crooked, knowledge will simply become your instrument. Give more and more knowledge to a cunning person. What will he do with the knowledge? He will weaponize it. He will weaponize it and use it to exploit others.
Self-knowledge is a different thing altogether. It is, I repeat, not an idea, not a thought, just a mirror. It's about looking at yourself in the moment. The mirror has no memory. Right? The mirror has nothing stored in it. You look at it, and there is instantaneous revelation of who you are. That's self-knowledge.
What does it do?
It destroys knowledge. So there is me, and there is the idea I have of me. That idea too is an object. There is the ego, and there is the thought, the idea, the impression, the image that ego holds of itself. For example, I'm smart. I'm fearless. I'm a loving father. Right? I understand. So that's the idea that the ego holds of itself. I'm smart. I'm beautiful. Beautiful in the inner way. So that too is an object. The idea. The ego is the subject. And the idea of the ego is the object.
What happens when you hold the mirror this way? The object said, "You are beautiful." You look at the mirror and you see an ugly face. You see an ugly face.
So the utility of real knowledge, which is self-knowledge, lies in the demolition of, in the rejection of false knowledge.
False knowledge. Not knowledge about the mic, but knowledge about the self.
The ego will be liberated of its ideas about itself. Because we don't know ourselves. Hence, what do we live in? Ideas about ourselves. In fact, we don't know anything about everything. We have just ideas. This is the way it is. And that's why we keep getting hurt, because we think of something in a particular way and it doesn't turn out that way, and then there is a lot of hurt and heartbreak. Just as we don't know anything, we also don't know ourselves. We don't know ourselves. So what do we carry? What do we carry as a substitute? An idea of who I am.
The utility of self-knowledge is it destroys your ideas about yourself. It comes in, clears away the nonsense, and that's all. It doesn't stay there because it is nothing in particular. Had self-knowledge been an object, it could have stayed here (mind), but it is nothing in particular. All it can do is clean, clear. It is like light. Can you hold light in your fist? No. But if there is darkness, light...
Listener: Light illuminates darkness.
Acharya Prashant: Yes. Light illuminates darkness. Or you could say light clears away the darkness. That's real knowledge.
Questioner: So you want to say, sir, becoming a Atma-Gyani is the real knowledge?
Acharya Prashant: “Becoming Atma-Gyani!" No, the direction you are taking, I can see that, but that's not how we put it. Becoming Atma-Gyani, the whole thing is a process of unbecoming. You have already become so much, so you don't become Atma-Gyani. The whole thing is about unbecoming. Why have I become stupid?
Listener: I gathered nonsense.
Acharya Prashant: Yes, I gathered nonsense. So, I have to get rid of the nonsense. So it's about unbecoming stupid.
You don't have to become wise. Wisdom is innate. Stupidity is something you gather. So self-knowledge is the process of unbecoming unwise, not becoming wise.
Unbecoming unwise.
