Acharya Prashant explains the distinction between 'Vidya' (spiritual knowledge) and 'Avidya' (worldly knowledge). He states that consciousness is the subject matter of Vidya, whereas Avidya encompasses all other forms of knowledge, such as science, technology, history, geography, and mathematics, which talk about everything except consciousness. The speaker highlights a common pitfall in spiritual seeking: the tendency to pursue Vidya while completely rejecting Avidya. He describes a hypothetical person who claims to be interested only in consciousness but knows nothing about the factual, objective world. This stance is contradictory because human consciousness is fundamentally rooted in the material, or physical, world. It is, as he puts it, "sandwiched between the material and the transcendental." Even though consciousness aspires for the transcendental (the skies), it is factually rooted in the material (the earth). For instance, without the physical brain, there can be no thoughts, and one cannot even meditate without a physical head. This rejection of worldly knowledge, or Avidya, leads to a dangerous trap. When a person dismisses the physical world as unimportant and finds the transcendental to be unknowable, they are left with a void. To fill this void, they often resort to manufacturing knowledge and concocting stories about the beyond. These stories, such as God living in a special palace or having extraordinary experiences in meditation, are unverifiable and cannot be falsified. This, the speaker asserts, is the method of fraudsters and charlatans throughout history who, lacking real knowledge, use such tales to deceive people. Acharya Prashant clarifies that the Upanishads warn that those who delight in this false Vidya alone enter a darkness even deeper than those who are engrossed only in Avidya. He explains that Avidya is objective knowledge without any consideration for the subject, the knower. In contrast, true Vidya is also objective knowledge, but it is pursued with a constant consideration for the subject and their liberation. Therefore, the ideal educational institution would be one where Vidya and Avidya are taught together, where the teacher is not just a provider of information but also a guide to wisdom. A professor who honestly teaches objective facts (Avidya) is far better than a godman who offers concocted stories about the beyond (false Vidya).
