If I were you, and you me
"When intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom. When wisdom is integrated with life and issues out in action, it becomes Bhakti.Knowledge, when it becomes fully mature is Bhakti. If it does not get transformed into Bhakti, such knowledge is useless tinsel."
I was an early riser as a kid.I would be ready to go to school before the clock struck seven.As a result, I would have the better part of an hour at my disposal. My mother decided that I should listen to good music in this period. Her favorites were MSS and Vidyabhushana, and we had around 30 cassettes of pure carnatic music. These would go into an ancient tape recorder(that sometimes chewed on the tape,mangled it and ruined good music:P) in a round-robin fashion and I would sit by the sofa, concentrating entirely on the music and the lyrics till I knew every note,every nuance to perfection.
It was thus that I encountered Rajaji's words.These words shocked me when I first heard them.I knelt at the altar of knowledge everyday, and there was no deity more supreme than knowledge to me. How then, could someone say that knowledge was conditional? That it had an iff clause attached to it. I was appalled that he called knowledge 'useless tinsel'. Was he a religious fanatic, I wondered? Was he so taken in by the notion of God that he proclaimed that knowledge was useless without devotion?
Years from then, I begin to realise the wisdom in his words. Not as I originally saw them or understood their meaning, but in an entirely new light. Bhakti can be seen as the tempering of intellect with emotion. As a refinement of knowledge to the higher level of wisdom.I now see that all knowledge is meant not as a standalone entity, but only to inculcate meaning and a sense of purpose in our lives.To provide a platform to think. To take what we learn and then see the world accordingly. Knowledge is not vision, it is just a pair of glasses that will you give you vision, if you figure out how to use it.
Whatever I say will remain as abstract thought in your mind unless I fortify my arguments with an example.
Imagine someone who is highly educated but has no sense of gratitude and instead goes about life with a sense of entitlement. Someone who looks down on his fellow human beings because they are less accomplished be it in terms of intellect,social standing or wealth. Do you really think that this individual can be called wise? Not in any sense of the word.
Entitlement is foolish. Because if you think of it, life owes you nothing. Have you been through a phase so bad that everyday you keep wondering When are things going to change? When is life going to get back to normal? I have. I have then consoled myself saying No, It has to change. Normalcy is inevitable.The odds are that way. Then, I looked to see if mathematics supported what I called hope, and I found that it did not.Gambler's fallacy. Heard of it? It is defined as the mistaken belief that, if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future. Basically, this means that when things go for a toss, life gives you no guarantees of all will be well soon. I have stared at this statement in numb despair, with nothing left of hope. I have seen too many stories go wrong and then stay wrong, equating the Bard's All's well that ends well to a faiytale ending. Therefore, I am fiercely grateful for all that I have. Life owes you absolutely nothing.
You may be so accustomed to a roof over you head, food on your plate or even that good education you've been given. You might feel as if you have a right to it. My parents have got to feed,clothe and educate me.it is their duty and my right No biggie.But indulge me for a minute. Look around, and tell me how many people you see who do not have all of that? Now, aren't they entitled to it all too? They are human beings too and they're made of the same skin,bones and blood. It's just that you were lucky enough to be bestowed with these things and they weren't. Does that give you any right to sneer at them?
That watchman you don't even acknowledge may have struggled to get where he is--it may be a humonguous accomplishment for him given his circumstances. Given where he started out from. He might be ten times as good as you at the things you do, only he never got a chance to find out.The same goes for the cleaning lady. All the people we don't even look at. Imagine that you were born in such circumstances. Would you be able to confidently say that you would still be where you are today? No,of course not. Your progress is always relative to your origin. While I am by no means saying that you cannot/should not rise above your environment, I'm saying that it is ridiculous to judge people who "seem to" be less accomplished than you. To feel entitled.Because to do so is to render all your education useless. You have failed the one purpose of life, which is to be a human being. A humane human being.
If I were you and you were me,
How would things be?
I am me and you are you.
Yet our stories could just as easily have been reversed
You could be the lucky one, and I the insignificant nobody
Who am I to turn up my nose at you?
I sit on a throne of chances,one shining possibility in a billion
It takes only a microsecond for our fates to reverse
For me to become you, and you to become me.
I might not be able to change your life
But I can give you tiny trifles
Things that mean something to you and me:
A smile,a kind word,maybe something more.
For it makes me feel better
About the other me that I see in you.
The me that is unlucky and not so privileged.
If I were you and you were me,
How would things be?
Now,read the verse on top again. Makes sense, right? Knowledge must mature into wisdom and manifest itself in action, else it is useless.
P.S: The full preface to Bhaja Govindam, if you're interested.
“Adi Shankaracharya wrote a number of Vedantic works for imparting knowledge of
the Self and the Universal Spirit. He also composed a number of hymns to foster
Bhakti in the hearts of men. One of these hymns is the famous Bhaja Govindam.
The way of devotion, is not different from the way of knowledge or Jnana. When
intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom. When
wisdom is integrated with life and issues out in action, it becomes Bhakti.
Knowledge, when it becomes fully mature is Bhakti. If it does not get transformed
into Bhakti, such knowledge is useless tinsel. To believe that Jnana and
Bhakti, knowledge and devotion are different from each other, is ignorance. If
Sri Adi Shankara himself who drank the ocean of Jnana as easily as one sip’s
water from the palm of one’s hand, sang in his later years, hymns to develop
devotion, it is enough to show that Jnana and Bhakti are one and the same. Sri
Shankara has packed into the Bhaja GovindaM song: the substance of all vedanta,
and set the oneness of Jnana and Bhakti to melodious music.”
-An excerpt from Rajaji's preface to Bhaja Govindam.
I was an early riser as a kid.I would be ready to go to school before the clock struck seven.As a result, I would have the better part of an hour at my disposal. My mother decided that I should listen to good music in this period. Her favorites were MSS and Vidyabhushana, and we had around 30 cassettes of pure carnatic music. These would go into an ancient tape recorder(that sometimes chewed on the tape,mangled it and ruined good music:P) in a round-robin fashion and I would sit by the sofa, concentrating entirely on the music and the lyrics till I knew every note,every nuance to perfection.
It was thus that I encountered Rajaji's words.These words shocked me when I first heard them.I knelt at the altar of knowledge everyday, and there was no deity more supreme than knowledge to me. How then, could someone say that knowledge was conditional? That it had an iff clause attached to it. I was appalled that he called knowledge 'useless tinsel'. Was he a religious fanatic, I wondered? Was he so taken in by the notion of God that he proclaimed that knowledge was useless without devotion?
Years from then, I begin to realise the wisdom in his words. Not as I originally saw them or understood their meaning, but in an entirely new light. Bhakti can be seen as the tempering of intellect with emotion. As a refinement of knowledge to the higher level of wisdom.I now see that all knowledge is meant not as a standalone entity, but only to inculcate meaning and a sense of purpose in our lives.To provide a platform to think. To take what we learn and then see the world accordingly. Knowledge is not vision, it is just a pair of glasses that will you give you vision, if you figure out how to use it.
Whatever I say will remain as abstract thought in your mind unless I fortify my arguments with an example.
Imagine someone who is highly educated but has no sense of gratitude and instead goes about life with a sense of entitlement. Someone who looks down on his fellow human beings because they are less accomplished be it in terms of intellect,social standing or wealth. Do you really think that this individual can be called wise? Not in any sense of the word.
Entitlement is foolish. Because if you think of it, life owes you nothing. Have you been through a phase so bad that everyday you keep wondering When are things going to change? When is life going to get back to normal? I have. I have then consoled myself saying No, It has to change. Normalcy is inevitable.The odds are that way. Then, I looked to see if mathematics supported what I called hope, and I found that it did not.Gambler's fallacy. Heard of it? It is defined as the mistaken belief that, if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future. Basically, this means that when things go for a toss, life gives you no guarantees of all will be well soon. I have stared at this statement in numb despair, with nothing left of hope. I have seen too many stories go wrong and then stay wrong, equating the Bard's All's well that ends well to a faiytale ending. Therefore, I am fiercely grateful for all that I have. Life owes you absolutely nothing.
You may be so accustomed to a roof over you head, food on your plate or even that good education you've been given. You might feel as if you have a right to it. My parents have got to feed,clothe and educate me.it is their duty and my right No biggie.But indulge me for a minute. Look around, and tell me how many people you see who do not have all of that? Now, aren't they entitled to it all too? They are human beings too and they're made of the same skin,bones and blood. It's just that you were lucky enough to be bestowed with these things and they weren't. Does that give you any right to sneer at them?
That watchman you don't even acknowledge may have struggled to get where he is--it may be a humonguous accomplishment for him given his circumstances. Given where he started out from. He might be ten times as good as you at the things you do, only he never got a chance to find out.The same goes for the cleaning lady. All the people we don't even look at. Imagine that you were born in such circumstances. Would you be able to confidently say that you would still be where you are today? No,of course not. Your progress is always relative to your origin. While I am by no means saying that you cannot/should not rise above your environment, I'm saying that it is ridiculous to judge people who "seem to" be less accomplished than you. To feel entitled.Because to do so is to render all your education useless. You have failed the one purpose of life, which is to be a human being. A humane human being.
If I were you and you were me,
How would things be?
I am me and you are you.
Yet our stories could just as easily have been reversed
You could be the lucky one, and I the insignificant nobody
Who am I to turn up my nose at you?
I sit on a throne of chances,one shining possibility in a billion
It takes only a microsecond for our fates to reverse
For me to become you, and you to become me.
I might not be able to change your life
But I can give you tiny trifles
Things that mean something to you and me:
A smile,a kind word,maybe something more.
For it makes me feel better
About the other me that I see in you.
The me that is unlucky and not so privileged.
If I were you and you were me,
How would things be?
Now,read the verse on top again. Makes sense, right? Knowledge must mature into wisdom and manifest itself in action, else it is useless.
P.S: The full preface to Bhaja Govindam, if you're interested.
“Adi Shankaracharya wrote a number of Vedantic works for imparting knowledge of
the Self and the Universal Spirit. He also composed a number of hymns to foster
Bhakti in the hearts of men. One of these hymns is the famous Bhaja Govindam.
The way of devotion, is not different from the way of knowledge or Jnana. When
intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom. When
wisdom is integrated with life and issues out in action, it becomes Bhakti.
Knowledge, when it becomes fully mature is Bhakti. If it does not get transformed
into Bhakti, such knowledge is useless tinsel. To believe that Jnana and
Bhakti, knowledge and devotion are different from each other, is ignorance. If
Sri Adi Shankara himself who drank the ocean of Jnana as easily as one sip’s
water from the palm of one’s hand, sang in his later years, hymns to develop
devotion, it is enough to show that Jnana and Bhakti are one and the same. Sri
Shankara has packed into the Bhaja GovindaM song: the substance of all vedanta,
and set the oneness of Jnana and Bhakti to melodious music.”
Nice!
ReplyDeletePretty thoughtful
Thank you :)
DeleteNice perspective...
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)
Delete