Quest For KNOWLEDGE
Sarosh Framroze
August 30, 2024
General
135 Views
- Man is a being in search of meaning.
- A taste of every sort of knowledge is necessary to form the mind and is the only way to give the understanding its due improvement to the full extent of its capacity.
- John Locke, American Philosopher
- In all things there is a comprehensive attitude that is vital to have; but generally there are few (Higher Self-aware wise) men of these (pagan ego-dominated, dumbed-down) times who have thought this through thoroughly to a clear understanding of things.
- Samurai, Yoshimasa +1350 -1410
- Naturally, (the ignorant, mortal ego-immersed ordinary) man has to seek all means of discovering the meaning of Life (– the realization of his enlightened, immortal Atman Self), for without knowing it, he is lost; he wanders from birth to birth, receiving knock after knock and is seldom the better for all the experience.
- Without understanding (arrived at through our own fearless, independent, and free-thinking) we cannot see even if we look; we cannot hear even if we listen; and we cannot taste even when we eat.
- What would the scriptures do for (a pagan ego-blinded, ignorant)one who does not think (fearlessly independently and freely) for himself? A mirror is useless to one without a perspective.
- Even Vishnu is unable to give knowledge to (an unthinking, ego-dominated, dogmas-bound, herd-minded) one who will not (fearlessly, independently and freely) think for himself.
- The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the powers of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.
- Therefore I ask for none of those (‘this worldly’ trinkets viz. wealth, power, success fame etc. so eagerly sought by the godless mortal ego-deluded beings), but seek self-knowledge, Yama. Awake, arise, be aware and seek (the original-inborn immortal Atman Self) O’ wise men to learn the essence of Brahman (/Supreme Soul). This is because (the godly Higher Self-aware) wise men with the wisdom of the past, present and future consider the knowledge of this essence to be like the keen edge of a sharpened knife (– a nano-slip and you’re hamburger for the hounds) – extremely difficult and dangerous to traverse, indeed.
- Stand in the assembly of elders. / Who (by virtue of being touched by the Holy Spirit/Higher Self) is wise? / Cleave to him. / Be ready to listen to every narrative, / Do not let wise proverbs escape you. / If you see an (Higher Self-aware) intelligent man, visit him early; / let your foot wear out his doorstep.
- More the knowledge lesser the ego. Lesser the knowledge more the ego.
- (Seek ye first the Truth for) The truth will set you free (to roam the Sphere of Eternity). But first, it will piss you off (…and only later – if you and I have the courage to persevere through the daunting gauntlet of our godless ego-imposed obstacles and shatter the edifice of the lawless ego-conditioned, illusory mind-states propagated Lie you and I live …will we sip together as one the Elixir from the Chalice of Immortality).
- What thing I am I do not know. I wander secluded, burdened by my (eternally questing) mind. When the Firstborn of Truth (– an original insight/thought/idea) has come to me I receive a (Cosmos-bestowed blessing and) share of that self-same Word (/Concept).
- Rig Veda 1.164.37 c.1800 BCE
- Not led away by sentiment, nor pampering popular opinion, free from selfish motives, the one and only purpose of studying religious literature (and philosophy)should be the (sincere quest for holistic) truth and nothing but the (Absolute)truth (– free of all personal agendas, communal biases, rid of all parochial/sectarian/provincial-conditionings of nationality, religion, culture, race). The result of such research must be (impartially and joyfully shared and)revealed to the (global)community (truthfully,) independently, courageously and courteously.
- Dr H M Dhalla, Zarathustrian Scholar-Priest
- The (mind-expanding, soul-liberating) instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home (in the fire of meditation), communicate it to others (in the joyful-spirit of knowledge-sharing), and it becomes the (life-enhancing) property of all.
- The Buddha (as a godly Bodhicitta/Atman Self/Noor-i-Ruhani/Holy Spirit-awakened, alternative-thinking, anchorite-tempered one — an uddham soto) offered revolutionary (new orthodoxy-challenging, status quo-threatening) teachings that resounded like a lion’s roar, like a great (freshly) rising tide, helping (all pagan ego-dominated unawakened ordinary) people to wake up and break free from the (enslaving shackles of their godless ego-fabricated, illusory mind-states conjured) prison of ignorance.
- All great truths begin as blasphemies.
- New opinions (arrived at through fearless, independent and free thinking) are always suspected, and usually opposed (might and main by the threatened Establishment-Herd Axis), without any other reason but because they are not already common (…and so bears the seed of a revolutionary new status quo changing idea).
- Stand upright (fearlessly), speak thy thoughts (honestly), declare / The truth (of the Higher Self)thou hast (with such great self-sacrifice learnt), that all may share; / Be bold (fear not), proclaim it everywhere: / They only live who (against-all-odds)dare.
- The moment we (as Higher Self-aware beings) begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from (ego-conditioned) motives of (profit, fear or) policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of (our Higher Self-cast) light and life no longer flow into or souls.
- If the freedom of (Higher Self-promoted, independent, free thought and right to freewill and) speech is taken away (by the lower ego-self- dominated, insecurity-riddled Establishment-Herd Axis) then dumb and silent we may be led, like (mindless docile) sheep to the slaughter.
- Hail ignorance! Knowledge is too confusing.
- The human brain is unique in that it is the only container of which it can be said that the more you put into it, the more it will hold.
- The brain that does not feed itself eats itself.
- First there was ‘The Word’.
- The first word revealed to Prophet Muhammad was “Iqra!” – read.
- God help me acquire knowledge: to teach me right from wrong; to light the Path to Heaven; to be my friend in the desert; my society in solitude; my friend when friendless; my guide to happiness; to sustain me in misery. For knowledge is an ornament among friends and armour against enemies.
- Asking good questions is half of learning.
- No man hath given his child anything better than good manners.
- Happiness can be achieved by knowledge alone.
- Adi Shankara, Iconic Advaita Philosopher
- Great men are those who see that thoughts (/knowledge) rule the world.
- The ink of the quill is more powerful than the blood of the martyr.
- A goose quill is more dangerous than the lion’s claw.
- No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come. …A stand can be made against the invasion of an army; no stand can be made against an invasion by an idea.
- The thinker dies but his thoughts are beyond the reach of destruction. Men are mortal but ideas are immortal.
- The most decisive factor in the collapse of our 20th century civilization is the abdication of thought.
- You can kill a man but you can’t kill an idea.
- Ideas are an indestructible force that take up a life of their own.
- Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
- Ideas should be received like guests –in a friendly way but with the reservation that they are not to tyrannize their host.
- Gandhi may have been assassinated, but Gandhism is immortal.
- Knowledge cannot be stolen from us. We may be poor and the sheriff may come and sell our furniture etc., but he cannot lay the laws hands upon the jewellery of our minds.
- Let us be granted that knowledge that cannot be robbed by dacoits: let the wise be given wealth: let there be light for the wise.
- Acquire thoroughly the knowledge that is worth acquiring: and after acquiring it walk thou in accordance with it.
- Thiruvalluver – Kural 40.391
- The learned alone can be said to possess eyes: the ignorant have but two sores in their head. …it is those that refuse to learn that are the lowest among men.
- Thiruvalluver – Kural 40.393
- An imperishable and flawless treasure is learning to a man: other wealth is as nothing before it.
- Thiruvalluver – Kural 40.400
- Ascending the rostrum without abundant knowledge is like playing the dice without the chequered board.
- Thiruvalluver – Kural 41.401
- Like unto a wasteland that yielded no harvests is the man that hath neglecteth instruction (/learning): all that men can say about him is that he liveth, and nothing more.
- Thiruvalluver – Kural 41.406
- Behold the man that hath meditated much in himself and hath lain by a store of information by listening to the discourses of the wise: he talketh not nonsense even when in error.
- Thiruvalluver – Kural 42.417
- The ancient scholars studied for their own improvement. Modern scholars study to impress others.
- The hand that writes, rules the domain.
- Only the educated are free.
- The truth is more important than the facts.
- Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge.
- Doubt grows with knowledge.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author
- Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.
- Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think.
- I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.
- It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
- One test of the correctness of the educational procedure is the happiness of the child.
- Maria Montessori, Iconic Child Educationist
- I am not a teacher, but an awakener.
- He who opens a school door closes a prison.
- Victor Hugo, Dramatist-Novelist
- When the student is ready, the Master appears.
- Young people need models, not critics.
- I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
- Education is what survives, when what has been learned has been forgotten.
- B.F. Skinner, Iconic Behavioural Scientist
- Education is not the filling of a vessel but the kindling of a flame.
- Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.
- The primary purpose of education is not to teach you to earn your bread but to make every mouthful sweeter.
- Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
- Nelson Mandela, South African Freedom Fighter and World Statesman
- Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
- One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; one who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.
- No one is so poor as an ignorant person.
- If you have nothing to say, say nothing.
- Fear always springs from ignorance.
- Theory helps us bear our ignorance of the facts.
- George Santayana, Philosopher
- All men of action are dreamers.
- There is no question of time and space. Understanding depends on ripeness of mind. What does it matter if one lives in the East or West?
- The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.
- Leonardo Da Vinci, Artist, Inventor
- Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridal, else it will not keep with you.
- Without understanding we cannot see even if we look; we cannot hear even if we listen; and we cannot taste even when we eat.
- What would the scriptures do for (a pagan ego-blinded, ignorant)one who does not think for himself? A mirror is useless to one without a perspective.
- Even Vishnu is unable to give knowledge to (an unthinking, ego-dominated, dogmas-bound, herd-minded) one who will not (fearlessly, independently and freely) think for himself.
- In all things there is a comprehensive attitude that is vital to have; but generally there are few men of these times who have thought this through thoroughly to a clear understanding of things.
- Samurai, Yoshimasa +1350 -1410
- A taste of every sort of knowledge is necessary to form the mind and is the only way to give the understanding its due improvement to the full extent of its capacity.
- John Locke, American Philosopher
- Men, in general, judge from appearance than from reality. All men have eyes but few have the gift of penetration.
- In youth we learn; in age we understand.
- Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach
- One should commence a work after understanding the country and the consequences.
