Knowledge has done immense harm.
The knowledgeable person goes on living with this false idea that he knows. And because he knows,
there is no need to enquire any more. The ignorant man is continuously on the verge of enquiry;
always a question mark is there. And this is one of the traits of human nature, that you cannot live
with a question mark. Either you have to cover it with false knowledge – which becomes your answer
– or you have to find the real answer so that the question disappears.
Knowledge is not the answer but only a pretension of an answer.
You say, ”Knowing perfectly well” .... Drop this idea of knowledge. Please just accept your ignorance.
Be courageous and capable of saying, of many things, ”I do not know.”
If somebody asks you about God, do you have the courage simply to say, ”I do not know”?
The atheist has no courage; he says, ”I know there is no God.”
The theist has no courage; he says, ”I know there IS God.”
Only the agnostic is a little courageous; he says, ”I do not know yet.” He leaves the question without
any definite answer. He is enquiring, he is searching.
From my very childhood I have been continuously questioning knowledgeable people. My house
was a guest house of many Jaina saints, Hindu monks, Sufi mystics, because my grandfather was
interested in all of these people. But he was not a follower of anybody. He, rather, enjoyed me
bothering these saints.
Once I asked him, ”Are you really interested in these people? You invite them to stay in the house
and then you tell me to harass them. In what are you really interested?”
He said, ”To tell you the truth I enjoy their being harassed, because these guys go on pretending that
they know – and they know nothing. But anywhere else it would be difficult to harass them because
people would stop you. People would tell me, ‘Your grandson is a nuisance here – take him away.’
So I invite them, and then in our own house you can do whatever you want. And you have all my
support: you can ask any questions you want.”
And I enquired of these people, just simple questions: ”Be true and just simply tell me, do you
know God? Is it your own experience or have you just heard? You are learned, you can quote
scriptures, but I am not asking about scriptures: I am asking about you. Can you quote yourself,
your experience?”
And I was surprised that not a single man had any experience of God, or of himself. And these
were great saints in India, worshiped by thousands of people. They were deceiving themselves and
they were deceiving thousands of others. That’s why I say that knowledge has done much harm.
Ignorance has done no harm.
Ignorance is innocent. Knowledge is cunning.
Knowing is far beyond both.
Knowing has the innocence of ignorance and the knowing of knowledge, both together. It is innocent
knowing.
And knowing is authentically yours.
Unless any knowledge is yours, it is better not to have such ideas of having perfect knowledge.
Do you understand, when you use words like ”perfect”? Is there anything in life perfect?
The moment anything is perfect, it is dead.
Life is continuous imperfection.
Yes, it is moving towards perfection – but always moving and never arriving. That’s the whole stance
of evolution, that it goes on evolving higher and higher but there is no point where it can say, ”Now
the journey is finished.” The book of life has no beginning and no end. It is a continuum; infinite
continuity.
Never use words like ”perfect”. Everything is imperfect here, has to be – except idiots like pope the
polack. These are perfect people, infallible. Only idiots can claim infallibility. The wise ones will say,
”Perhaps it is so. I do not know absolutely. Yes, I have glimpses. There are moments of clarity; there
are times it seems, ‘Yes! This is it!’ but there is no full stop anywhere.”
If you ask me how many times I have said, ”This is it!” and the next day, something bigger .... And
I think, ”My God! So this is it!” But slowly slowly, when it was happening more and more, more and
more, bigger and bigger, I dropped the idea of saying, ”This is it!”
This is always becoming it, but there is no full stop. It is never perfect.
Knowing is a process.
Knowledge is a dead thing, with a full stop.
You don’t know, and it will be of immense help to you to know that you don’t know, because from
there a true journey can start. Your question gives enough evidence of ignorance because you say,
”By understanding and then dropping it.” Alas, after understanding there is nothing to drop. You will
be at a loss.
Before understanding there is so much to drop, but you cannot drop it.
After understanding, when you can drop it, there is nothing to drop.
These are the mysteries of life, real mysteries of life – tremendously enjoyable.
The knowledgeable person goes on living with this false idea that he knows. And because he knows,
there is no need to enquire any more. The ignorant man is continuously on the verge of enquiry;
always a question mark is there. And this is one of the traits of human nature, that you cannot live
with a question mark. Either you have to cover it with false knowledge – which becomes your answer
– or you have to find the real answer so that the question disappears.
Knowledge is not the answer but only a pretension of an answer.
You say, ”Knowing perfectly well” .... Drop this idea of knowledge. Please just accept your ignorance.
Be courageous and capable of saying, of many things, ”I do not know.”
If somebody asks you about God, do you have the courage simply to say, ”I do not know”?
The atheist has no courage; he says, ”I know there is no God.”
The theist has no courage; he says, ”I know there IS God.”
Only the agnostic is a little courageous; he says, ”I do not know yet.” He leaves the question without
any definite answer. He is enquiring, he is searching.
From my very childhood I have been continuously questioning knowledgeable people. My house
was a guest house of many Jaina saints, Hindu monks, Sufi mystics, because my grandfather was
interested in all of these people. But he was not a follower of anybody. He, rather, enjoyed me
bothering these saints.
Once I asked him, ”Are you really interested in these people? You invite them to stay in the house
and then you tell me to harass them. In what are you really interested?”
He said, ”To tell you the truth I enjoy their being harassed, because these guys go on pretending that
they know – and they know nothing. But anywhere else it would be difficult to harass them because
people would stop you. People would tell me, ‘Your grandson is a nuisance here – take him away.’
So I invite them, and then in our own house you can do whatever you want. And you have all my
support: you can ask any questions you want.”
And I enquired of these people, just simple questions: ”Be true and just simply tell me, do you
know God? Is it your own experience or have you just heard? You are learned, you can quote
scriptures, but I am not asking about scriptures: I am asking about you. Can you quote yourself,
your experience?”
And I was surprised that not a single man had any experience of God, or of himself. And these
were great saints in India, worshiped by thousands of people. They were deceiving themselves and
they were deceiving thousands of others. That’s why I say that knowledge has done much harm.
Ignorance has done no harm.
Ignorance is innocent. Knowledge is cunning.
Knowing is far beyond both.
Knowing has the innocence of ignorance and the knowing of knowledge, both together. It is innocent
knowing.
And knowing is authentically yours.
Unless any knowledge is yours, it is better not to have such ideas of having perfect knowledge.
Do you understand, when you use words like ”perfect”? Is there anything in life perfect?
The moment anything is perfect, it is dead.
Life is continuous imperfection.
Yes, it is moving towards perfection – but always moving and never arriving. That’s the whole stance
of evolution, that it goes on evolving higher and higher but there is no point where it can say, ”Now
the journey is finished.” The book of life has no beginning and no end. It is a continuum; infinite
continuity.
Never use words like ”perfect”. Everything is imperfect here, has to be – except idiots like pope the
polack. These are perfect people, infallible. Only idiots can claim infallibility. The wise ones will say,
”Perhaps it is so. I do not know absolutely. Yes, I have glimpses. There are moments of clarity; there
are times it seems, ‘Yes! This is it!’ but there is no full stop anywhere.”
If you ask me how many times I have said, ”This is it!” and the next day, something bigger .... And
I think, ”My God! So this is it!” But slowly slowly, when it was happening more and more, more and
more, bigger and bigger, I dropped the idea of saying, ”This is it!”
This is always becoming it, but there is no full stop. It is never perfect.
Knowing is a process.
Knowledge is a dead thing, with a full stop.
You don’t know, and it will be of immense help to you to know that you don’t know, because from
there a true journey can start. Your question gives enough evidence of ignorance because you say,
”By understanding and then dropping it.” Alas, after understanding there is nothing to drop. You will
be at a loss.
Before understanding there is so much to drop, but you cannot drop it.
After understanding, when you can drop it, there is nothing to drop.
These are the mysteries of life, real mysteries of life – tremendously enjoyable.
