“To know that you do not know is the best. To think you know when you do not is a disease. Recognizing this disease as a disease is to be free of it.”- Lao Tzu
Kabir – The
couplet
ज्ञान सम्पूर्ण न भिड़ा, ह्रिदय नाहि जुड़ाय |
देखा-देखि भक्ति का, रंग नहीं ठहराय ||
Transliterated:
Gyan Sampuran na bhida, hriday naahi juDaai |
Dekha-dekhi bhakti ka, rang nahi Teheraay ||
Translation:
When knowledge acquired is not assimilated fully, it does not embed in the mind/heart
|
Devotion learnt this way, will not have any real effect on the person/soul ||
My understanding:
Through time immemorial, man has frequently committed the error of presuming that reading once has made him a master of the subject. Teachers have compounded this by grading the student as “knowledge-able” on receiving proof that the student can regurgitate the learning, sans understanding of the underlying thought.
To read once is to get introduced. To be taught by a teacher is to be given an overview of the underlying data. To review is to ensure that this knowledge is appropriately stored by the mind. But it requires repeated application and mergence with other knowledge for the knowledge to begin the journey to true wisdom.
True wisdom begins to emerge when we recognize the gap between our knowledge and the ocean of wisdom that so very greatly overwhelms this little pool of knowledge. Knowledge of the gap allows us to discard false pretenses and open ourselves to the true acquisition of understanding – which is when we step into the world of the wise!