Wise Words
Joy Of The Path Of Knowledge
Chaitanya
Joy of the Path of Knowledge (This article is continuation of Quest and Tears: My Struggle https://gyanmarg.guru/ww/view.php?id=52995902&con=42685951 and Exploring Truth: The Truth Labyrinth https://gyanmarg.guru/ww/view.php?id=52995902&con=42685951) Only those who have wandered through darkness, whose hearts are broken by doubt, whose souls are tattered by struggle and suffering, can discover the deep, enduring bliss of realization and Joy. Anonymous Does knowledge brings joy? Before we explore the topic deeply, let us come to the common ground- what is joy? Definitely, it is absence of sorrow but it is not happiness either. It seems rung up the pleasure. Joy is deep, enduring, rooted. More often than not it is independent of external circumstances and we are not able to exactly find the source of that joy. It is acausal but it's there. If one is adamant for the reason, reason may appear very innocuous or small -a shared smile, a hope, a song, a dance or a thing of a beauty- sunrise, sunset or a quiet moment in a nature, a thing or idea of wonder or marvel engineering, mathematical, scientific or creative, perceiving or being part of an expression of love and act of kindness, or warmth touch of a mother (or her scolding!) . And what is knowledge? Knowledge is arrangement of experiences in memory in logical and consistent manner. A simple contemplation will reflect that's how the any knowledge is acquired.(1) if you are fortunate, you might have experienced this at some point in your life frantically searching for your keys, files, or glasses, mumbling, They were just here! yet unable to find them. For a while, you might even have convinced yourself that they were lost. With no other choice left, you kept searching in desperation and when you finally found them, a faint smile lit up your face. What a relief it was, even though the thing was never truly lost it had been just right there all along.Pure joy. The more we know, the more we are and the more we are, the more joy we experience. Ralph Waldo Emerson One late evening, an old watchman interrupted us a group of children lost in play and posed a question, a kathbaithiya.(2) A kathbaithiya is no ordinary riddle; it demands patience, a dance of trial and error, and the careful weaving of permutations and combinations that satisfy many conditions.While the others quickly returned to their games, I stayed back thinking, trying, and offering every possible answer that came to mind. The old man watched with quiet amusement as I grew restless, twisting in thought, determined to uncover the solution. When I finally answered correctly after an hour, I was overjoyed, while disbelief flickered in his eyes.Next, he asked a much tougher question, and this time it was his turn to be joyous, watching my restlessness and desperate attempts to solve it. I solved it two days later. From then on, it became our quiet ritual a game of fun, teasing, and joy.I solved a few; many remained unsolved. Yet, the experience gave me a tool, a process an idea of what could be the probable path to finding answers to the fundamental or existential questions of life. The joy of knowing is the beginning of freedom. Socrates Life moved on growing and fading, carrying its share of sorrows and joys, of more bitter and some sweet experiences, of pleasant surprises and sudden shocks. And yet, beneath the flow of days, the old questions kept simmering. When life grinds you down and takes away what you cherish or care for, it often leaves you stronger and perhaps a little wiser if you are willing to receive what it truly offers in that moment: the quiet lessons of life. Even when life crushes you, it whispers live. Atticus I found my solace and joy in learning in exploring standard subjects, stories, and random questions with depth and curiosity. Later, when things seemed to be settling and I stood at the edge of youth, I resolved to pursue those questions with full concentration for a few days. But that focused attempt met the same fate as any efforts would without a Guru it ended in quiet disaster. By grace alone, I survived though not unscathed but never to tell the tale. It was, perhaps, a gentle signal to wait. We are drawn to lifes sweetness even as it wounds us for somewhere in its pain, we sense the pulse of eternity. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj Then life happened. My belief grew stronger that finding true answers is rare and that it might take a Himalayan master to unravel such seemingly simple questions. Yet I kept learning through my own mistakes and the mistakes of others, through setbacks and diversifying my interests, testing the hot waters of incremental toughness and applying the PARCOS method.(3)* When life tests you, drains you, and exhausts you casting you into the shadow of darkness and despair yet you still pause to reflect on the deeper questions of existence, you never return empty-handed. Life kept giving me those chances so often that I began to question even the fleeting moments of happiness. My hands were still not full; many questions remained unanswered. Yet I enjoyed their company they often spark long, engaging conversations with interesting people.By sheer fortune, one such conversation led me to Bodhi Varta. Browsing through the channel, I carefully chose one video. I was instantly struck by its simplicity, by the clarity of thought, and by the mesmerizing tone of the speaker let us call it The Voice. There was an immediate recognition: this was what I had been searching for. Yet there was one point that did not seem logical or consistent with my own experience but fortunately, it remained only one (4).My usual exploration soon led me to the Path of Knowledge series. I listened to Lesson One and was stunned by its clarity and simplicity. One does not need to go beyond Lesson One if one contemplates deeply enough, it is sufficient. It is whole and complete. I was grateful that curiosity had the better of me, for from that moment onward it felt like opening a small box of chocolates. (5) I felt- I was at home, relaxed, and before me lay a feast of understanding. If one is very hungry and gulps the food, one ends up eating much less than one could have, and leaves the table unsatisfied. So one needs a strategy to finish a twelve-course meal that goes beyond mere appetite.(6)so, I weaved mine I chose to follow the program in English even though my mother tongue is Hindi because Certain words and concepts, we use so casually in our daily speech, often carry layers of assumption. The English videos were divided into more topics perfectly suiting my divide-and-rule approach to mastering anything.(4)* moreover, they were also shorter and crisper. I decided not to attend the satsangs either, drawing inspiration from my old habit of wrestling with mathematical problems alone before reaching out to a teacher for guidance. This way of learning may take longer, but the understanding it brings stays for a lifetime. One learns best when alone or in the presence of the Masters. Whenever I had a little free time amidst the grinding schedule of work, I would first check whether my mind was neutral or receptive. Then I would compartmentalize my mind and listen to the lessons, focusing entirely on understanding what was being conveyed by The Voice. It was like a common Indian man squeezing the last bit of toothpaste from a nearly empty tube and, more often than not, funnily, you discover there is just enough, enough to sustain the day. Still, I approached the lessons as a true skeptic, searching for flaws in arguments, premises, or propositions. Like a jeweller examining a rare gem for cracks, or a chess grandmaster anticipating every weak move of a novice, I dissected each lesson. And yet, time and again, I finished in awe marvelling at the intricate web of reasoning, the elegance through which the unsaid was spoken. Listening was profoundly cathartic; mental strain, physical fatigue, all seemed to melt away. I would listen multiple times to my hearts content before taking pen and paper to prepare elaborate notes. The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end you dont come to an achievement, you come to an understanding. Jiddu Krishnamurti The true magic began after Lesson Ten. There were so many Ohh, Ahh, Wow moments of astonishment. Often ruing myself why did I not think in such a systematic way such as why did I never contemplated what am I? instead of who am I?. Listening was so meditative and contemplative that Often, I could sense what was about to be said next. The pinnacle of it was hearing myself simultaneously saying the words: When I see the red, I become the red. I clapped, laughed, and jumped with joy, as if I had cracked the code of a hidden treasure trove. When knowledge transforms into understanding, the heart rejoices. Lao Tzu The lessons were decluttering my mind; serenity quietly took over. Something was shifting within like the tectonic movements of the Earths layers memories rearranging, understanding deepening. I did not resist.When I completed the lessons on dreams and sleep, the last walls of resistance crumbled. A disciple was born. I received a hint of possible answers to my unresolved questions about experiences in dreams and sleep, which had emerged from months of organic, gradual, automatic exploration of sleep and dream over 1011 months in recent past. The pearls of wisdom, previously scattered, now strung together into a necklace; the beauty of the parts became the beauty of the whole. It all made sense. Perhaps it is the simplicity of this knowledge that makes it so elusive. So overwhelming, so undeniable, that I had no choice but to go back and savor the lessons again. My heart overflowed with gratitude and pure joy. The Voice often asked, What is mind-blowing, if it is not? And each time, my answer was a resounding yes. I felt like a boxer knocked down repeatedly, yet rising each time with a smile. For the first time in my life, losing was fun and joyous. I was lost. Joy is the natural companion of truth wherever knowledge of truth dawns, joy follows. Jiddu Krishnamurti for me ,These lessons were like the love song of a new lover. These lessons felt like the grace of a lifetime and the grace of Gurus. So, how could I not present myself with patience and unwavering sincerity while listening. I repeated the below lines innumerable times, attempting to match pace and tone of the Voice Existence is empty presence that appears to be moving, evolving, and changing in countless varieties of experiences. It is the Unfolding that is conscious. It is one. Right here. Right now. What else is there to know? Gratitude. Love. Peace. Only those who have wandered through darkness, whose hearts are broken by doubt, whose souls are tattered by struggle and suffering, can discover the deep, enduring bliss of realization and Joy. Anonymous ......................................................................................................................................................................................... For any errors, feedback and suggestions on this article or past articles and suggestions for the next article Please mail chaitanya.seeker@gmail.com ................................................................................................... 1. Knowledge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXCl6HWeJRk&list=PLB-JSAbBz5B55KOYv9QFKc46zkYhSeT0W&index=4 2. कठबैठिया / kathbathiya is very similar to the question posed at the end of the article The Art of Questioning https://gyanmarg.guru/ww/view.php?id=52995902&con=35436809 3.Exploring Truth: The Truth Labyrinth https://gyanmarg.guru/ww/view.php?id=52995902&con=42685951) 4. more on this later in detail. 5. "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get,"- Forrest Gump 6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22609070/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment? https://cookinggods.com/how-to-create-a-multi-course-tasting-menu-a-universal-guide/? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3807591/?
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