Ever since man set foot on Earth, he has nourished an insatiable desire, an unquenchable thirst, for knowledge - of himself, his surroundings, objects around him, and an entire universe. Knowledge is primarily of 2 kinds according to the Indian philosophy, namely - Para Vidya (higher knowledge), & Apara Vidya (lower knowledge). Without getting into the technical details or the reasons behind such classification, to put it simply, Apara Vidya is the knowledge of worldly objects, & hence regarded lower in nature; Para Vidya is the knowledge of the Supreme Being or Self, gaining which, a person attains contentment, peace, & omniscience. Is it right to regard knowledge as higher or lower? Perhaps not. Knowledge in my opinion has to be regarded in totality. Para or Apara, both are important and necessary, & fulfill their own objectives. In my experience, relentless pursuit of excellence in seeking Apara Vidya eventually leads the seeker toward Para Vidya. Having said that, one reason why they could've been classified thus could be from the standpoint of "inner contentment", which is difficult to explain about. Whereas Apara Vidya is endless and there has perhaps been no one person in time who has ever been able to command knowledge of the entire gamut of Apara Vidya, it is not the case with Para Vidya. There have been many men who have experienced the true philosophical intent and essence of Para Vidya. Some of these men have gone on to command faiths, & there are many many men who have experienced It & just been. The fundamental question with which a seeker usually comes to seek Para Vidya is – WHAT IS IT, KNOWING WHICH, ALL THAT IS TO BE KNOWN IN THE UNIVERSE IS REALIZED?
In India, the importance given to knowledge is simply unparalleled. In fact, the Mother Goddess Saraswati represents the entire gamut of knowledge or Jnana. When we pray to Mother Saraswati, we seek her blessings, her guidance, in seeking the right knowledge & to eventually acquire that right knowledge. In my personal experience, Mother Saraswati represents both Para & Apara Vidya, & She steadily guides Her disciples toward seeking that knowledge which gives contentment & peace in life, which in my opinion is supreme in man's life. There are thousands of sayings in Sanskrit highlighting the importance of knowledge in man's life. One of the most widely known sayings goes something like this - Vidyaa viheenah pashubhih samaanaha. What this means is - a man without knowledge is equivalent to an animal. Well, in the 21st century, we are heralding the dawn of what is made out to be "knowledge economy". I am clueless why it has to be so only in this century, or so has been made out to be? Since times immemorial, in India, we have placed enormous importance on acquiring knowledge. In fact, in our Varnaashrama system, during the Brahmacharya stage, young boys used to spend 12 - 14 years under the aegis of learned Guru, learning skills to support themselves and their families' livelihood & parallely, they used to also seek that knowledge which would bless them with contentment and peace in life. During these 12 - 14 years, the Guru not only imparted knowledge of worldly affairs which enabled the young disciples to seek and earn wealth and other material gratification, but, he’d also have made the students clearly understand and to seek the supreme goal in life; this supreme goal the Guru taught his young disciples, is to attain contentment and peace in life. The Guru also used to teach the students the 4 Purushaarthas in the life of every man – DHARMA, ARTHA, KAAMA, & MOKSHA. By imparting the knowledge of the 4 Purushaarthas, the Guru used to mould characters of the young disciples. It is important to observe & appreciate that the latter 3 Purushaarthas are based on the strong foundation of DHARMA – RIGHTEOUSNESS. At a very broad level, DHARMA MEANS RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THOUGHT, SPEECH, & ACTION. DHARMA ALSO MEANS TRUTH; for, TRUTH ALONE IS RIGHTEOUSNESS. DHARMA IS ALSO USED TO MEAN DUTY; for, DOING ONE’S DUTY IS RIGHTEOUSNESS. The primary intent of the Gurukula system was "CHARACTER BUILDING" by imparting the knowledge of both Para and Apara Vidya. Essentially, the Gurukula system imparted that kind of education, which Swami Vivekananda very beautifully put in his words - We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet. In the present times, it is highly debatable how much importance we place upon character formation; for, in the 21st century, everything depends on 'economic cost'. Unfortunately, policy makers and educationists alike do not seem to realize that life of a human being is infinitely more precious than just the economic cost.
Coming back to the subject of this article, what is it so fundamental in man, in his mind, in his intellect, in his being, that makes him "seek"? I am not sure how convincing I can be about answering this question, but let me make an honest attempt here. Firstly, it is important to note that by nature, man has been inquisitive. This is so starkly evident from the simple fact that most children are so inquisitive that, quite often, we elders are left speechless about how and what to answer to the seemingly innocent, but profound questions. It is a matter of another subject altogether that during the course of education, we ruthlessly kill that inherent inquisitiveness in children.
Coming back to the subject of this article, what is it so fundamental in man, in his mind, in his intellect, in his being, that makes him "seek"? I am not sure how convincing I can be about answering this question, but let me make an honest attempt here. Firstly, it is important to note that by nature, man has been inquisitive. This is so starkly evident from the simple fact that most children are so inquisitive that, quite often, we elders are left speechless about how and what to answer to the seemingly innocent, but profound questions. It is a matter of another subject altogether that during the course of education, we ruthlessly kill that inherent inquisitiveness in children.
Since times immemorial, man has been endeavoring to make his life more and more simple, easy, pleasurable, comfortable, & so on. In pursuit of making life easy, comfortable, etc., and in the course of this relentless, endless endeavor, perhaps were sown the first seeds of what I'd like to call - THE MOTIVATION TO SEEK. While seeking pleasure, comfort, etc., man began experimenting with how best he could gainfully employ objects around him to make his life simple & comfortable. In doing so, he began expanding the horizon of his inherent inquisitiveness. Therein man took the first steps toward the most exciting journey in his life - THE JOURNEY TO SEEK KNOWLEDGE. In the course of making his life simple & comfortable, man began seeking objective knowledge (Apara Vidya). The entire gamut of objective knowledge falls under Apara Vidya.
While discussing about objective knowledge, it is also important to consider the motivation behind seeking objective knowledge. Basically, senses are the means of acquiring objective knowledge. The fundamental premise of seeking objective knowledge is - here is the seeker who is a person, & then there are objects external to the person, about which the seeker has to acquire knowledge. Thus, in order to acquire knowledge of the external objects, the seeker has to direct his senses, mind, & other necessary faculties on the external object. Subsequently, he gathers information about the object, processes it internally in his mind using logic, reason, etc., and finally arrives at knowledge about the object based on the deductions made by applying his intelligence. Therefore, the means of acquiring objective knowledge is “outside – in”, that is, gather necessary information about the object from outside (the objective world), process that information internally (within the mind and intelligence of the seeker seeking objective knowledge), & make conclusions about the object sought, & hence acquire knowledge about the object.
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