In this deep dive, UG unravels the knotty issue of our stubborn craving for knowledge, especially of the spiritual kind.
There is the feverish drive in all of us to know more and
more, we want answers for ‘who am I?’, ‘what is life, soul, consciousness?’,
‘is there life after death? what is God?’ and so on.
The tyranny of knowledge lies in its unsatiated,
monstrous appetite.
People are desperate for answers of various kinds. Many
feel empty, miserable, pathetic in life and seek answers or solutions for ‘problems
of life and existence’.
And there are many more who enjoy a steady source of
income, a decent bank balance, enough social security, or insurance. At some
point they too feel bored and ‘turn spiritual’ and begin to seek answers for questions,
“Is that all that there is to life? What
next?” - UG
These are the 'made-up problems' of the well-fed. They
chase after some form of spiritual excitement, engagement, or entertainment to tide
over their emptiness or boredom.
****
Questions are born of answers
All topical questions on life, God etc. look alike. But the context, content, intent, interest, and intensity of inquiry varies vastly from individual to individual.
Every inquiry is unique based on one’s cultural
background and individual journey of life.
The fact is many of our questions are triggered off by
what others have said or written. UG spotlights this irony in his remarkable
observation,
“All your questions are born out of (other’s)
answers” - UG
Though each of us carry unique questions, as we begin to dig
deeper, we stumble into answers or solutions given by others. All too often, these
‘borrowed answers’ fall short, and fail to address the real issue behind our burning
problems.
Cure, sometimes, is worse than the disease. And incomplete
or incompatible answers by others could cause havoc in our lives, raising more dust
and doubt, triggering off an avalanche of new questions, completely muddying
the waters.
Not getting the right answer or solution, or far worse,
getting stuck with a wrong solution, could easily push us into the quagmire of desperation,
despondence, and delusion.
Also, there is the clear danger of walking into a trap of
relationship with some self-serving guru or conman selling some cheap solution.
Once we are in, it is never going to be easy to wriggle out of such exploitative
relationships.
****
What & How
UG says that all our inquiry revolves around two
fundamental questions of ‘what’ and ‘how’?
“So, ‘what do you want (in
life)?’
And then, how you can get what you want? “-
UG
UG delivered a ‘knockout punch’ to all wobblers and shallow-minded
questioners with this single most important counter-question,
“What is it that you want? What is that
single thing that you want in your life?” - UG
At any given time, we are all chasing a dozen different
goals. We lack clarity and our priorities are utterly skewed.
“The problem with you is that you want ‘this’, ‘that’
and the ‘other’.
But, if you really know what you want, there
is no way you can’t get it!” - UG
None of us seem to really know what we want in our life;
we simply indulge in ‘window shopping’ or ‘guru hopping’ in the bylanes of the spiritual
bazaar because we have nothing else to do and nowhere to go.
Many of us squander our whole lives without knowing what we really want. With the simple ‘what’ question, UG makes us stop in our tracks and reflect on this serious screwup on our part , to grow up and act more firmly and responsibly.
Apart from the ‘what’ question, UG also points to the dangers of yet another rogue question, the ‘how’,
“The trickiest of all questions is the ‘how’?
As long as you are looking for ‘how’, so long
you are doomed…you know.
So, how to live? That’s the thing bothering
people for centuries, so every religion, every teacher says, ‘This is how you
should live”. So how can I be free of that? That’s the one question that
transforms into millions and millions of questions, that’s all” - UG
Like greed for money, the greed for knowledge is endless.
And the ‘how’ is a handy tool, the ‘master key’ to unlock the floodgates of
knowledge.
Whenever we seek any answer or solution, we inevitably
invoke the ‘how’ to tap into the vast reservoir of knowledge. The ‘how’ triggers
the ‘movement of knowledge’ or the ‘continuity of knowledge’,
The 'how' feeding the 'you'
“What you call the ‘you’ is the ‘continuity
of that knowledge’ that is put in there. “- UG
This ‘movement of knowledge’ is essentially the process
of ‘thinking’. UG avers that as long as there is the ‘movement of knowledge’ (or
as long as there is thinking), so long there is the illusion of the ‘you’ or the
‘self’ or the ‘thinker’.
Tom and Jerry spring to life only in movement or animation. Else
they are mere drawings on paper.
The still images or drawings, rolling at twenty-four
frames per second create the illusion of the ‘motion picture’.
“So, if that (movement of knowledge) is not
there, ‘you’ are coming to an end, what you call ‘yourself’, that ‘you’, is
coming to an end.
So, you do not want to come to an end. You
want that ‘you’ to be transformed, changed into something else, into a loving
(being), and you want to function on a different level, or different dimension
but you do not want ‘that’ to come to an end.
You see the only way that it (the
‘you’) can maintain its continuity is through this constant demand for
knowing more and more and more.
The only way it can add more and more to that
knowledge is by asking this question, ‘how?’ “- UG
****
The past and its tyranny
The intellect is rooted in the ‘past’ which is the sum
and substance of all ‘knowledge and experience’.
Any attempt to deal with spiritual or psychological problems, all rooted in the past, with the help of intellect that is a product of the past, is an utterly flawed exercise.
Therefore, we are all stuck and there is no way out.
“Even if you (want to) suppress your wants,
the ‘past’ has to come to your help, and tell you, ‘How to suppress your
wants’.
If you try to suppress that past, and try to
be in the present, it will drive you crazy. You will flip.
Because you are trying to control something
you see which you cannot control, you have no control over that, it a has
tremendous momentum, it is not your past of thirty or forty years, but the past
of the entire existence of every human being and other forms of life too.[1]
If you try to suppress that past, and try to
be ‘in the present’, it will drive you crazy. You will flip.
See, it is part of your past, you know, it’s
not such an easy thing and you have no way of controlling that at all.” – UG.
UG warns us not to use any force or restraint or control over
thoughts as all such attempts are wrought with serious psychological and
pathological consequences (‘you will flip’).
“So, if you try to control or stop the flow
of a river through all these artificial means like putting a dam, and all that,
then it will inundate the whole thing.
That’s why every time you control your
thoughts, to watch your thoughts, to observe your thoughts, to be aware of your
thoughts, you find that the thoughts are welling there all the time.” - UG
Controlling ‘thought’ with the help of ‘thought’ will
multiply ‘thought’ making the problem much worse. It is like pouring gasoline over
the fire to quench fire.
“Problems created by thought can never be
solved by thought.” - UG
All our ‘problems of living’ including the day-to-day problems
of love, resentment, hatred, jealousy, greed, fear (of the past or future), anger ( not getting what we want) etc. belong to the domain of
thought and cannot be resolved by any technique using thought or thinking.
UG raises a red flag warning us against all attempts at ‘thought
control’ to attain a ‘thoughtless state’ by giving us a glimpse of his
own state,
‘This state’ is not in your interest. You are only interested in
continuity. You want to continue, probably on a different level, and to
function in a different dimension, but you want to continue somehow.
You wouldn't touch this with a barge pole. This is going to liquidate
what you call "you," all of you - higher self, lower self, soul,
Atman, conscious, subconscious - all of that.
(The
Mystique of Enlightenment)
****
World Mind (or Thought-o-sphere)
Like our biological past, inherited from other forms of
life, our psychological ‘past’ too is the contribution of countless humans who
have journeyed across the planet from time immemorial.
UG calls the collective past as the ‘world mind’ and refers
to it in many of his talks. The ‘world mind’ or the ‘thought-o-sphere’ (rhyming with stratosphere) surrounds us on all sides like the air we breathe.
Every thought, every word from every individual, every
speaker, ideologue, writer, poet, inventor, leader, saint, or sage from
millennia is lodged into the ‘collective consciousness’.
Whenever there is a demand, the intellect taps into the collective
past and siphons off huge chunks of knowledge from the ‘world mind’.
UG denounced thought as our enemy for a reason. Perverted thought acting out as an idea, ideology, strategy, plan or intent has immense potential for large scale death and destruction. The multitude of factions, movements, conflicts, clashes and wars we see in the world were set into motion by some perverted thought or idea or ideology.
Nevertheless, UG highlights the benign role of thought in our day-to-day life, in the social or transactional
world.
Without the help of thought or social conditioning, it is
impossible to function ‘sanely and intelligently’ in this complex, complicated,
conflict-ridden social world,
“That’s the purpose of thought, you see! To
help, to keep this organism going, so it (thought) is bound to be there,
whether you like it or not.” – UG
****
The last word - taking care of basic needs
Assuming that we decide to let go of all wants so as to lead
a conflict-free and peaceful life, there is still no way we can avoid the
physical needs of food, clothing and shelter. They remain a concern.
“If you don’t want a thing, you (still) have
to want to take care of physical needs (basic necessities of life), if you
don’t do that, it’s a perverse way of living.” - UG
To ignore basic needs of life is to be socially
irresponsible. We become a burden or liability to others. It is a perverse way
of living.
UG decried all manipulative, self-serving gurus as
freeloaders who exploit the gullible to enjoy an opulent lifestyle.
UG walked the talk, remained fiercely independent till
the very end,
“I will dig trenches, if I have to.”
He abhorred any idea of dependence on others. His credo for
life was,
“Uncomplaining, uncompromising
self-reliance.”
****
Transcription of the audio clip:
The ‘past’ will always be there as long as you want something. Even if you (want to) suppress your wants (or to do anything with motive or purpose), the past has to come to your help, and tell you, ‘How to suppress your wants’.
So, if you differentiate the wants, as they do in India,
as the spiritual wants as highly desirable, the be all and end all of
your existence, and that want (spiritual) is no different from any other want.
But in that particular (Indian) culture, the emphasis is
laid on the spiritual wants as the most desirable wants in contradistinction to
all the other wants.
So, that ‘past’ is bound to be there as long as you want, doesn’t matter what you want.
So, if you don’t want a thing in this world, it (the past or the thought) is not there.
Whether it’s there or not is of no importance, you see.
Because you have no way of finding out whether it is there or not, then if you say,
‘it is there, it isn’t there’, that means you have to necessarily to use the
past, (even) to find out ‘if it is there or not?’ It is not the question at
all.
The situation is very clear. If you don’t want a thing, you (still) have to want to take care of (basic necessities or) physical needs, if you don’t do that, it’s a perverse way of living. Sure, so you have to draw a line, what your needs are?
My needs are not quite different from your needs, so I can’t dictate that these needs should be everybody’s. So, that’s not it. So, that ‘want’ (basic necessities) is essential whether you like it or not, it is there! That’s the purpose of thought, you see.
To help, to keep this organism going, (so) it (want) is bound to be there, whether you like it or not.
So, that (the past or thought) cannot be used for any other purpose other than that, (the past cannot be used, say, for) understanding yourself, reaching your spiritual goals, and all that sort of a thing.
So, how not to be without wants?
The most...trickiest of all
questions is the ‘how’?
As long as you are looking for ‘how’, so long
you are doomed…you know.
So, how to live? That’s the thing bothering
people for centuries, so every religion, every teacher says, ‘This is how you
should live”. So how can I be free from of that? That’s the one question that
transforms into millions and millions of questions, that’s all!
So, ‘what do you want?’ And then ‘how you can get what you want?’ It is very simple thing.
If you try to suppress that past, and try to be in the present, it will drive you crazy. You will flip.
Because you are trying to control something
you see which you cannot control, you have no control over that, it a has
tremendous momentum, it is not your past of thirty or forty years, but the past
of the entire existence of every human being and other forms of life too, see
its part of your past, you know, it’s not such an easy thing and you have no
way of controlling that at all.
So, if you try to control or stop the flow of
a river through all these artificial means like putting a dam and all that, then
it will inundate the whole thing.
That’s why every time you try to control your
thoughts, to watch your thoughts, to observe your thoughts, to be aware of your
thoughts, you find that the thoughts are welling there all the time.
When you are not concerned about that (thought), whether it is there or not, it’s not important to you. It(thought) is there when there is a need for it, and not there when there is no need for it.
If it is there or not, you have no way of knowing it. But
you are constantly using it. So, that, you see, you can maintain the
continuity, that’s ‘you’. There is nothing there other than ‘that’.
What you call ‘you’ is the ‘continuity of that knowledge’ that is put in there.
So, if that is not there, ‘you’ are coming to
an end, what you call ‘yourself’, that ‘you’ is coming to an end. So, you do
not want to come to an end. You want that ‘you’ to be transformed, changed into
something else, into loving (being), and you want to function on a different level, or
different dimension but you do not want that to come to an end.
You see the only way that it (you) can
maintain its continuity is through this constant demand for knowing more and
more and more. The only way it can add more and more to that knowledge is by
asking this question, ‘how?’
[1] Science
corroborates this crucial fact.
There is nothing unique about human biology that is millions
of years old. Its primal building block is the gene. The gene has its origins
in the likes of bacteria, viruses or other single-cell organisms.
“You're not completely human, at least when it comes to the
genetic material inside your cells. You and everyone else may harbor as many as
145 genes that have jumped from bacteria, other single-celled organisms, and
viruses and made themselves at home in the human genome.”
(https://www.science.org/content/article/humans-may-harbor-more-100-genes-other-organisms))
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