What is it
‘that’ I am talking about? It is ‘that’ after knowing which you know
everything; it is ‘that’ after hearing which you have heard all; it is that
after understanding which there is nothing more to understand.
That was
exactly the question young Swetaketu asked his father.
Swetaketu
had spent 12 years in his residential school, away from home, and had learnt
whatever was there to learn. But no teacher ever taught him ‘that’ which
apparently makes all other knowledge superfluous.
Swetaketu
was arrogant. He thought he knew everything. And this arrogance is what his
father wanted to eliminate by pointing to him that knowing the essence is more
important than knowing the details. If you know the essence, you know
everything; or else you know nothing. How is that?
This is a series of posts based on the well known
discussion in Chändogya Upanishad (part of Säma Veda, believed to have been
recorded more than 3000 years ago) regarding ultimate truths.
No comments:
Post a Comment