Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
29 March 2019
Convince
“Understanding”
Man and woman try to convince each other if disagreement is evident and is consistently present regarding any issue in daily life. They try to convince, but may or may not be fruitful.
If either is convinced of what is socially accepted regarding any issue in daily life, harmony prevails in family, between friends and colleagues. If not, disharmony and more trying to convince prevails.
The trying to convince is not free of emotions. The try is accompanied with anger, heart-breaks and loss of friendship when the try to convince fails. Man and woman, nevertheless wish, desire and want to live in harmony every moment.
Man and woman with knowledge are convinced of their respective beliefs which are either agreed or disagreed and each agreed or disagreed belief is right and correct to them.
Man and woman with wisdom, however, are in harmony with anyone, irrespective of what they believe or do not believe. A wise man and woman do not convince anyone or try to convince anyone.
What is the wisdom of convince is the question?
Wisdom reveals that conviction of beliefs is a result of understanding and understanding is the inherent, characteristic feature of intellect. Wisdom reveals that man and woman have no control over their intellect.
Wisdom reveals that what man and woman are convinced of will not change unless understanding of the conviction changes. Understanding will change if it is meant to change because understanding is neither controlled nor can be practised.
Wisdom reveals that what is within any moment cannot be other than what is within the moment. This signifies that the understanding which is within the moment cannot be other than the understanding that is within the moment.
Thus, wisdom reveals that the conviction that is within the moment cannot be another conviction than the conviction which is within the moment of understanding. Wisdom reveals that man and woman cannot convince or even try to convince the other out of what man and woman are convinced of in any moment in life. Man and woman are convinced either of knowledge or of wisdom, which is due to the understanding that has evolved in the moment. Man and woman have no control either of intellect or of understanding.
The enlightened accept everyone as they are and do not convince anyone as to how they should be or are expected to be.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2019
Editor’s Note:
The saying - ‘a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still’ -describes a well-known condition amongst humans. Heads of states, heads of households, even heads amongst groups of children have convictions. Convictions are monuments of national and personal identity, made of adamantine material.
Thus, a man may become a convict as a prisoner of the public-state cell or as a prisoner of his private-mind cell. The time spent in either before his release is not in his control. In their compassion for man’s predicament, exercised almost every day of his or her life, the enlightened, both here and elsewhere, offer the gift of wisdom as the key out of the cell.
Julian Capper, UK
German Translator‘s Note:
According to human conviction, convictions are created by trying to convince others or oneself. The focus is on arguments that are weighed against each other. If one has a conviction, one must be able to justify it. If you observe closely, you can see that often the conviction was there first and then the arguments for it are delivered. How real could the conviction be in such a case, since it should be based on arguments? In this article, Dr. Shankar shows how convictions happen to humans. This explains the many contradictions man has in his mind regarding convictions in general and in particular. Wisdom thus explains the contradictions in the mind by revealing them as illusory.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.