Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
12th May 2018
Learn 3
“Without”
“Without making mistakes, there won't be lessons learned. Without getting hurt, there won't be knowledge gained. The only way we grow is by learning from the past. Always be willing to learn and grow daily. It is how we come to know who we are and what we are made of.” – Learning from the past quotes.
The value of this quote refers to knowledge that is to be learnt from the past and could be learnt from the past. For every man and woman with reason and logic the quote appears valid.
But to a wise man or woman with deep reason and logic, the quote, by reason and logic that knowledge that is learnt from the past and could be learnt from the past, is illusory and not real.
It is illusory and not real because, firstly, knowledge is known in the moment, which implies that knowledge is learnt in the moment as well. It further implies that, since the knowledge that is learnt and known in the moment is in the past and not in present, it makes the knowledge that is learnt illusory and not real.
If the knowledge that is learnt in the present moment is in the past moment, it signifies that knowledge that is known in the present moment is illusory and not real.
Secondly, if the knowledge is learnt in the past moment, it will remain only in the past moment and cannot be in the present moment. This is because the past moment does not become the present moment; only the present moment becomes the past moment.
Thirdly, if you learn in the past moment, the learnt knowledge in the mind will only be in the past moment and not in the present moment. But you need to have the learnt knowledge in the present moment, which implies that the knowledge had in the present moment is illusory and not real.
The quote further states “The only way we grow is by learning from the past. Always be willing to learn and grow daily. It is how we come to know who we are and what we are made of.”
This signifies that the growth of knowledge known in the present is illusory and not real and, therefore, one should be willing to learn illusory language. Also that who we come to know we are and what we are made of is illusory and not who we really are.
The enlightened have rightly proclaimed that the known is illusory and not real and that we should enquire who or what we really are.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
©Copyright V. S. Shankar 2018
Editor’s Note:
The illusory and the real; who we know we are and who we really are. The knowing and the enquiring. The known, for which we have a high regard, and the unknowable. As the revelations of the enlightened are made plain through the wisdom of Dr Shankar in these articles, so does our understanding mature and deepen. The journey of our life transforms, accompanied by such gratitude.
Julian Capper, UK.
German Translator’s Note:
Knowledge is taken for granted. The only thing that interests modern man in everyday life, in science and in religion, is whether it is true or false, right or wrong. Hence the contradiction or the approval as soon as knowledge is expressed. The sages deeply question knowledge: they ask whether knowledge is real or illusionary. The question of whether the knowledge is right or wrong does not thereby lose its value, but it is relativized by the insight into what is the real value in life and what illusionary values.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.