Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
18 September 2019
Trust (3)
“Certainty”
Is there a trustworthy man, priest or saint? Could a saint be free of thoughts? What could ‘to be free of thoughts’ really mean? Man just cannot be free of thoughts so long as he is in the waking state.
Duality is the spice of mental life and words are the illusory manifestation of sound. Therefore, as long as sound is present, words and their illusory meaning will be present too and there is no escape.
Man can only be free of the meaning of thoughts. The only way he could be free of the meaning of thoughts would be to realise that the meaning of every word is illusory and not real.
How nice it would be to see parents trust their children. If parents do not trust their children, who else could or would? How nice it would be to see the husband trust his wife and, likewise, the wife her husband?
How nice it would be to see man trust man, irrespective of nationality, religion, culture, ethnicity, traditions, colour of his skin etc. Would that be possible or not? It just cannot be possible as an act on the part of man, but only through deep understanding that man is part of nature as nature itself.
Truth can be known in the world of relativity as knowledge. Truth can also be known in the world of relativity as Wisdom. Anything known can only be relative and never absolute.
If mental life is relative, can the relative be trusted? The relative as wisdom can be trusted. So, the question of whom to trust remains unanswered and needs to be answered - the answer is the man with wisdom can be trusted because wisdom is irrefutable.
Wisdom reveals that sound is in every moment of life. Wisdom reveals that only particular sounds appear as illusory words in the human mind in a particular moment.
Wisdom reveals that only the sound that is present in a particular moment can be present and no other sound can be present beside the sound which is present in a particular moment.
Wisdom reveals that the sound in any particular moment is neither made by man nor woman. Wisdom reveals that the sound in any moment is manifested by the intelligence in the moment.
Wisdom reveals that sound as an illusory word in a particular moment cannot be another illusory word beside the illusory word that is present in any particular moment.
Wisdom reveals that the meaning of any word in any moment is either as knowledge or as wisdom. Wisdom reveals that the meaning of any word either as knowledge or as wisdom depends on superficial or deep understanding of the word.
Wisdom reveals that understanding is a function of intellect and neither man nor woman controls his or her intellect. Wisdom reveals that intellect imparts either knowledge or wisdom to words.
Wisdom reveals the truth as wisdom is irrefutable and truth as knowledge is refutable. Wisdom reveals that man with wisdom can be trusted.
The enlightened trust every man either with knowledge or with wisdom.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2019
Editor’s Note:
‘I do solemnly swear that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’ Such is the oath traditionally given by a witness in a court of law. To speak the truth has been regarded, throughout the ages, as the essence in maintaining constructive, human relationships. Few would deny its importance. In knowledge, affirmation of man’s respect for truth is made through speech, the utterance of words. In wisdom, however, words are revealed in this article to be the illusory manifestation of sound. Understanding this is the dawning of trust.
Julian Capper, UK
German Translator‘s Note:
That every truth in knowledge is relative and not absolute is rarely considered in everyday communication. Most people say "That's it!" instead of "In my opinion..." The human mind is conditioned to take relative truth to be absolute, there is no mistake. Wisdom, because it is irrefutable, has nothing to do with personal opinion. Trust based on knowledge, as Dr. Shankar reveals here, can tip over to mistrust, whereas the wise remain reliable because one can trust the wisdom shared through them by life.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.