A small story:
Four friends lived in a town. They spent a lot of time together. Three of them were very learned. The fourth was not as learned but he was wise.
One day, they decided to travel to other lands to exhibit their learning to men and earn money.
The fourth friend had nothing to boast of, but expressed his wish to accompany them.
The first friend said, 'You don't know much. If you accompany us, we will have to unnecessarily share our money with you.'
The second friend said, 'Yes, that is true. It is better you stay back.'
The third friend was more kind. He said, 'We grew up together all these years. It is not right to tell him to stay back. He should come along.'
So the four of them started their journey.
They passed through a dense forest. They saw many wild animals and experienced many exciting moments. Suddenly one day, they came across a heap of animal bones.
One of them said, 'I think this is a wonderful way to put our knowledge to test. Let us bring this animal back to life.'
The two other friends agreed, but the fourth one said, 'I feel these are the bones of a very big animal, so we should not attempt to do such things.'
The other three laughed at him and called him a coward. They said, 'If you had knowledge like we do, you will not feel so afraid of such things. Keep quiet and watch us.'
The three proceeded with the experiment.
One of them arranged the bones in a way that it looked like a proper animal.
Then he chanted some verses, sprinkled holy water on it and the bones suddenly took the shape of a skeleton. They were amazed by the power of their knowledge.
The second one came forward, chanted a few more verses and sprinkled more water on it. The skeleton suddenly got covered with muscles, flesh, blood and a coat of fur. It was a lion and lacked only life.
The friends were amazed at themselves.
The third friend came forward and said he would infuse life into it.
The fourth friend gave another warning but they laughed at him. He then slowly climbed up a tree and sat there watching.
The third friend waved life into the lion's body and the lion came to life.
With one roar, the lion advanced towards the three of them. They looked up to see where the fourth friend was. He was perched up on the tree watching the whole scene.
The lion made short work of them.
Knowledge is a tool. It doesn't directly lead to intelligence. It is just a tool. As long as we use it as a powerful tool where needed, it is good. It can do amazing things. The mistake we do is giving our whole lives to the hands of knowledge. On the other hand innocence leads directly to pure intelligence.
Innocence grasps dimensions that cleverness misses. Innocence may miss the facts but it catches the Truths. Cleverness is too busy with facts. When cleverness combines with innocence, it becomes a rare combination of intelligence and innocence. Setting aside knowledge for the sake of innocence is intelligence. I don't mean that you have to stop gathering knowledge. Just understand that knowledge cannot substitute innocence.
If you observe villagers who are not educated you will see that they exhibit pure intelligence! That is why you will find that when you are stuck, a villager effortlessly pitches in and helps you out! Innocent intelligence has that capacity.
Today all universities work on sharpening the intellectual faculty of the individual. They teach us how to make ourselves more useful to society and how to be productive or effective. There is nothing wrong in being productive and effective, but in the process we forget how to be innocent and receptive. We forget how to open up to the cosmos, to Existence. We forget how to move in synchronicity with the cosmos, how to make productivity happen in tune with the cosmic plan, which is the source of all productivity. This happens because we are caught in 'doing' and 'having', we forget the 'being'.
There are three important states: being, doing and having. Right now, we move from doing to having. We continuously 'do' things. We learn and we put the learning into useful action. We then 'have' what we want, whether it is money, relationships, comfort, and what not. Then we want to have better things or have more things and so we continue doing. We are all the time between doing and having. In the process, the being is forgotten. Our real restfulness lies only in the state of being. Because of this, however much we do and have, we still search for restfulness. This feeling is the 'call of the being'.
If we nurture the being and cause the doing to happen from the quality of the being, then we don't have to work so much for the having. That will simply happen as a byproduct. This is the secret of Existence. But this is not seen as a direct utility to society by the universities. That is the problem. But this is what gives the real utility of every individual, not only to society but to the whole of the cosmos. We should always be concerned about the Whole.
In the ancient Hindu universities like Takshila and Nalanda, the preparation of the students was always at the being level. Outer world learning happened as a natural consequence. Bharat has always focused on nurturing the innocence of the being because only that will lead to strength of the being. When there is strength of the being, anything can be achieved.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Yogananda beautifully describes the intent of spiritual learning. He says, there are trillions of cells in the body. Every cell is like an intelligent being. Every cell has the DNA substance in it which has the information and intelligence to grow a whole new body and brain. This dormant intelligence needs to be awakened so that the mind doesn't move towards suffering and remains in bliss.
He goes on to say that spiritual education magnetizes the cells by sending life current around the brain and spine, ensuring evolutionary advancement of the individual. With this divine magnetism, every cell becomes a brain alive and ready to grasp every bit of knowledge. With these awakened brains, the mental capacity of the individual multiplies multifold and all sorts of knowledge can be effortlessly comprehended! Such is the impact of spiritual learning.
Alexander, the emperor of Greece, had conquered three fourths of the world and traveled downward to Asia to conquer it. He settled down in the banks of the river Sindhu to conquer Bharat.
On the banks of the same river lived a hermit.
As Alexander and his army passed by, the hermit was meditating and did not stand up to salute him.
Alexander felt humiliated and shouted at him, 'How dare you do not salute me!' And he took out his sword to chop his head off.
The hermit looked at him and laughed.
Alexander was shocked. He asked, 'I am going to kill you and you are laughing?'
The hermit said, 'I wonder what you are trying to kill! I can never be killed. I am immortal, eternal and imperishable. Weapons cannot cut, fire cannot burn, water cannot wet, wind cannot dry up this soul.' He quoted from the Bhagavad Gita.
Alexander dropped the sword and saluted the hermit saying, 'Bharat has such great people who are fearless about death. I offer my salutations to this great country.' He retreated from the Hindu soil a wiser man.
The teachings of ancient universities created the possibility for supreme knowledge and confidence to flower in individuals, at the same time preserving their innocence. Then every student acquired the quality of a sage. A sage has the vast knowledge of the outer world and the utter innocence of the inner world.
A person may go on and on reading something here and there, and entertain himself. If his intention is just reading books it can be good entertainment, but not enlightenment. Entertainment is different from enlightenment. Just because he has been entertained by some good books, it doesn't mean that he is enlightened. The books which help you sharpen your logic give you the feeling that you know. There starts the problem.
One more thing: one cannot blame modernization for loss of innocence also. Lord Krishna says, 'I am Time.' When Krishna says that, you need to understand that modernization is also the divine play of Existence. Man should understand modernization in the right light and not take it as a replacement to the ancient foundation of growing.
Be vulnerable
When you are innocent, you are vulnerable to everything that Existence wants to teach you! If you are closed, you create a wall around you. The wall neither allows fresh breeze to touch your being nor does it allow you to step out and touch the cool breeze. Vulnerability is breaking the wall and inviting the cool breeze to touch your very being every time it blows.
Vulnerability is allowing everything to touch your being. The entire cosmos comes to you when you are vulnerable.
Vulnerability is not weakness. The wall when broken will not cause you danger. The wall itself was built out of a deep fear of exposing your reality. Your reality is your vulnerability and you are so afraid of opening it to the cosmos. You know deep down that if you let go and open up you will simply be swept away in innocence. So you close yourself up. But it is suffocating to be in there because it is the same air that is circulating. You experience the same patterns that the mind knows. Then of what use is the wall? When the wall is broken, you will realize that nothing leaves you. Instead, you only gain freshness of life.
When you are vulnerable, you experience everything at the being level. Otherwise, it becomes an experience through the head. The being is poetry, the head is prose. Life is poetry.
With the head you cannot be vulnerable! And when you are not vulnerable, you are sitting behind the great wall of your house. Life has not yet started. Life happens with vulnerability.
With vulnerability you move towards the truth in a different path, in a joyful path because every moment you are receiving directly from Existence. Existence is able to give you because you are vulnerable and ready to receive it! Existence has its own ethics. Enlightened masters have their own ethics. When there is vulnerability, they can simply shower on you. When there is a wall, it becomes difficult. Their ethics does not permit them to penetrate. So they wait for the wall to break.
When you become vulnerable, you are saying a 'yes' to Existence. Existence is the greatest mystery and the eternal teacher. When you say yes to it, your energy starts moving in a new direction. It moves from the head to the heart and you start receiving the teachings from your very being. Whatever you said 'no' to earlier will start becoming a yes. Then you will see that the world is very different from what you thought.
People ask me how to 'be' in my presence. Just be completely vulnerable and innocent. With openness, you can receive the truth directly in your being. The master is a pure expression of Existence. By allowing him, you are allowing Existence to enter into you. When Existence enters it leaves an impression of the truth in your being. With every darshan or touch from the master, the impression becomes deeper. This impression is greater than any teaching he can impart to you.
A master can't teach you spirituality, but you can learn by being open and trusting towards him. Spirituality has nothing to do with words. It is an experience. You need to imbibe it by watching the master's body language, by smelling the enlightenment that radiates from him. You can catch it if you are aware.
When you are vulnerable, you are open in your entire response system. You are not in a hurry to ask your questions. You give space for the intelligence of the cosmos to act through you.
To just express with vulnerability is to be free like a bird, not worried about any past or future, to just be. That is what Zen masters taught their disciples.