Is ignorance bliss

[JUSTIFY]“Ignorance is bliss” is the saying we heard several times in life. When someone faces health issues, someone who don’t know anything about the diseases have high hopes that they would recover soon from the health issues. Those who have access to the internet and are perfectly capable of searching the causes for their symptoms, feel very concerned about their health. If someone’s parents live in a village and if their son or daughter is living in the US, they will just hug them and bid goodbye without any worries about their travel. On the contrary, if the parents in live in a city and is fully familiar with travel difficulties, will worry about their children until they get back to their country of residence.

I have given two examples why ignorance is bliss. But is it true? The root cause of our problems in life is our ignorance. It is the knowledge that liberates us and makes us achieve bliss and not the ignorance. Ignorance is like darkness and the knowledge is like light. It is our ignorance that makes us believe that we are the body/mind, looks for divinity outside of us whereas it resides in us, makes us pursue our desires hoping that we will be satisfied and makes us feel attached to our family and possessions hoping that they are all permanent. All knowing and all powerful soul resides inside of us and it won’t allow us to delve in ignorance forever. Truly the knowledge resides inside of us and all we need to do is to make efforts for it to manifest with its full potential.

The very same mind that feels the world through our senses is perfectly capable of exploring the treasure inside of us. How do we make the mind to do that? We need to develop good thoughts and eliminate our bad thoughts. After that our good thoughts will have to be converted into actions. When we do such actions skillfully, selflessly and lovingly, they become habits. When they become habits, it becomes our character. We always talk about habits in a negative connotation as we associate them with our inhibitions. However, the good habits we develop formulate our good character. When our character shines with added luster, we become close to our Supreme Self and the divine knowledge flows like a stream. Divinity is saturated with Love, Righteousness, Truth, Peace and Non-violence. Our own Self is our friend, philosopher and guide. Let us learn to worship the divine being inside of us and begin to see the divinity inside of everyone around us.

Let us make sincere effort to remove the darkness by lighting the lamp. Let us go back to the two examples I have given in the first paragraph. True knowledge will make us accept the reality in life and teach us how to handle the situation rather than worrying about it. Our knowledge is not evaluated by how long we lived our life successfully but how we lived our life with great values. Steve Jobs was born to an unwed mother and was given for adoption to parents who believed to be well educated hoping that he would be educated. Even though his parents tried to educate him, he decided not to pursue his education instead preferred to pursue his deep rooted ambition. His vision became the world’s most successful company. Later he was diagnosed with terminal illness but he never stopped pursuing his vision until he became incapacitated by the dreaded disease and died. There are several role models living around us. When we face trial and tribulations, our character becomes stronger from those lessons like the gold melting and reshaping itself into a beautiful ornament. It is the character that gives us the power to handle life situations and it is the knowledge that liberates our soul.
[/JUSTIFY]

 

Dear Viji Akka,

It is always exciting to get your first FB for any of my posts. It is very kind of you to say that there is always something to learn from my posts. Well, the feeling is mutual and I learn so much from your posts as well. Having lived in Mumbai myself, I understand your concern about your husband returning safely especially during rainy season. The Lord is always with him as he is so much service oriented. He is definitely a Yogi and will be always looked after by the Lord.

Viswa

 

Dear Kamalji,

You are absolutely right, my friend. If we don't know and remain ignorant, it is much harder to face it. If we learn about and accept it, it becomes easier to manage mentally.

Thanks for visiting this post.

Viswa

 

Dear Radha,

Obviously, I am not saying that we need to know everything as it is difficult for anyone to achieve that level of knowledge unless he or she becomes Sthithaprajna. All I am saying is we should not intend to be ignorant. Sometimes, we learn from our own experience and sometimes we learn from other sources including experiences of others. Unless we attempt to seek knowledge, our life will not be interesting. The happiness comes from learning something new everyday and life will be boring if we don't.

Viswa

 

Dear Satchi,

Why do we need to separate us from Atma? We are that divine being and that thought only makes us much more knowledgeable.

I have a different view on gaining knowledge about our own health or health of our kith and kin. For example, if you have not learned what your mother is suffering from, it might be difficult for you to understand why she is not eating when you request her to eat. Now, you are fully knowledgeable and is able to step into her shoes to recognize her issues. It makes life easier for you despite the pain of watching her sufferings.

I will give you another example, My grandmother lived in a village all her life. She was reporting sever headache for 3 years and she was taking headache medicine and went to sleep every night. My grandfather was okay with it and never bothered to give her medical attention. My mother found it not acceptable and asked her to move to Chennai to have a thorough medical check up. She was diagnosed with Lukeimia and died in 6 months.

Since we all live in the cities, we don't understand how hard it is for someone living in the village to silently go through a dreaded disease without any medical attention. Once she knew about her disease, she was at peace and spent her rest of the period (i.e. six months) with her children and grandchildren showering her love and asking them not to worry about her departure.

Viswa