The Nature of the True Religious Life - 1.3. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday, December 08, 2022. 06:00.

Chapter 1: We are Mysterious Somethings - 3.

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I can give a very humorous example to illustrate this. It is very simple, but it will open your eyes to some startling facts. There is a watch, and it is supported by something. What is it that supports this watch? This little desk, this small table is the support of this watch. What is it that supports this small table? This floor. If the floor were not there, the table would not be standing here, and the watch would not be in this position. What is it that supports the floor? The beams underneath. If the beams were removed, the whole floor would collapse. What is it that supports the beams? The walls underneath. What is it that supports the walls? The Earth at the bottom. What is it that supports the Earth? Now you have to think a little bit. How is it that the Earth does not drop down somewhere? Without any support, it is hanging in space.

Nothing can hang in space. It is unthinkable. The Sun and the Moon, the planets and the stars are hanging in space without any support—with nothing at the bottom, and nothing from above, such as a chain, that can pull them up. The support of all these masses of matter cannot be seen with the eyes. They are mutually related. One pulls the other; one determines the movement of the other. If a systematic logical or mathematical determination of the movement of the one by the other were not to be there, there would be a clash of planets. The Earth would go and hit the Sun, or the Moon would dash against something else. There is an orderly constitutional laying down of principles behind the movement of not merely the constituents of the Solar System, but also of the Milky Way, the galaxies, the nebulae, and so on, of which, as astronomers tell us, we are like specks of dust.

What is it that supports the Earth? The whole universe is supporting the Earth. The atmosphere of the cosmos is supporting the movement of the Earth. So what is it that supports this watch? Oh, you will be surprised. This little watch is being supported by the entire cosmos, not by this little desk, as a carpenter may say. A carpenter's vision is very poor. The knowledge of the geographer or the historian is a little wider. The astronomer knows much more, but even he knows little because it is not enough if we say that there is a cosmic interrelationship among the masses of matter we call the planets, etc. It is merely a statement which an astronomer makes, that there is such a relationship. But why should there be such a relationship? Who ordained that such a relationship should be there? Who made this law that the Sun should pull the Earth in a particular manner? Here we come to a stop. Our education tells us nothing further. We hold our breath in utter ignorance and awe, and are completely flabbergasted and put in a state of consternation. We realise that we are really ignorant, in spite of our education.

When we know the limits of our own knowledge, we realise that our education has been nothing, a husk. When problems arise before us, we cannot solve them. A certificate that we have from a college is not going to solve our difficulties. It is a piece of paper with a little ink splashed on it. We cannot appease our hunger with that paper; and if a terrible confrontation is there in front of us, this little paper is not going to be of any help to us. What is it that is going to help us, finally?

Here begins true knowledge, true education. Perhaps many of you must have felt there is something wrong with what you studied, and it is very inadequate. You are all educated persons, well-read people, but I do not think that you are happy. Something tells you this is not sufficient; there is something lacking, and you have not been able to find out what it is, so you thought someone will tell you. I believe you will find someone who will tell you what you lack, because you are not unbefriended persons. You do not lack support or help in this world. You are not helpless people.

*****

To be continued

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