Wisdom

The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.

I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

"'Bhishma said, "I do not instruct thee in respect of duty, taught by what I have heard from the Vedas alone. What I have told thee is the result of wisdom and experience. This is the honey that the learned have gathered. Kings should gather wisdom from various sources. One cannot accomplish his course through the world with the aid of a morality that is one-sided. Duty must spring from the understanding; and the practices of those that are good should always be ascertained, O son of Kuru! Attend to these words of mine. Only kings that are possessed of superior intelligence can rule, expecting victory. A king should provide for the observance of morality by the aid of his understanding and guided by knowledge derived from various sources. The duties of a king can never be discharged by rules drawn from a morality that is one-sided. A weak-minded king can never display wisdom (in the discharge of his duties) in consequence of his not having drawn any wisdom from the examples before him. Righteousness sometimes takes the shape of unrighteousness. The latter also sometimes takes the shape of the former. He who does not know this, becomes confounded when confronted by an actual instance of the kind. Before the occasion comes, one should, O Bharata, comprehend the circumstances under which righteousness and its reverse become confused. Having acquired this knowledge, a wise king should, when the occasion comes, act accordingly, aided by his judgment. The acts he does at such a time are misunderstood by ordinary people. Some persons are possessed of true knowledge. Some persons have false knowledge. Truly ascertaining the nature of each kind of knowledge, a wise king derives knowledge from them that are regarded as good. They that are really breakers of morality find fault with the scriptures. They that have themselves no wealth proclaim the inconsistencies of the treatises on the acquisition of wealth.

"'"Manu said, 'When the fivefold attributes are united with the five senses and the mind, then is Brahma seen by the individual like a thread passing through a gem. As a thread, again, may lie within gold or pearl or a coral or any object made of earth, even so one's soul, in consequence of one's own acts, may live within a cow, a horse, a man, an elephant, or any other animal, or within a worm or an insect. The good deeds an individual performs in a particular body produce rewards that the individual enjoys in that particular body. A soil, apparently drenched with one particular kind of liquid, supplies to each different kind of herb or plant that grows on it the sort of juice it requires for itself. After the same manner, the Understanding, whose course is witnessed by the soul, is obliged to follow the path marked out by the acts of previous lives.[695] From knowledge springs desire. From desire springs resolution. From resolution flows action. From action proceed fruits (i.e., consequences, good and bad). Fruits, therefore, are dependent on actions as their cause. Actions have the understanding for their cause. The understanding has knowledge for its cause; and knowledge has the Soul for its cause. That excellent result which is achieved in consequence of the destruction of knowledge, of fruits, of the understanding, and of acts, is called Knowledge of Brahma.[696] Great and high is that self-existent Essence, which yogins behold. They that are devoid of wisdom, and whose understandings are devoted to worldly possessions never behold that which exists in the Soul itself. Water is superior to the Earth in extension; Light is superior to Water; Wind is superior to Light; Space is superior to Wind; Mind is superior to Space; Understanding is superior to Mind; Time is superior to Understanding. The divine Vishnu, whose is this universe, is superior to Time. That god is without beginning, middle, and end.

Know now the difference between these two subtile things, viz., Understanding and Soul. One of these, viz., the Understanding, creates attributes. The other, viz., the Soul, does not create them. Although they are, by nature, distinct from each other, yet they always exist in a state of union. A fish is different from the water in which it dwells, but the fish and the water must exist together. The attributes cannot know the Soul. The Soul, however, knows them. They that are ignorant regard the Soul as existing in a state of union with the attributes like qualities existing with their possessors. This, however, is not the case, for the Soul is truly only an inactive Witness of everything. The Understanding has no refuge.[1448] That which is called life (involving the existence of the Understanding) arises from the effects of the attributes coming together. Others (than these attributes which are created by the Understanding), acting as causes, create the Understanding that dwells in the body. No one can apprehend the attributes in their real nature or form of existence. The Understanding, as already said, creates the attributes. The Soul simply beholds them (as an inactive Witness). This union that exists between the Understanding and the Soul is eternal. The indwelling Understanding apprehends all things through the Senses which are themselves inanimate and unapprehending. Really the senses are only like lamps (that throw their light for discovering objects to others without themselves being able to see them). Even this is the nature (of the Senses, the Understanding, and the Soul). Knowing this, one should live cheerfully, without yielding to either grief or joy. Such a man is said to be beyond the influence of pride. That the Understanding creates all these attributes is due to her own nature,--even as a spider weaves threads in consequence of her own nature. These attributes should be known as the threads the spider weaves.

Without knowledge there is no meditation, without meditation there is no knowledge: he who has knowledge and meditation is near unto Nirvana.

Through zeal knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal knowledge is lost; let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.

Fools follow after vanity, men of evil wisdom. The wise man keeps earnestness as his best jewel.

He giveth wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he truly hath received abundant good. But none remember except men of understanding.

Lo! thy Lord will judge between them of His wisdom, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.

And And when he reached his prime We gave him wisdom and knowledge. Thus We reward the good.

Then Helen thus: “Whom your discerning eyes Have singled out, is Ithacus the wise; A barren island boasts his glorious birth; His fame for wisdom fills the spacious earth.”

Fear held them mute: alone, untaught to fear, Tydides spoke—“The man you seek is here. Through yon black camps to bend my dangerous way, Some god within commands, and I obey. But let some other chosen warrior join, To raise my hopes, and second my design. By mutual confidence and mutual aid, Great deeds are done, and great discoveries made; The wise new prudence from the wise acquire, And one brave hero fans another’s fire.”

He said, and sat: when Chalcas thus replied; Chalcas the wise, the Grecian priest and guide, That sacred seer, whose comprehensive view, The past, the present, and the future knew: Uprising slow, the venerable sage Thus spoke the prudence and the fears of age:

This particular Upanishad deals chiefly with the Invisible Cause and the visible manifestation, and the whole trend of its teaching is to show that they are one and the same, one being the outcome of the other hence no perfect knowledge is possible without simultaneous comprehension of both. The wise men declare that he who worships in a one-sided way, whether the visible or the invisible, does not reach the highest goal. Only he who has a co-ordinated understanding of both the visible and the invisible, of matter and spirit, of activity and that which is behind activity, conquers Nature and thus overcomes death. By work, by making the mind steady and by following the prescribed rules given in the Scriptures, a man gains wisdom. By the light of that wisdom he is able to perceive the Invisible Cause in all visible forms. Therefore the wise man sees Him in every manifested form. They who have a true conception of God are never separated from Him. They exist in Him and He in them.

In these verses the teacher tries to make plain that all knowledge, as well as all sense perception, in every state of consciousness--sleeping, dreaming or waking--is possible only because the Self exists. There can be no knowledge or perception independent of the Self. Wise men, aware of this, identify themselves with their Higher Self and thus transcend the realm of grief.

Arise! Awake! Having reached the Great Ones (illumined Teachers), gain understanding. The path is as sharp as a razor, impassable and difficult to travel, so the wise declare.

Hanuman,(540) wise in hour of need, Urged on the chief his prudent rede. His listening ear Sugriva bent, And spake in words more excellent:

He ceased: and Rama's heart was stirred At every keen reproach he heard. There Bali lay, a dim dark sun, His course of light and glory run: Or like the bed of Ocean dried Of his broad floods from side to side, Or helpless, as the dying fire, Hushed his last words of righteous ire. Then Rama, with his spirit moved, The Vanar king in turn reproved: "Why dost thou, Bali, thus revile, And castest not a glance the while On claims of duty, love, and gain, And customs o'er the world that reign? Why dost thou blame me, rash and blind, Fickle as all thy Vanar kind, Slighting each rule of ancient days Which all the good and prudent praise? This land, each hill and woody chase, Belongs to old Ikshvaku's race: With bird and beast and man, the whole Is ours to cherish and control. Now Bharat, prompt at duty's call, Wise, just, and true, is lord of all. Each claim of law, love, gain he knows, And wrath and favour duly shows. A king from truth who never bends, And grace with vigour wisely blends; With valour worthy of his race, He knows the claims of time and place. Now we and other kings of might, By his ensample taught aright, The lands of every region tread That justice may increase and spread. While royal Bharat, wise and just, Rules the broad earth, his glorious trust, Who shall attempt, while he is lord, A deed by Justice held abhorred? We now, as Bharat has decreed, Let justice guide our every deed, And toil each sinner to repress Who scorns the way of righteousness. Thou from that path hast turned aside, And virtue's holy law defied, Left the fair path which kings should tread, And followed pleasure's voice instead. The man who cleaves to duty's law Regards these three with filial awe-- The sire, the elder brother, third Him from whose lips his lore he heard. Thus too, for duty's sake, the wise Regard with fond paternal eyes The well-loved younger brother, one Their lore has ripened, and a son.

There is "true" Knowledge. Learn thou it is this: To see one changeless Life in all the Lives, And in the Separate, One Inseparable. There is imperfect Knowledge: that which sees The separate existences apart, And, being separated, holds them real. There is false Knowledge: that which blindly clings To one as if 'twere all, seeking no Cause, Deprived of light, narrow, and dull, and "dark."

Entitled "Vijnanayog," Or "The Book of Religion by Discernment."

Entitled "Jnana Yog," Or "The Book of the Religion of Knowledge,"

2 Wise must this Agni be, though young and tender, since he was born, Most Youthful, of his Mother; 3 Before his presence must we all assemble, this God's whom men have seized in his white splendour. 4 Far−seeing hath this Agni been established, deathless mid mortals, wise among the foolish. 5 He who hath occupied his God−made dwelling, Agni, in wisdom hath surpassed Immortals. 6 Agni is Lord of Amrta. in abundance, Lord of the gift of wealth and hero valour, 7 The foeman's treasure may be won with labour: may we be masters of our own possessions. 8 Unwelcome for adoption is the stranger, one to be thought of as another's offipring, 9 Guard us from him who would assail us, Agni; preserve us O thou Victor, from dishonour. 10 Shine this felicity on us, O Agni: may we attain to perfect understanding.

2 East have we turned the rite; may the hymn aid it. With wood and worship shall they honour Agni. 3 The Prudent, he whose will is pure, brought welfare, allied by birth to Heaven and Earth in kinship. 4 Him, Blessed One, the Seven strong Floods augmented, him white at birth and red when waxen mighty. 5 Spreading with radiant limbs throughout the region, purging his power with wise purifications, 6 He sought heaven's Mighty Ones, the unconsuming, the unimpaired, not clothed and yet not naked. 7 His piles, assuming every form, are scattered where flow sweet waters, at the spring of fatness; 8 Carefully cherished, Son of Strength, thou shoncst assuming lasting and refulgent beauties. 9 From birth he knew even his Father's bosom, he set his voices and his streams in motion; 10 He nursed the Infant of the Sire and Maker: alone the Babe sucked many a teeming bosom. 11 The Mighty One increased in space unbounded; full many a glorious flood gave strength to Agni. 12 As keen supporter where great waters gather, light−shedder whom the brood rejoice to look on; 13 Him, varied in his form, the lovely Infant of floods and plants the blessed wood hath gendered. 14 Like brilliant lightnings, mighty luminaries accompany the light−diffusing Agni, 15 I sacrificing serve thee with oblations and crave with longing thy good−will and friendship. 16 May we, O Agni, thou who leadest wisely, thy followers and masters of all treasures, 17 Ensign of Gods hast thou become, O Agni, joy−giver, knower of all secret wisdom. 18 Within the house hath sate the King immortal of mortals, filling full their sacred synods. 19 Come unto us with thine auspicious friendship, come speeding, Mighty, with thy mighty succours. 20 To thee who art of old these songs, O Agni, have I declared, the ancient and the later. 21 Stablished in every birth is Jatavedas, kindled perpetual by the Visvamitras. 22 This sacrifice of ours do thou, O Mighty, O truly Wise, bear to the Gods rejoicing.

2 Him altogether praise I with the song and hymns our fathers sang, and with Nabhaka's eulogies,− 3 The nights he hath encompassed, and stablished the morns with magic art visible over all is he. 4 He, visible o'er all the earth, stablished the quarters of the sky: 5 He who supports the worlds of life, he who well knows the hidden names mysterious of the morning 6 In whom all wisdom centres, as the nave is set within the wheel. 7 He wraps these regions as a robe; he contemplates the tribes of Gods and all the works of mortal men. 8 He is an Ocean far−removed, yet through the heaven to him ascends the worship which these realms 9 Ruler, whose bright far−seeing rays, pervading all three earths, have filled the three superior realms of 10 Who, after his decree, o'erspread the Dark Ones with a robe of light; 2 So humbly worship Varuna the Mighty revere the wise Guard of World Immortal. 3 Sharpen this song of him who strives his utmost, sharpen, God Varuna, his strength and insight; 4 Asvins, with songs the singer stones have made you hasten hitherward, 5 As the sage Atri with his hymns, O Asvins, called you eagerly, 6 So have I called you to our aid, even as the wise have called of old,

He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act (on it). When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal.

The difficulty in governing the people arises from their having much knowledge. He who (tries to) govern a state by his wisdom is a scourge to it; while he who does not (try to) do so is a blessing.

The skilful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries, and were deep (also) so as to elude men's knowledge. As they were thus beyond men's knowledge, I will make an effort to describe of what sort they appeared to be.

He whose dart is not as it were sharp should offer an oblation to Indrani; the deity of the arrow is Indrani; verily he has recourse to Indrani with her own share; she sharpens his arrow. Balbaja grass he should fasten to the kindling-stick [1]; where the cow being covered made water, thence grew the Balbaja; verily making him follow the way of the cows he causes him to obtain cows. To Indra, the angry, the wise, he should offer a cake on eleven potsherds when battle is joined; with power, with anger, and with wisdom one wins the battle; verily he has recourse to Indra, the angry, the wise, with his own share; verily he bestows upon him power, anger, and mind; he wins [2] the battle. The same offering should he make whose mind is affected and who as it were injures himself, for these are departed from him; verily he whose mind is affected and who injures himself has recourse to Indra, the angry, the wise, with his own share; verily he bestows upon him power, anger, and wisdom; his mind is not affected and he does not injure himself. He who desires, 'May people be fain to give to me', should offer a cake on eleven potsherds to Indra, the giver [3]; verily he has recourse to Indra, the giver, with his own share; verily he makes people fain to give to him; people become fain to give to him. He upon whom what is as it were ready to be given is not bestowed should offer a cake on eleven potsherds to Indra, the bestower; verily he has recourse to Indra, the bestower, with his own share; verily he makes (men) bestow upon him. He who has been expelled or is being expelled should offer a cake on eleven potsherds to Indra, the good protector [4]; verily he has recourse to Indra, the good protector, with his own share; verily he protects him; he becomes unexpellable.