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: 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 Indian universities like Takshasila and Nalanda, the preparation of the students was always at the being level. Outer world learning happened as a natural consequence. India 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.

Paramahamsa 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 will be effortlessly comprehended! Such is the impact of spiritual learning.

A sage has the vast knowledge of the outer world and the utter innocence of the inner world.

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 India.

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. ‘I am going to kill you and you are laughing!’ He asked.

The hermit said, ‘I am wondering 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, ‘India has such great people who are fearless about death. I offer my salutations to this great country.’ He retreated from the Indian soil a wiser man.

When you don’t know that you don’t know, it is ignorance. When you know that you don’t know, it is innocence.

The teachings of olden day 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.

Buddha beautifully teaches in the Dhammapada: Even the gods envy the saints, whose senses obey them like well-trained horses and who are free from pride. Patient like the earth, they stand like the threshold. They are pure like a lake without mud, and free from the cycle of birth and death. The sage is qualified to do anything in the outer world.

Man should understand modernization in the right light and not take it as a replacement to the ancient foundation of growing.

In the ancient gurukul system of education, learning happened in a completely different plane. Creative intelligence stemmed from deep consciousness. Straightaway, the being was addressed and the doing and having had a different essence altogether. When you don’t know that you don’t know, it is ignorance. When you know that you don’t know, it is innocence. Then the knowing can start happening. But in the knowing, the feeling of knowledge is to be checked. Knowing is different from knowledge. Knowing is innocence. It is an understanding that has become your own experience. Knowledge that is not yet experienced is not your own. It is borrowed. It is just a collection of words in the head. 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.

Understand, the books which help you sharpen your logic give you the feeling that you know. There starts the problem. Work so that everything becomes a deep experience in you. You will then be a simple person. Simplicity is weightless. It will never weigh you down and hinder further learning. It will just aid in the flowering of innocence, that’s all. What innocence grasps one may not even be able to express, because it is an understanding beyond words. But it can be seen in the eyes. The eyes are the windows of the soul. That is why when you see the eyes of sages you will see an oceanic look in them. They will radiate something that cannot be framed. To try to describe it would be like trying to scratch the foot from the outer side of the shoe. One cannot blame modernization for loss of innocence. 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.

source: Living Enlightenment