Tuesday 8 November 2011

KNOWLEDGE

It is said that KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

What is knowledge?
What is the difference between knowledge & information?
what is the difference between knowledge & wisdom?
what is the difference between knowledge & awareness?

The Dictionary meaning of knowledge :
- awareness or familiarity gained by experience
- a person's range of information
- a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, language, etc.

 Knowledge is the sum of what is known. For any knowledge to take place, 3 factors are required:

1. The object to be known.
2. The knower of the object(the subject).
3. The means of knowing it.

The most common means of knowledge are:

a) Direct perception: It is the knowledge gained through the 5 sense organs(eyes, ears,nose, tongue & skin) of perception.
b)Inference: Based on what we perceive AND what we already know, we infer  a thing. On seeing some smoke, we can infer that there must be fire.
c) we gain knowledge by reading or hearing from people who have directly experienced a thing or heard about it.

The difference between knowledge & information : Knowledge is information internalized or personalized.
The difference between knowledge & wisdom: Wisdom is application of knowledge for the common good of all.
The difference between knowledge & awareness: Awareness is eternal, changeless truth; Knowledge can change and need not be eternal. When the knowledge becomes eternal & changeless it is known as awareness. You need awareness to gain knowledge and awareness is the source of all knowledge.

There are 4 types of person with respect to KNOWLEDGE:
1.He who knows not and knows not he knows not: He is a fool-Shun him.
2.He who knows not and knows he knows not: He is simple-Teach him.
3.He who knows and knows not he knows: He is asleep-Wake him.
4. He who knows and knows he knows: He is wise - Follow him.

Of all the knowledge the highest knowledge is SELF-KNOWLEDGE . As regards Self-Knowledge, the object to be known is the Self and the knower is also the Self. What is the means of gaining it? The Self is not available for direct perception, therefore, it cannot be inferred or spoken of. Then how is Self-Knowledge possible? But the beauty is Self-Knowledge ( I AM THAT I AM) is inherent, changeless & ever existent. 

2 comments:

  1. Great Perception of Knowledge! Self Knowledge is the key to all types of Knowledge.

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  2. Excellent message. Thank you sir. Request you to give more clarity on self knowledge in subsequent postings.

    ReplyDelete