Why is Limited Knowledge Dangerous??
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2 Verses 42 & 43 Explained
Introduction
Bhagavad Gita is a conversation between Krishna and Arjun. This dialogue begins just before the war of Mahabharata is about to begin. On seeing his family in opposition, Arjun is gripped with fear and confusion and wants to run away, but Krishna convinces him to fight and tells Arjun why he today raise his weapons to kill his brothers and relatives in this war.
Bhagavad Gits teaches us how to live life!
The core message of the Bhagavad Gita is considered very powerful for it can fundamentally transform the way you live your life. Bhagavad Gita is also called a summary of Vendantic Knowledge or simply ancient Knowledge.
Bhagavad Gita is crystallized form of the Hindu thought.
Bhagavad Gita is 700 verses long, spread across 18 chapters. Here we will understand Verses 42 & 43 of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita.
Verse 2.42–2.43
यामिमां पुष्पितां वाचं प्रवदन्त्यविपश्चित: |
वेदवादरता: पार्थ नान्यदस्तीति वादिन: || 2.42||
कामात्मान: स्वर्गपरा जन्मकर्मफलप्रदाम् |
क्रियाविशेषबहुलां भोगैश्वर्यगतिं प्रति || 2.43||
yamimam pushpitam vacham pravadanty-avipashchitah
veda-vada-ratah partha nanyad astiti vadinah
kamatmanah swarga-para janma-karma-phala-pradam
kriya-vishesha-bahulam bhogaishwarya-gatim prati
Translation
O Arjun, The ones with limited knowledge get attracted towards and speak the flowery language (words) of the Vedas. Such people profess that there is no deeper meaning to these words.
They believe in performing various rituals to attain sensual pleasures, attain heaven after death, attain better birth after when they are reborn, attain better results of their Karma (actions), and wish to enjoy affluence and success (progress) in life.
Commentary:
Limited Knowledge is Dangerous
Krishna is telling Arjun that limited knowledge is dangerous to one’s own self. Krishan says so as he can see Arjun’s state of mind and his decision to not fight was born out of his beliefs, which were nothing but incomplete knowledge.
Arjun thinks that killing his family for power is wrong. He thinks that killing itself is wrong, thus this war is not the right thing to do.
Krishna in trying to make Arjun see his error in judgment by telling Arjun that people who possess shallow knowledge only end up harming themselves by taking wrong decisions. This happens as the framework of their decision-making, their values, and their beliefs, come from Knowledge which is incomplete.
Not knowing what to do is often better than assuming that you know everything.
Shallow Thinkers & Blind Believers!
Krishna is highlighting that such people with limited knowledge are invariably shallow thinkers and blind believers. They don’t question what is being told to them and they don’t go deeper into what they read. This kind of mindset is a reflection of the laziness of the mind. When a person doesn’t think deeper and ask questions, he often holds on to that piece of knowledge that attracts him and conveniently discards the other portions which don’t lure him.
Rigidness in Beliefs is a sign of shallow knowledge
To add to this, such people are very adamant and vocal in defending what they believe by shunning any alternate point of view. They become so rigid in their beliefs that they think that the only meaning of what they hold on as knowledge is their own interpretation, and thus there is no deeper or alternate meaning to it.
Their own beliefs become a roadblock in their spiritual progress and thus such people are stuck at one place in their life. They are prisoners of their own minds, living their life behind iron bars, which they fabricated themselves.
Such people are slaves to rituals. They have already chosen a set of practices for them, which deep down they know will benefit them materially. They do such practices out of greed to gain.
In ancient times when the world was primitive and hence simpler, such people will perform religious rituals and ceremonies, which they said were a must for people as they are written in the Vedas, and pose as if they are doing so for their peace of mind. But the reality was that behind every ritual there was an expectation hidden which manifested from their greed for material gains. They would pray for success, they would pray for wealth, they would pray for sensual pleasures. The greed was so much that it didn’t stop at demanding things and experiences for this life only. They would even want such benefits and gains to come to them in their next life. They would want a better birth when they were reborn so that they can enjoy life in their next birth.
Desiring for Self reflects ignorance
But these very wishes reflect their ignorance, for a truly wise person will seek liberation. He would never seek re-birth and wish to be born again, as wisdom means to see the true nature of Desire. Desire by its very nature can’t be fulfilled. A wise person knows this and thus never sees material gains or pleasures as an end in themselves.
A wise person will respect money, as he knows its importance in the world, but will never make only earning money as his end goal. He would know the power of pleasures and how they control a human mind, much more than a slave to pleasures can ever understand, but will use this knowledge to rise above such craving by controlling his mind.
Such wise men, despite being indifferent to material wealth and money, more often than not end up acquiring it. They attract wealth and power, despite not craving it, as they aspire to rise beyond such cravings. But the reality is that riches come to men who in their minds have risen above it and mentally are already living like a monk.
This happens simply because only a man who has ample wealth can see the futility of wealth, and thus he stops chasing it, which makes wealth and fortune chase him instead. Thus his abundance continues, but ironically, it doesn’t affect him for this very abundance becomes a reason for his detachment.
Such wise men know that the ultimate goal is enlightenment and liberation. They also know that while the Goal is one, the paths could be many and the vehicles numerous.
Thus due to this wisdom, they don’t stick to beliefs and develop a tendency to question what they know and what is being told and try to discover the deeper meaning to the word, until they reach the truth at the very core of the word.
So while a shallow person will stick to rituals for his shallow desires and will be rigid in his beliefs, a wise person seeks knowledge and despite having an abundance of knowledge knows that he knows very little!
Wisdom makes you humble!
A shallow person is someone who stands at the shore of the ocean and says that he knows what the ocean is by merely experiencing the dying wave which touches his feet and thinks that the ocean submits to him. While a wise person standing on the same spot, upon the touch of the same dying wave, gazes at the vastness of the ocean and tells himself that there is so much he doesn’t know about the wave, let alone the ocean.
He knows that one life might not be enough to know, and thus the only thing he seeks is knowledge, and by translates that knowledge into wisdom as he practices that knowledge in his waking life.
Such wise people go beyond the scriptures, and rather than sticking to what is written, write their own scriptures. Rather than believing what they have listened to, they go ahead and tell the world what they have experienced when they put knowledge into experience.
True wisdom only comes when a man puts his knowledge into Action
Thus Krishna is trying to tell Arjun that he must realize that his knowledge is limited and at this moment he is only thinking like a shallow person who in light of his limited knowledge only thinks of himself while believing that he is thinking of the world.
Krishna, therefore, is asking Arjun to listen to him carefully and gain wisdom which will enable him to take the right decision!
