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THE WAY OF LIFE
man. When Socrates was informed of this, he said that the Oracle was right because he was wise in the sense that he knew that he was ignorant of many things and that his knowledge was limited. Only a fool thinks that he knows everything. That man who realises that he is ignorant or foolish, is certainly a man of intelligence. It is not an easy or an ordinary thing to realise that one is foolish or ignorant. Such a realisation is a very significant and profound one. The acceptance of one's ignorance is a step towards enlightenment. There should be no hypocrisy or vanity or pretension. If you admit your ignorance in my presence and outside in your life if you boast that you are a man of intelligence then it amounts to vanity or pretension. The admission of one's ignorance is one's politeness. Meekness springs from politeness. Meekness has been described as the basis of dharma. If you say sincerely speaking from your heart plainly that you are ignorant people then it is a lofty and significant admission. Your statement is really very nice and very beautiful. It means that you have acquired the worthiness necessary to understand and practise the principles of dharma. You and I are indeed ignorant. Do you know what the great scholar and Acharya Kalikala Saravajna Shri Hemachandra Suriji said before the Paramatma? Have you read his, Vithrag Sthotra ? He said, "I am an animal worse than animals". What a great statement did the Acharya make! Who was that great man ? Do you know who Hemachandra Suri was? He was a radiant scholar possessing omniscient knowledge in this Kaliyuga and he says, “I am a worse animal than animals”. In the presence of the Paramatma, compared to the Paramatma, the great Acharya felt that he was after all an animal in respect of knowledge and attainments. How deeply had he probed the mysteries of his own personality!
If you consider that you are fools and that you are ignorant people and if with that feeling you come to hear discourses, then your spiritual objectives are as good as achieved. In fact, that realisation has given you the authority or fitness to listen to spiritual discourses. The man who realises his ignorance naturally develops a thirst for pure knowledge, just as the man who feels that he is poor, desires to acquire wealth. He does
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