Page 161 - Complete Works of Dr. KCV Volume 1

knowledge, there is an ignorance and behind every ignorance perhaps there is a greater knowledge. Now this is the difficulty of epistemology or theory of knowledge in philosophy. And the greatest efforts of philosophers and scientists has been to limit or to find out the limits of our knowledge of every kind. This is further shown by our theories of reason which operate within limits. Now, for instance, we think in philosophy and everybody accepts that a thing cannot be both true and false. That is the principle of contradiction. If a thing is true, it cannot be false. If it is false it cannot be true. But the misfortune of our experience is that everything seems to be both true and false. Now how to express this in terms of our logic (Tarka)? So people said it is impossible and so skepticism is the only result. You must confess that you will have no absolute knowledge and we can have only a little knowledge, knowledge mixed up with ignorance in different degrees.
And what is the distinction between a great pundit and an idiotic child? Nothing except the amount of ignorance that they have got. And, we must know it is better to be ignorant than to be wise, because we can excuse ourselves for our failures, but a wise man gets punished for his knowledge. Now, we have all these things in ordinary practice. But logically, when we find this proposition that is both falsehood and truth can coexist just as Avidya and Vidya can coexist it becomes impossible to explain. If we say so many people laugh at us and say "what is this type of knowledge?"
Here, coming to the real point which Shri Ram Chandraji makes, we hold that our little ignorance can be cleared with our little knowledge, but the vast ignorance that is pervading the whole Universe cannot be cleared with our reason or with our actions. You cannot clear the vast infinity of ignorance. Let us confess that there is vast ignorance which is the Reality. Almost you are seeing that it is a kind of skepticism. You can never have a knowledge of all with the instruments which you now have. This knowledge is something which comes out of the object in order to survey the object. It is, to use the little world, "experience". Ex means 'outside'. It is an experience which is outside, or outer experience. Now how to go beyond it? The reality of the great ignorance is beyond this ignorance and this knowledge. Master calls it Complete Ignorance. Of course, he says 'I do not find any other word for it'. And we do not have any word in any language in