Page 109 - Journey to Infinity

This world, the other world and all its events and happenings are quite surprising. This world is a place of wonder and also a place of learning moral lessons.
The charm, advantage and purpose of Satsang is to make the mind broad, so as to reach the goal and purpose by showing the importance of everything in its own place, and then giving a relative view point. The purport of all this is to emphasize that becoming wise (Jnani) is not the final point of attaining the aim. Knowledge is only the final stage in attaining bliss and happiness.
Now a question arises: If knowledge is not the final point in attaining the goal, but the final point of securing bliss and happiness is only freedom or liberation, then, what is the ideal or the highest point of attainment? If happiness is obtained from knowledge, then it is the result of knowledge. In that case knowledge is as good as action. The Shastras declare that action has reward and punishment, and if knowledge gives happiness, then it is the reward of knowledge. Knowledge, too, like action became a means of earning a wage, and has no more value than action or karma. But action has been described as pitch darkness and Knowledge has been praised like anything. The reply is that, really speaking, action and knowledge both are acts of a certain type. Action is physical whereas knowledge is mental. Action means doing; knowledge means knowing.
Another thing is that although happiness is the result of action or knowledge, there is no doubt that here is some misunderstanding about it. This misunderstanding is due to the fact that the secret of the heart could not be grasped thoroughly. Happiness itself is real existence. Really speaking, happiness alone exists and all else, namely sorrow etc., is nothing but illusion. Some accepted this as an ideal and kept quiet, while some others accepted liberation as the goal.
Now we should know the difference between knowledge and liberation.
(1) Knowledge is that which is known. And that too in such a way that one becomes equal to the known thing and only knowing remains. It can be called as a form of similarity — Tadakar.
(2) Liberation means becoming free. Freedom from bondage is called liberation. These two condi-tions are related to the mind. Mind alone experiences. Mind alone accepts and feels bondage and freedom. This knowing and feeling is knowledge. No doubt when the mind thinks itself ignorant, and is keen about knowing and is interested in it and knows it, it is called know¬ledge. Likewise, when the mind becomes perturbed on taking a certain condition to be unpleasant, it is called bondage. And when it tries to free itself from that condition and attains that condition, it is liberation or