Page 60 - Wisdom Unfurled
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all philosophy. A significant part of the philosophical endeavor consists in acquiring knowledge of the various categories constituting the field of enquiry and this knowledge ideally should be indubitable and true to the nature of the object of knowledge. This naturally focuses the attention on the nature of knowledge itself, the sources of knowledge and means of validating the knowledge. The knowledge available to the introverted mystic through super-sensuous and super-conscious perception or yogic intuitional insight as such knowledge by its very definition is beyond doubt, self evident and self- established.
Master on method of ‘doubt’
When we study the Master’s works we will encounter His categorical assertion, ‘Doubt is poison of will’ and His exhortation to the seeker for eradicating even the very basis of doubt in his pursuit of Reality. The opposite of doubt, namely, firm faith in oneself, in the Master and the method is to be cultivated for success in the path, rather such a faith is itself a significant attainment on the spiritual path when traversed with diligent efforts on the part of the aspirant who has the grace of his Master. Faith is the link between the mortal and immortal and nothing can be achieved without it in the mundane or spiritual fields. We find Lord Krishna stating in the Bhagawat Gita (Ch.4. v 40),’ the person lacking in discrimination, devoid of faith, possessed by doubt is lost to the spiritual path. There is neither this world nor the other not even happiness for the doubting soul’.
Master says that philosophy begins with wonder. We are indeed filled with wonder mixed with awe when we see the grandeur and beauty of the unending expanse of the universe studded with sparkling stars, the variety and magnificence of creation, the order and law abiding processes witnessed in all things from the simplest atom to the most complex super-organism endowed with self-consciousness, that is, man. And most importantly, that despite being ever so tiny and inconsequential in the vast Universe man has dared to inquire into its mysteries and managed to fathom some of its secrets. As the celebrated Albert Einstein put it, the incomprehensible aspect of the Universe is that it is comprehensible to man. A sense of wonder is an attitude of realism which accepts that things outside and the wondering man himself exist and are objects worth investigating. It is thus farthest from debilitating doubt and is also indicative simultaneously of an attitude of humility, of a certain inadequacy on the part of the person who, having been stimulated by wonder is wondering whether at all he would succeed in knowing what he has set out to know. This leads to yielding creating a vacuum in the enquirer’s heart into which Divine Grace may flow.
Reason Vs Intuition
  





























































































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