Page 97 - Wisdom Unfurled

Knowledge and its Nature Upanishads on the higher and lower knowledge
The seers of the Upanishads have always distinguished between the higher knowledge (para), the knowledge which leads to the apprehension of the Ultimate Reality and the lower knowledge (apara) and also (avara) inferior, that which enables us to cope with the world, earn a living, fulfill the earthly desires and also provide for a happy life in the hereafter (iha para sukha). They equate the lower knowledge with ignorance from the standpoint of the higher as only enmeshed in ignorance the soul seeks lower goals and thus bargains for eternal bondage and misery. An illuminating anecdote from the Chandogya Upanishad relating the conversation between the celebrated rishi Narada and the realized soul, Sanathkumara brings out this point well. Asked to say what branches of knowledge he has hitherto studied, Narada tells that he has studied all the Vedas, as well as history, mythology, mathematics, sciences of the manes, portents, time, ethics, the gods, Brahman, weapons, astronomy and so on. He confesses that he does not know the Self and is filled with grief that so much other knowledge he has acquired is not capable of landing him beyond sorrow. He has learnt from revered spiritual teachers that he alone is capable of going beyond the ocean of sorrow who can cross it by the saving bund of the Self and beseeches Sanathkumara to impart to him the saving knowledge of the Self. In modern parlance we can say that we know physics, mathematics, astronomy, astrophysics, engineering, medicine, law, commerce, psychology and philosophy but we do not know our real nature nor that of the holy Divine and thus are presently clueless as to how to lead a life of happiness and harmony.
This knowledge we have been talking about is supra sensory, beyond the ordinary mind and subtler than the subtlest. Tradition has held that such knowledge cannot be won by great works, erudition and austerities but only can be known, seen and entered into only through undivided love and devotion even as spoken by Lord Krishna in the Gita- bhaktya tu ananyaya sakhyam. The seeker of this knowledge of the Ultimate has to approach the realized teachers in a spirit of reverential surrender and service for getting instructed in the liberating knowledge (tat viddhi pranipatena—Gita Ch. 4.34). The only right instrument for such knowledge is Sabda (sruti- revelation) and aptavachana-here we may hold that aptavachana is based on the sruti or revelations made to the aptas-those evolved souls who have imperienced the Highest themselves at first hand, who are dear to us and are interested in our spiritual welfare. The word aptaitself signifies one who has