Learning to Unlearn for Growth

so

first of all very good evening to

all the students all the teachers

parents and many guests who have joined

for this program

first of all i must congratulate uh this

team for choosing a very wonderful

subject of

on learning in fact

our learning in the current context is

more important than

learning

for example if you

have to receive some milk in a pot

and that pot has traces of poison

then the milk will not remain milk

milk will also become poison

similarly we all of us have some traces

of

poison in the form of ignorance

while we’re acquiring knowledge

through different sources

and hence this knowledge which we are

acquiring

is not yielding is not giving

the desired result

why do i say so

ironically we have made so much of

progress

materially in the last

few decades maybe more in the last

couple of

decades we have made

huge progress in terms of technology in

terms of education

in terms of medical science

in terms of infrastructure

tremendous progress we have made

in fact almost all the fronts we have

made

wonderful progress

in spite of that we see a paradox

of life

we have more degrees

but less sense we have bigger houses

but smaller families

families are becoming smaller and

smaller relationship breaking

we have more kinds of food but less

nutrition

we have more medicine but less wellness

these are the days of two incomes but

more divorces isn’t it

we watch tv too seldom too much

and pray to seldom

we have taller buildings as i mentioned

we have made a huge problem in terms of

infrastructure but we have shorter

temples

we have bigger houses smaller families

these are all paradoxes of life

which must recognize contemplate

while we evaluate our progress

so why is this that on one side we claim

having made huge progress on the other

side

our happiness questioned our average age

our wellness is perpetually

falling down people are more stressed

more depressed these days

isn’t it

so what is the root cause behind this

what is the poison which we have in our

pot and that in spite of so much

progress we are not seeing the desired

result

isn’t it

and that poison is in the form of

ignorance

for example if you walk in a room

which is pitch dark there’s no light and

you have a lot of stuff lying in the

room

right and when you try to walk in that

room what will happen

again and again you’ll fall down you’ll

hit some

object maybe chair table bed

and might file down or fall down

why because it is dark and this darkness

reflects

ignorance or this ignorance reflects

darkness

most of us are ignorant about who we

are what is our real identity

what is it which can satisfy us

which can make us happy are we this in

body

or our identity is something different

of being a soul are we material bodies

or spirit soul that question

needs to be answered so that our

endeavors to become happy

are relevant

second is why there are so many

sufferings

in this world why one has to become

old why one has to become deceased

why one has to die these are all

abnormal conditions of life these are

not normal conditions

which we all have accepted we have

learned

that these are all normal conditions

everybody has to die everybody has to

become old no

there is a life beyond this which we

don’t understand we have no knowledge

about

so we must try to find answers to these

questions

what is the purpose of this material

word

what is the purpose of this body

why good things happen with bad people

why bad things happen with good people

why there’s so much of diversity in this

material world somebody is born in a

you know rich family somebody is born in

poor family somebody is beautiful

somebody is very ugly

what is the driver for this diversity

isn’t it important to understand very

very important

and finally who is controlling all of

this under whose direction

everything is happening

yeah we know we can’t even control our

nature’s call we have to rush to the

toilet

if we get a pressure we can’t control

how can we control

so many cosmic laws we can’t so there’s

somebody who’s controlling these

you know uh cosmic laws

which are beyond our control so it’s

very um

important to understand to find answers

to these questions

now the next question is can material

science answer these questions

answer is no because it is beyond the

realm of

material science these are spiritual

subject matters and hence we have to

take shelter of

the wisdom of our scriptures like

bhagavad-gita bhagavatam

bible quran

there we might find answers to this

question not might we will find

for sure and when we become

conversant with the reality of life

the purpose of life

of this body this world

then our endeavors our

efforts will be directed

in the right direction whatever

knowledge we acquire

will become more relevant he’ll give

the desired result of you know becoming

happy

deriving happiness from whatever we do

remaining happy eternally not

occasionally

and what is the beginning point

beginning point is making an inquiry

asking the right questions like newton

asked the right question

in terms of why did apple fall from the

tree

yeah and when he tried to find he got

the answer

every y takes one to the high

so every such intelligent inquiry

will reveal so much to us which is

beyond our imagination

yeah and remove all the ignorance all

the darkness

in which we are trying to you know

walk around currently and falling again

and again

so this all learning is very very very

important

unlearning of the misconcepts or

misplaced

understanding we have developed our

period of time

about identity about purpose of life

and then possibly once we have the

answers

then all the knowledge required you know

in a clean pot which is you know

devoid of all the poison or ignorance

will give us desired result and the

desired result is finally to become

happy

every endeavor everybody is trying

everybody may have different parameters

for success

but the ultimate objective from any such

success is to derive happiness

nothing beyond that

yeah so i would encourage everyone

sitting there

to start asking these pertinent

most important wonderful questions

who am i

why am i suffering

what is the purpose of this daily word

why so much of diversity in this

material world

and finally who is controlling

and then going and asking him

how do i get rid of these sufferings

forever

so once we find answers to these

questions we will

definitely become eternally happy and

peaceful

thank you very much