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