Sriranga is a holy place in South India. The presiding deity of that place is Lord Ranganatha. Once upon a time, there lived an illiterate, but a humble devotee of the Lord. He was a member of the team of priests of that temple. He used to bring flowers from the garden every day, prepare a beautiful garland and offer it to the Lord. This job was his source of livelihood too.

The king of Sriranga once got a desire to understand the true principle of the Almighty. He invited reputed scholars and listened to their discourses and debates intently. No doubt, the discussions were very interesting and entertaining, but the king’s objective was not achieved.

Lord Ranganatha felt sorry for the king and devised a plan to help him. He appeared to the humble priest in his dream and said, "Go to the court and silence those arguing scholars. Tell them about the true principle of the Almighty".

The priest was overwhelmed by the Darshan of the Lord. At the same time, he was utterly surprised at the instructions of the Lord. With an apprehensive mind he said "O! Lord, You know that I am an illiterate person. The scholars in the court are stalwarts in their respective fields. They will easily demolish my arguments just as an octopus finishes off its prey in a flash. By this, your reputation will also take a beating".

"Just do what I tell you. Leave the rest to me" assured the Lord. Now the priest was left with no alternative. He went to the king’s court and as soon as he began speaking, the essence of all the scriptures started becoming clear to him. Not only that, he was also able to tell which among the different philosophies was the best.
With the help of the divine knowledge which he got by the grace of Lord Ranganatha, he could establish the truth and earned the praise of one and all.
For those who are inclined towards spiritual thinking, there are many important hints in this story.

The priest who was offering Seva serving the Lord with humility and devotion was fully aware that he was an ignorant person. Even when the Lord appeared in his dream and ordered him to go to the king’s court and speak, the feeling - "I am an ignorant person, I do not know anything" was still persisting in his mind. No doubt, he was overwhelmed with joy when he had the Darshan of the Lord. But this joy was not like the pure bliss which can be achieved only by realising the Truth. Therefore, the doubt that his Lord’s reputation would be endangered had crept in to his mind. In other words, the joy that he experienced at the Darshan of the Lord was not completely devoid of anguish.

The Lord had simply ordered him to do what he was told. The priest too could not say ‘no’ and had acted accordingly. However, there was diffidence in his mind because he was aware that he was an ignorant person.

He went to the court. The Lord was not physically present there. But, by His divine grace, the essence of different scriptures flowed in to his heart. Not only that, the true principle of the Almighty, which is verily the absolute essence of all those scriptures was also revealed. The feeling of agony resulting from the knowledge - ‘I am an ignorant person’ had completely vanished. There was no more anguish or apprehension in his mind now. He preached the principle of the Almighty without fear or inhibition.

Opposed to this, the scholars in the king’s court were too confident about their ability and scholarship. They had considered themselves to be Jnanis (realised persons). But, they had not experienced the absolute bliss of Jnana and thus, were fighting among themselves to establish the supremacy of their school of thought. Because they were in such a frame of mind, they were not able to experience even the joy of the Darshan of the Lord, let alone the absolute bliss of Jnana. Thus, even their devotion had not reached the state of maturity. Therefore, the Lord was not satisfied with their arguments. Still, because they were struggling for a good cause and out of compassion for them, the Lord had sent the humble priest to cause awakening in them.

Why did not the Lord select a learned person? Why did he choose this illiterate person? The message is loud and clear - ‘FOR AWARENESS TO SET IN, WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THE COMPASSION OF THE ALMIGHTY; NOT THE KNOWLEDGE OF VOLUMINOUS SCRIPTURES’.

From the above story two things become clear. One, devotion will not blossom in the hearts of those who think "I am a Jnani". Two, he who realises "I am an ignorant person", may not begin to acquire knowledge straightaway. But, because of his devotion for the Almighty, he will receive His blessings and when the devotion ripens, knowledge in its purest form begins to sprout in his heart.

The following Sookti abridges this truth as under -

Aatmaanam jnaaninam vetsi
tarhyajnaanee bhavaan dhrivam
Yarhyajnaanam nijam vetsi
jnaanaarambhastadaa tvayi

‘If ever you consider yourself to be a Jnaani, you are really an ignorant person!' On the other hand, when you realise that you are an ignorant person, knowledge begins to dawn in you.’

The above story is an example of this theory. But is it proper to formulate a theory with the background of some isolated example? This is the question which is bound to arise in the minds of today’s youngsters. The question is indeed a valid one and is not without a basis.

When a person learns or understands something, he will know that he has understood the subject in question. Just because someone else gives him a merit certificate, his ignorance of the subject does not vanish. Consider the example of a person who does not study properly, but somehow manages to get a medical degree by using immoral means. Is the certificate he has so earned capable of removing his ignorance pertaining to the medical field? Let us consider another example. A student has read all the medical subjects thoroughly and has done very well in the exams. But the examiner has some grudge against this student and because of this, the student fails to pass. When the results are announced, just because the student’s name does not appear in the ‘Passed’ list, does his medical knowledge vanish? Therefore, to say "If ever you consider yourself to be a Jnaani, you are really an ignorant person" is not appropriate. Not only that, is it not absurd to think "when you realise that you are an ignorant person, knowledge begins to dawn in you" ? - this is the logic behind the thinking of today’s youngsters.
Let us try to answer these questions.

A particular student does not have good knowledge of english language. With whatever knowledge he has, he learns by heart books of anatomy, physiology, pathology and other medical books. He is able to reproduce any chapter word by word. He starts boasting that he is the most learned person in the field of medicine. Now, would you award a medical degree to such a person? Even if you award one, will the people in the society go to him for medical help?

In the first place, you will not award a certificate to him at all! Why? Because, you would want to test his knowledge and skill. You would place before him a dead body and ask him to identify different organs. You would bring a patient to him and ask him to arrive at a diagnosis. Why do you do all this? Because you know that to become a doctor, it is not enough to learn the words and sentences of medical texts by heart. The information available in the text books should be first assimilated by the student. Then it should be transformed in to knowledge. In other words, the student should experience the knowledge. Only then you will satisfactorily award him a certificate. In other words, you are implying that it is not enough if a student thinks that he is a doctor, but he should actually have the experience of medical knowledge.
Similarly, a particular spiritual aspirant reads great scriptures again and again. He is in a position to quote profusely from any scripture. By his constant reading, he comes to understand some aspects about the Almighty. Gradually, he begins to think that he is a Jnani, endowed with knowledge of the Almighty. Just because he thinks so, should we accept that he is a realised person? Should we not try to find out as to what divine experience he has had? These are the questions we must answer first.
Yes indeed. But how? In the case of medical knowledge, we can find out about the experience by presenting a patient before the student. When we want to test a person about his knowledge or experience of the Almighty, what should we present before him? We should present the Almighty Himself. But how to achieve this? We need to first understand who the Almighty is.

"Almighty is He who pervades everything and who is self-resplendent" is the declaration of Sage Vyasa. (Atmaanaamasuraasvena bhaasaa yo bhaati santatam). Because there can not be two such beings who pervade everything, it should be accepted that the Almighty is only one.

One who pervades everything should be present in all human beings too. But it is the experience of every person that the consciousness that pervades him is himself. No one experiences the contrary (no one feels that someone else is pervading him). By this, we can logically understand that the Jeevatma who pervades every human being is himself the Paramatma who pervades everything. It should be borne in mind here that the usage of two words - Jeevatma and Paramatma - is because of the fact that the above deduction is a logical one (in reality, both are the same).
If Jeevatma and Paramatma were to be two different beings, it would have been possible for one to know the other. When one realises that they are not different from each other, who will understand whom? Where is the second being to be understood? When there is nothing that can be known, how can a person be called a Jnani? (man of knowledge?)

Therefore, one who has really reached the state of experience, will never call himself a Jnani. If one calls oneself as Jnani, it means that one’s understanding has not reached the state of experience at all! Because of the scriptural knowledge of a person, the society might consider him a knowledgeable person. But he will not be able to rise to the level of real experience because he does not realise that his knowledge is still in the level of logical understanding. Therefore, the above Sookti opines that such a person is in fact an Ajnani.

On the other hand, if a person considers himself an Ajnani (ignorant) in spite of studying the scriptures, it means that he has the realisation that he possesses book knowledge only. Because of this awareness, he tries to achieve the level of true experience. Therefore the Sookti says "true knowledge begins to blossom in such a person".

We are now able to see that the above Sookti is based not merely on the story of a humble devotee. It has the firm basis of logic and reason.

The episode of the humble priest and the above logic help us to clearly recognise the path of Sadhana which is hidden in the above Sookti. A true Sadhaka should merge himself in pure devotion. Along with that, he should also acquire scriptural knowledge. When this happens, the Truth manifests in his heart in the form of Atma Tattva. May Lord Dattatreya bless you all with such experience.

Jaya Guru Datta.

Sri Swamiji