The Hindu : Experience validates truth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 01, 2004

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Experience validates truth

CHENNAI, MARCH 1 . One of the pitfalls of spiritual life is complacence that one has understood the truth and also that one's understanding of it is the correct one without realising that only spiritual experience can validate intellectual conviction. This misconception is due to the inability to appreciate the fact that any intellectual enquiry is coloured by one's perception and hence there can be many views of truth and interpretations of Dharma. It is akin to a person suffering from jaundice seeing everything in yellow colour.

One will be able to appreciate how misleading an individual's beliefs can be and also how he can rationalise and thus justify his actions with an example. A thief struck a deal with God that he would offer half of the booty he robbed to a temple. He was very faithful to his commitment till he was caught and punished. In prison without repenting for his misdeed he reasoned to himself that he was caught only because he had offered 25 per cent when he had a windfall in the last robbery instead of half of it as he had vowed, for which God had let him down. It never occurred to him that he was undergoing punishment for committing theft, which was wrong.

In his discourse, Sri Suki Sivam said even a sterling devotee like Hanuman was once subjected to such a delusion. A saint devoted to Rama was recounting the episode of Hanuman visiting the Ashoka grove and while graphically portraying the scene mentioned that the flowers there were white. Hanuman who was intently listening to the saint immediately corrected him saying that the flowers were red in colour as he was the one who saw them. But the saint was sure that he was only depicting what was revealed to him. So they appealed the matter to Lord Rama and He said they were indeed white. He enlightened Hanuman that because of his anger at Ravana's treatment of Sita they had appeared red to him.

This is true of our understanding of the scriptural texts also and hence a spiritual seeker must guard against misconstruing them to suit one's convenience. Arjuna wanted to avoid fighting with his kith and kin, and so while listening to the exposition of truth by Lord Krishna on the battlefield, the path of knowledge (Jnana) appealed more to his mind as he could then renounce action. The Lord had to emphasise that both the paths of knowledge and action would lead to the same end of liberation so that he would not shirk his duty — engage in war, as a warrior should.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Miscellaneous

News Update

Stories in this Section

The Hindu Crossword 7919

Solution to puzzle 7918

Experience validates truth

dated March 1, 1954: Study of Sanskrit

dated March 1, 1954: Panikkar's appeal

dated March 1, 1954: Recruitment policy

Weather