Means of Knowledge & Criteria for Truth

गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः। गुरुः साक्षात् परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः॥

Greeting,

In the last two blogs, you've observed that Seekers trust their senses only, practically. They know that to gain experience, one has to depend on their sensory organs, which can deceive them unpredictably. Additionally, you've seen how Seekers strive for a simpler lifestyle, aiming to remain free from any bondage so they can boldly traverse to seek the Truth.

To understand the ultimate Truth or to embody it, a seeker must first comprehend what Truth is and how to acquire knowledge about it. With the grace of my Guru, this blog aims to elucidate simple and direct methods to gain knowledge and establish criteria for distinguishing between Truth and illusion. These insights can guide new seekers in the right direction. This blog holds significant importance for those striving to uncover the ultimate Truth and understand their reality, because this will be the basis for all the endeavors seeker will do to reach the ultimate state.

Means of Knowledge

What is knowledge ?

All the experiences gathered from your sensory organs continually create coherent, logical, and sequential relationships among themselves. These mutual connections among experiences are stored in Memory, which resides in Chitt (a Sanskrit term). For instance, if you touch a hot pan with your finger, you quickly realize the burning sensation leading to pain. This understanding, that touching a hot pan can cause pain, is stored in memory in the form of Cause & Effect. Likewise, these understandings consistently evolve in memory in various forms such as Cause & Effect, Subject & Action, Hierarchy, Name & Form, and others.

What are the methods of gaining knowledge?

Given your ability to read this, I can presume you're familiar with various methods of acquiring knowledge. However, upon contemplation of these methods, you might find that not all avenues are capable of offering absolute Truth. The rightful means of obtaining knowledge are only those that provide complete understanding of Truth without leaving any doubts in all conditions. Let's analyze some of the most common methods of acquiring knowledge.

• First Hand Experience: Firsthand experience is a direct method of acquiring knowledge. In this approach, you rely solely on your own sensory organs, which convey experiences to your memory, granting direct knowledge from those experiences. For instance, if you wish to understand the taste of sugar, there is only one way to do so—by tasting it. Any other method, such as reading thousands of books describing the taste of sugar, will never provide the authentic experience.
• Logic: Logic is an aspect of your intelligence wherein you utilize your previous firsthand experiences to derive an accurate conclusion. For instance, if a hot pan is in front of you, based on your past experience, you can easily infer that touching it could cause pain. You don’t need to touch it; your conclusion still would be accurate.
• Guru: If you have a Guru, you are already very fortunate because there is no spiritual progress without the guidance of a Guru. By following all the instructions given by your Guru, you can certainly attain the ultimate Truth and discover your true nature. However, it's essential to note that while the Guru provides instructions, all the efforts to gain firsthand experience must be undertaken solely by you. A Guru is undoubtedly necessary, but they will only guide you in the right direction.
• Spiritual Literature: All the literature on spirituality is a gift from Gurus. From these literatures, you can easily learn what to do to uncover the Truth. However, even this literature is only capable of guiding you in the right direction. Yet, all efforts to gain firsthand experience still rest solely upon you. Additionally, in today's time, it’s quite easy for anyone to write and publish content that might be incorrect. Therefore, literature, at most, can only serve as a guide and is not the sole source of knowledge.
• Figures of speech: Sometimes, figures of speech like similes are employed when you aim to describe an unfamiliar experience to someone. For instance, if a person has never seen the sea, using a simile—comparing it to a pond but many thousand times bigger—can help them grasp its enormity without firsthand experience. However, when the same person sees a very large pond, confusion might arise as the comparison falls short. Thus, figures of speech serve as a tool for understanding unfamiliar concepts, yet they may not always provide an accurate source of knowledge.
• Mutually Exclusive Event: Sometimes, you can predict one event based on another event; for instance, if it is daytime now, it's easy to anticipate that 12 hours from now will be night. However, altering conditions, such as being at the North Pole, can defy this prediction, where even after 12 hours, it remains daylight. Thus, relying on the mutually exclusive nature of an event to gain knowledge may not always guarantee accurate information.
• Unavailability: Sometimes, you can predict the outcome based on the absence of something. For example, if you need to be at a place but lack gas in your car, you can easily conclude that you can't reach your destination. However, if the situation changes and your friends happen to pass by in their car, they can easily drop you at your destination. Therefore, relying on knowledge derived from unavailability does not guarantee accurate information.

From all the above sources of knowledge, one can easily conclude that there are only two sources of knowledge: first-hand experience and logic, which are based on one's first-hand experience.

To thoroughly comprehend any topic, one needs to understand seven aspects of that topic, which can be derived by asking the following seven questions: What, Why, When, How, Where, Who, How much. You can frame your questions like the following to know the Topic.

• What is that Topic: Answer to this will be the definition of the chosen topic.
• Why is that Topic: Answer to this will be the reason for the existence of the chosen topic.
• When is that Topic: Answer to this will be related to the time of the chosen topic like birth time.
• How is that Topic: Answer to this will be the process of creation of the chosen topic.
• Where is that Topic: Answer to this will be the location of the chosen topic.
• Who is that Topic: Answer to this will be some human form related to the chosen topic.
• How Much is that Topic: Answer to this will be the quantity of the chosen topic.

When you find the answers to these seven questions on any topic based on your first-hand experience and logic, you will have no remaining doubt on the topic.

Just as you've seen the sources of knowledge, there exist sources that can easily impart false knowledge. These sources of false knowledge are not based on your firsthand experience or logic; instead, they tend to entangle you in illogical dogmas. Some of these sources can be newspapers, TV channels, relatives, and family. They may disseminate incorrect knowledge, not always intentionally, but because these misconceptions are their personal Truths, untested for validity based on firsthand experience or logic.

Criteria for Truth

Every human has their own Truth. For instance, one person may enjoy winter weather while another prefers autumn. Similarly, one may favor working early in the morning, while others may prefer working late at night. Upon reading the second blog, one can easily realize that all these preferences—likes and dislikes—are merely inclinations imposed by external influences that were accepted without contemplation. Hence, the Truth varies from person to person.

If Truth is not the same for all, then what is the Truth that seekers are looking for? Is there a possibility of an ultimate Truth that remains the same for everyone, or can there be criteria that help you distinguish between Truth and falsehood?

For seekers striving to attain the ultimate state of Advait (Non-Duality), they should have a very high standard of criteria to find Truth. These criteria should easily guide them to distinguish between Truth and illusion, should be applicable to all topics, state, and should be devoid of condition.

To establish a high standard of criteria, one must analyze the experiences around them and discern between truth and illusion. This analysis of yours can make hidden laws apparent to you. For instance, if a person introduces themselves each time with a different name, wouldn’t it be logical for you to conclude that there is no truth in his name, as it is likely to change again when you meet them next time?

Let's consider another example: if a person has spent their entire life in a cold place, his truth might be that all parts of the earth are cold. However, when this person has a firsthand experience of a hot desert, his truth will be transformed. Now, this person can realize that different parts of the earth can have very different weather conditions. Therefore, truth cannot be something which has the option to evolve.

Similarly, if you have a red tomato in front of you, can you say it truly exists? With your first hand experience, you can easily observe that the same tomato will rot in a few days, decompose, and completely disappear within a few weeks. Can something that is continuously changing be considered as truth? You may believe that this tomato definitely existed and was true, at least for a week. However, you can also see that to establish the truth of the tomato, you have to confine it within a specific time frame. How can something be true if its truthfulness depends on conditions like time to remain valid? Similarly, all things, even those with the longest time span such as the Solar System or galaxies, exist only for some time. If you can accelerate time, you will realize that every one of your experiences is transient, much like a soap bubble. Truth should not depend on anything for its existence, such as time, place, etc.

Similarly, when you are dreaming, it’s very easy for you to determine that it is not true because it changes every time you experience it. Imagine a person who only wakes up for 5 minutes after every 10 years of sleep; for this person, the awake state would also be an illusion because every time the person wakes up, they find everything has changed, such as the people they knew or life around them. Therefore, truth can only be that which remains the same even when your state changes between sleep and wakefulness.

After analyzing the above examples, you can readily discern that for something to be true, it must remain consistent and free from conditions. Therefore, change can be considered fundamental and can be utilized as a criterion to distinguish between truth and illusion. You can establish a law: if anything changes, then it's not true. This law is simple and robust, and can guide you towards the pursuit of ultimate truth by accelerating your spiritual progress.

Since you have spent your entire life dealing with temporary truth (Visatya: which remains true within a condition), it will require some contemplation before your acceptance. However, I suggest contemplating both topics—Source of Knowledge and Criteria of Truth—for a few weeks, engaging in self-debate for and against the discussed points. This process will help eliminate any lingering doubts. As mentioned earlier, these topics are significantly important for seekers; therefore, it's crucial to resolve any doubts.

I will discuss a related topic in my next blog. Until then, reflect on life experiences and endeavor to find your Guru.