Ibonio D’Souza
Is your present knowledge helping you and guiding you rightly or obstructing your progress? Right knowledge may be said to be the compass of life. It gives you the vision to know, to anticipate, and prepares you for the journey of life. The Creator has endowed you with a great tool, your mind, which can accumulate knowledge and process it, which you can use to your best advantage. However, not all are able to use it effectively because of various inhibiting factors.
As we know, knowledge cuts both ways. Hence, to put the knowledge to right use, you must know whether you have the right knowledge and whether you have the right conditions for using the knowledge. The same holds true for every action in your life. If you have dreams and goals, you must know whether they are right for you and whether you have the right means to reach them. To expect otherwise is to lose direction in your life and lose your way.
Even to make simple decisions in your life, you need knowledge. You need it to make your way through the forest of life, negotiating the dangers, and reach your desired destination. Be those spiritual or material goals that you pursue, you require right knowledge. However, like any other tool you use in your life, you cannot just do with any knowledge or any type of knowledge. You must have right knowledge and know which knowledge is required to reach your goals. You should also know how to use such knowledge and when to use it. You must also have the discretion to know its limitations and what you cannot do with it.
The way to right knowledge is through self-study and introspection. If you have more knowledge and information, you are more likely to make better decisions. With right knowledge, you develop the ability to discern things. We already have a vast amount of knowledge accumulated through generations of wise and holy people who lived in the past and left behind their wisdom as teachings. This vast reservoir of knowledge can help us to cultivate right knowledge and discernment.
As right knowledge is essential for right decisions, one needs to choose right goals and pursue right methods in our worldly life. Today, in many countries people are pursuing wrong goals and making wrong decisions about their careers, lives, beliefs, lifestyles, the products they use, the religions they practice, the values they uphold and the relationships they build. A lot of it can be attributed to lack of pure common sense, and absence of discretion. When you do not have knowledge, you will choose wrong leaders, pursue wrong ideologies, make wrong turns in your life and end up in situations you may dislike. Therefore, ask yourself whether the knowledge you have is the right one for you. Are you ready for the journey of life? Have you learned to use your discretion and make right decisions? Think about these. If you do not have the right knowledge, you will be stuck in the forest of your life.
