We have heard from the sages that from the cultivation of knowledge and ignorance different results are obtained.

"We have heard from the sages that..." indicates that whatever is expressed in this mantra has been revealed by the sages, in plural, because the bona fide master is not only one, but he belongs to a line of spiritual masters or paramparā. Sanātana—dharma is a wisdom descending through a chain of masters which originates in Divine realization, evaṁ paramparā—prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. Apart from the dīkśhā—guru or the initiating spiritual master, there are śikśā—gurus or instructing spiritual masters.

The sages take us by the hand, like children, from the coarsest, through the more abstract and subtle, till the most elevated. First, they advise us to recognize ignorance, observe it, accept it, and understand it. Then they recommend going to more basic levels of vidya, starting from intellectual knowledge, or aparā—vidyā, which can be transmitted, continuing through vidyā which it is still possible to communicate and teach, and finally fly from parā—vidyā or wisdom and reach the transcendental levels of the realization of consciousness.

According to the Upaniṣads, spiritual ignorance, or avidyā, is knowledge which is limited to the external world of names and forms. It is mundane knowledge, which completely ignores the Self. In other words, ignorance in this sense is not only disinformation but refers to illusion or māyā. Thus, avidyā refers to ignorance of a spiritual kind. Knowledge, or vidyā, on the other hand, is knowledge in relation to the soul, of the śāstra or the Holy Scriptures, about God, about Brahman, religious knowledge. Beyond a doubt, each of these two types of knowledge engenders different results, which have their own advantages and disadvantages.

For the Western mind, it is very hard to understand that the great discoveries of humanity have been the result of ignorance, because they have been the product of a search for happiness in the phenomenal world. All mundane action is an expression of this ignorance.

The advantages of avidyā reside in the fact that it is the origin and source of all science and technology, whose application, if wisely used, could offer great benefits to humanity over a wide range of fields. Thanks to the search for well—being in the reality of forms, man has advanced, reaching spectacular levels in many areas. Unfortunately, lacking an equal evolution on an internal level, these very advantages can become disadvantages, just as we can see in the problem of global warming. The disadvantages reside in the fact that when we believe ourselves to be our bodies, we search for bliss on the surface, and we live our lives without any meaning greater than running after pleasure and satisfaction of the senses. This is reflected in superficial and empty lives in which we degrade ourselves by the consumption of meat, intoxicants, alcohol, prostitution and drugs.

In our egoistic efforts to please the senses on an individual level, we have not noticed the damage we are causing to our bodies. In the same way, in behaving with an egoistic attitude on the collective level, we have damaged our planet. In fact, it is not technology that has hurt it, but our immature use of that technology.

Thus, it is clear that vidyā has its advantages, among which are the creation and establishment of a moral and ethic basis without which human society cannot be considered civilized. A nation that maintains and promotes its religious values clearly protects its inhabitants from degradation and illusion, which is one of the basic duties of any government. In other words I would say that a society that lacks religion is no more than an animal society, because human life without any religious aspect is only focused upon the four principles of the animal kingdom, namely: eating, sleeping, mating and defending oneself. An irreligious society, as technologically advanced as it may be, will be motivated only by the search for the satisfaction of the senses and sensory pleasure. Religion is the difference between the animal and human and the distance between the instinct and the intellect. Nowadays, human society suffers from innumerable problems, perhaps as never before seen in the history of humanity — hunger, suicides, drugs, alcoholism, prostitution, terrorism, destruction of the planet, etc. The only authentic and true solution to these problems is the opening of schools, colleges, high schools and universities which will teach the wisdom of Sanātana—dharma on a great scale, the opening of temples, āśramas and mandiras, or places of worship and prayer, and of centers of yoga, study and meditation. The true roots of the problems and the catastrophe facing humanity are spiritual immaturity, ignorance and disconnection from God. I am convinced that if humanity does not adopt the principles of eternal wisdom to address these problems, it will simply be lost.

Religious knowledge which leads us to be scholars of the sacred thus can be important in the beginning. However, if man gets stuck there and accepts this form of knowledge as if it were the very goal of religion, there will be many disadvantages, because knowledge is only capable of touching our intellect, our mind, and our reason, but it cannot touch us. In other words, we can accumulate an immense quantity of knowledge and information and nevertheless remain spiritually empty. Knowledge is a matter of information and not necessarily of transformation. Knowledge, or vidyā, can be about the soul, the scriptures, the Self or God, but will always be "about", and this "about" in spiritual subjects creates the great distance between us and that which we try to know.

The attachment to knowledge can develop as a means to hide and even disguise ignorance, because when we know, we continue to be ignorant. However, we will feel that we know something, when in fact all that we know are just certain names. Sectarianism and fanaticism originate from this attachment and acceptance of the intellectual knowledge of religion as the goal of religion itself. All controversies and rivalries among different religions and sects, and even within the same religion, such as that between the personalists and impersonalists, etc., are products of the darkness of so—called scriptural knowledge.

It is very important to adopt a certain spiritual method and a religion. However, this too must be abandoned at a certain point. Of course, I don't refer to abandoning religion, but to taking the great leap from aparā—vidyā and vidyā, to what we call parā—vidyā, or wisdom...