KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers”- said Lord Tennyson. The very statement says it all. Knowledge- what is it actually? The Oxford defines it as ‘information and skills gained through experience or education’. So materialistic, isn’t it? Well, I define it as something that sculpts you into someone who can dare to dream, strive hard to accomplish it and finally surmount the world! Better still, let me put it this way- Knowledge is something which gives you a desire so deep that you envision achievement as your goal. Knowledge is something that empowers you with an ageless strength to discover your own path and walk on it to leave a trail behind for the others to follow. Knowledge is something that can ignite the somniferous of the minds to see a new horizon for life. Knowledge is something that instills in you a spirit so indefatigable that victory becomes a habit!! So, can I not sum it up to just three words- KNOWLEDGE IS POWER??

If you scrutinize the two words i.e. knowledge and power, they can be merely looked upon as two other words of the English dictionary or can be visualized as two weapons that can aid one to be triumphant in any battle during this drive on the path of life. Time and again history has borne testimony enough to say that knowledge gives man the paramount power to conquer. But hey wait!! I am not referring to the battles won at the cost of human lives. I mean the combats between the war-monger nations due to mutual belligerence and hostility result in nothing except annihilation and render a gory sight to the eye!! You must be pondering that what knowledge has got to do with all these stuff. Let me explain it with the best ever example that history possesses in this aspect. Ashoka, the Great, - who hasn’t heard of his vindictiveness and obsession for the throne?? His unscrupulousness and malice fetched him victory unparalleled and glory unsurpassed. But for what he is more remembered is the remarkable transcendence in his character after witnessing the mayhem caused by war and listening to the appalling cries of hundreds rendered homeless and lost. He sacrificed his ‘much craved for’ throne and took the path of benevolence and altruism. He became an ardent disciple of Lord Buddha and attained Enlightment and knowledge- knowledge so profound that gave him the strength to travel the entire world and spread Buddhism, knowledge so cavernous that he is remembered even today for his works. The quote “A raja is honored in his own country, a learned man throughout the world” is hence justified!! Isn’t it??

As we walk down the lane of history, there exists an example galore attributing to the fact that knowledge is the key to the most sought after things in this world. Be it fame, money, peace, honor, happiness or success- knowledge gives you all. Swami Vivekanand, Sir Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, Sir Alfred Nobel, William Shakespeare, are just a few to name. The only thing that matters is the right inculcation of the knowledge that one has. To quote Samuel Johnson,” Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful”. I think all of us are in absolute unison with this statement. A truth exists in whatever we do. How can knowledge be spared then? After all ‘knowledge’ is one of the universal truths existing in the universe. The profundity of this concept of truth and knowledge is intricate to intake. But to put it in a simpler manner- Man, the mortal, comes in absolute ignorance to this world. His thirst for achieving something in life acquires him knowledge, rather the kind of knowledge that he prefers to gain. As a ramification of that knowledge,  he achieves his desired goals and targets, with success following. Now, whether that success is lasting or ephemeral, what never evades him is the knowledge. The whole of the world may turn against you; but your knowledge is what stays with you till the last breath. It can be well compared or looked upon as your shadow- following you wherever you go. All the scientists, reformers, patriots, writers, philosophers can be categorized under the big category called “knowledge personified”!!! It was their knowledge that gave them the recognition and honor which is engraved in golden letters in pages of history!!!

“Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven”- said William Shakespeare. Yes, ignorance- the chief element responsible for attaining knowledge. Rather it’s the knowledge of one’s ignorance that triggers his desire for knowledge. Your admission about your own ignorance is what makes you worth acquiring the knowledge you crave for, after all the essence of knowledge is having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance. The best judge of one’s own ignorance is the one himself; but same is not the case with one’s knowledge. The moment you do that, you will start to see your own end. Sir Albert Einstein has said- “Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of Gods!!” Kudos Sir!

Now it would be very unfair on my part not to mention about ‘wisdom’ while writing about knowledge. Quite a few definitions exist regarding wisdom. But the simplest of them all is –knowledge coupled with humility is wisdom. If knowledge gives you the desire to achieve, wisdom endows you with the fortitude to preserve that achievement. If knowledge gives you an indomitable spirit to chase victory, wisdom bestows you with the resilience to keep that spirit enlivened. If knowledge gives you the strength to revolutionize the world around you, wisdom bequeaths you with the modesty that ensures your pride not to come before your fall. If knowledge gives you power, wisdom gives you perseverance to conserve that power!! Now how to achieve wisdom- that’s what troubles us the most, right? The answer lies in what Benjamin Franklin has said-“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is knowledge of our own ignorance.” Quite simple I guess. Try to touch the sky with your feet on earth- that’s how I put it!!

So, at the end of the day, I guess ample things have been said to justify that “knowledge is power”. If not, then I just have this to say..

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;       Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action.... into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake…

-Tritraya Bose