418. Nobody knows Everything, but Everybody knows Something…..!

Nobody knows Everything, but Everybody knows Something…..!

There is a word “Collective Intelligence” which is a form of Cosmic intelligence distributed among all mortals that is frequently enhanced and harmonized in real time so that the result is an effective mobilization of skill among humans.  My initial idea is based on the notion that since the Cosmic intelligence is distributed among us, No one knows everything, but everyone knows something. So in the sense knowledge resides in humanity. No one can say he is Omniscient. Collecting this distributed intelligence is spiritual wisdom. So a serious seeker has to develop the “Madhukara Vritti” (job of the bee) and collect the vast wisdom by drawing the nectar of knowledge from each individual.

To collect it one has to accept the fact that he does not know all. The problem is that one does not accept that there is much more that he needs to know. Not only those who are ignorant but also those who are well versed in the subject, fail to know that not all is known. Upanishad says the knower of all is the one who know that he does not know. Humbly if one say that he does not know there is a flow of knowledge towards him from all directions. The stand that one takes which make him the knower of all will seldom help him to move forward. The stagnant water always stinks it is better if one is in the flow, to be in the flow one has to surrender to the currents without resistance.    

Once while travelling through a village, the great Tamil poet saint Avvaiyar noticed a jambu fruit tree. Looking at the rich ripe jambu fruit she had a liking to relish them. But the fruits were too high up on the tree far from her reach and her age prevented her from aim stones at them.  Fortunately for her she spotted a young cowherd boy on the tree. She asked him to fetch her some fruits.

The young boy asked “Paati (Granny) Do you want hot jambu fruits or cold jambu fruits?”

Avvaiyar who was a knowledgeable scholar herself was taken back by the words of the little guy. She wondered if there could be two kinds of jambu fruits hot and cold. She shouted at the little guy not to be smart as she knew very well that there was only one kind of jambu fruit she used to eat since her childhood.

But the young chap insisted her to let him know which she would prefer hot ones or the cold ones. This was too much for the old women. The little guy asked her if she did not know that there are two kinds of jambu fruit? The old lady did not want to show that she did not know about the two kinds of jambu fruit in the tree. She pretended to know about them and she asked for “Cold Fruit” and when the boy dropped some of the fruits from the tree old woman picked up one ripe fruit and began to blow air over it to shake off the sand; it was then, the boy confronted her: “You asked for cold fruit. Why are you taking hot fruit and blowing air over it to make it cool? There are no hot or cold jambu fruits it was ripe and unripe ones, the ripe one would gather sand around it while the unripe one does not. Avvaiyar immediately recognized that this was no ordinary boy who had come to teach her a lesson in humility. Then she sang composed a song in the honor of the boy, the boy revealed himself to be Lord Kartikeya.

Humility is the key that opens the Golden gates of Spiritual palace.

Humility is necessary to gain access to collaborate and get the collective intelligence in any field. It is not a crime to say "I do not know" .......................what say??