When Ignorance Screams Loudly, Intelligence Moves On

Ayudha Pooja is the occasion to celebrate knowledge, skill and our profession that ensures our livelihood, essentially our life. Vijaya Dasami is the occasion for celebrating victory, victory of good over evil, victory of knowledge over ignorance, victory of hard work over complacency, essentially victory of ‘purpose of life’.

Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita alerted us against three negative traits which are sure to spoil happiness and growth and they are Ignorance, Lack of faith and Scepticism. Lord Buddha identified “three poisons,” or three fires, or three negative qualities of the mind that cause most of our problems—and most of the problems in the world, which are Greed, Hatred and Ignorance.

Let us shun these fires during the pooja festival celebration and ensure happiness and growth.

When ignorance screams, Intelligence moves on.

Fools who refuse to accept their ignorance pose even more danger. Intelligence is not only about acquiring knowledge but also about knowing when to disengage from an unproductive argument.

Once, in a jungle, a donkey and a tiger were having a heated argument. The Donkey told the Tiger, “The grass is blue” to which the Tiger reasoned out that the grass is always green. The discussion became heated and the two decided to submit the issue to arbitration. So, they approached the judge, Lion.

As they approached the lion on his throne, the donkey started screaming, “Your highness, isn’t it true that the grass is blue?” to which the lion replied, “If you believe so, then the grass is blue”.

The donkey jumped forward and continued, “The tiger disagrees with me, contradicts me, annoys me. Please punish him!”

The King then declared, “The tiger will be punished with three days of silence”. The donkey jumped with joy and went on its way content and repeating “The grass is blue! The grass is blue!” celebrating his victory.

After the donkey left, the tiger asked the lion, “Your Majesty! Why have you punished me? After all, you know for sure that the grass is green”.

The lion justified his judgement, “That has nothing to do with the question of whether the grass is blue or green, the punishment is because it is degrading for a brave and intelligent creature like you, to waste time arguing with a fool. And on top of that you came and bothered me with that question, just to validate something you already knew was true”.

When Ignorance screams, Intelligence moves on because your peace and tranquillity are worth more.

The biggest waste of time in this life, is to argue with a fool, who is neither knowledgeable nor inclined to learn, but only the victory of their beliefs or illusions, or just to prove themselves as right. Never waste time on discussions that make no sense.

Are you thinking of political chat shows in our TV news channels? I am.

Knowledge decides what to say; Education decides how to say; Attitude decides how much to say; and Wisdom decides whether to say anything or not.

According to a famous saying, even God doesn’t like the strictness of the tongue, therefore He didn’t put any bone in it.

Tongue has no bone, but it is strong enough to break a heart. Be careful with your words.

Silence and smile are two different tools. Smiling is the way to solve many problems. Silence is the way to avoid many problems. If you meet people, meet them as flowers, so that whoever meets you gets happiness from you. If you depart from people, depart like fragrance, so that when you leave, your fragrance will stay with them.

“Speak only when you feel your words are better than your silence.” — Anonymous

That is why you would remember a Bhagavad Gita sloka from an earlier blog where Lord Krishna included silence as one of the tapa of the mind. Silence exercised when essential, helps building the intelligence.

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