Learning vs. Living

In this information age, getting information or knowledge is not difficult or a big deal. One does not need money to get information or knowledge. Thanks to Internet, information is at our fingertips and at no cost. Even spiritual knowledge is freely available in the form of books, videos and articles. If you want to learn anything about Yoga, Meditation or Preventive health care, all you need is spend some time on the internet, you will find loads of information. Of course learning from a teacher is more valuable than just getting information over the net or from a book.

 

Gaining knowledge is one thing and applying what we have learned in our day-to-day life is a whole different story. Gaining knowledge is different from gaining wisdom. In order for knowledge to translate into wisdom we need to apply the lessons in our life. Lessons or principles that we have learnt need to be assimilated into our life to see the results.

 

How can we bring the lessons learnt into our daily life? It takes a lot of time and effort to learn something, let alone practice what we have learnt. To practice what we have learnt, we need to develop a vision of where we are going with our life? Once we have the vision, then the virtues of commitment, perseverance and focus can help us.

 

According to the teachings of Yoga, learning is the first step, second step is understanding the lessons learnt. Understanding involves a lot of contemplation. Once we understood the lessons, third step is assimilation.

 

Any one who comes across spiritual knowledge or spiritual teachers to learn about life or to learn about oneself is considered blessed. I feel lucky to have come across this spiritual knowledge and so many teachers on my journey. However, assimilating those lessons into my life has not been easy. Moreover it is tempting to accumulate more knowledge than putting them into practice. One of my teachers recommended to include prayers in my spiritual practice to remove all obstacles.

 

Peace,