Cultivating Wisdom and Spiritual Love

~Insights by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda

“The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture [cultivation] of [transcendental] knowledge, and that a different result is obtained from the culture [cultivation] of nescience [ignorance].”

—Sri Ishopanishad, Mantra Ten

For one who cultivates wisdom or true knowledge and spiritual love, the results are inner peace, satisfaction, patience, respect for others, freedom from duplicity, compassion, joyfulness, remembrance of his spiritual identity, freedom from the fear of death, freedom from anxiety and depression, and so on.

On the other hand, for a person who lives a hedonistic life, a life of exploitation of others, the results are envy, anger, greed, impatience, disrespect for others, anxiety, depression, hatred, ever-increasing lust, forgetfulness, frustration, dissatisfaction, duplicity, fear of death and so on.

The search for perfect wisdom and the attempt to live by such wisdom is an ongoing eternal challenge – and it is real. Only the most courageous people will accept this challenge.

“When a person who thirsts after the truth gains an understanding of this transcendental knowledge, he has reached the completion of his education. When someone drinks nectar, no more thirst will remain.”

—Uddhava Gita 23.32