Hello and welcome.
My name is Pratika.
Today.
I'd like to share with you a video.
Called Knowledge and Direct Knowing.
I'd like to explore something that may seem very simple.
Yet has the potential to quietly change the way we see ourselves and the world around us.
It is the difference between knowledge and direct knowing.
At first,
They may appear to be the same.
After all,
Both seem to involve knowing something.
But perhaps they are not the same at all.
Knowledge is something we acquire from books,
From teachers,
From experiences,
From memory.
Knowledge grows over time.
It can be collected,
Compared,
Discussed.
And shared.
There is a great value in knowledge.
It helps us navigate the practical world.
It allows us to learn,
To communicate,
And to understand.
But there is another kind of knowing.
One that cannot be borrowed,
Cannot be taught,
And cannot be stored in memory.
It is a knowing that is immediate,
A knowing that is present,
Before thought has time to explain it.
Imagine someone describing the taste of a ripe mango.
They may choose beautiful words.
They may describe its sweetness,
Its fragrance.
Its richness.
You may listen carefully.
You may understand every description.
You may even become an expert on mangoes.
But until you taste one,
There is no direct knowing.
The description points,
The experience reveals.
Perhaps the same is true of peace.
We can read about peace,
Think about peace,
Discuss peace.
Even understand the psychology of peace.
But there comes a moment when the mind falls still.
And peace is no longer an idea.
It is simply here.
Not because it is being created.
But because it has been directly experienced.
The same is true of awareness.
No description can replace the simple recognition that awareness is already present.
Before the next thought.
Before the next conclusion.
Before the next effort to understand.
There is already a quiet knowing.
Not the knowing of memory.
Not the knowing of concepts.
Simply the knowing.
Of simply being present.
Perhaps this is why there is no amount of accumulated knowledge that can ever bring us completely to self-awareness.
Knowledge can point,
It can inspire.
It can illuminate the path.
But sooner or later there comes an invitation to stop collecting and begin deeper looking.
Not outward,
But inward.
Not for another answer,
But for the simple quiet presence that has never been absent.
For a few moments allow.
Every idea to rest in the heart.
There is nothing to remember,
Nothing to compare,
Nothing to understand.
Simply notice that you are aware.
No effort is needed.
No belief is required.
This quiet abiding awareness.
Is not something you have learned.
It is not something you have achieved.
It is what has always been here,
Present.
Gently illuminating.
Every experience.
This is what direct knowing truly is.
Not the arrival of new knowledge.
But require self-recognition.
Of what has never been missing.
The living reality.
At the very heart of our being.
Thank you for sharing these few moments together.
And until we meet again,
My understanding gently give way.
To direct experiencing.
And may direct experiencing quietly blossom.
Into direct knowing in the heart of all.
Blessings to you.
