Lakshmana once complained to Rama about their guru, Vashishtha. "Look at Vashishtha, weeping over the death of his son."
Rama replied, "To be wise man is also to be ignorant. He knows the light, but also the darkness. He is a man, not yet beyond knowledge and ignorance, still seeing light and dark. His knowledge is not yet beyond knowledge."
Ignorance is like a thorn in your foot; you use the thorn of knowledge to remove that first thorn, but when that is done, you cast away both thorns, both knowledge and ignorance. The Ultimate Reality is beyond both: you must go beyond.
Inspired by: Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna
Notes: This is story 178 in the book. You can find out more about Vijnana at Wikipedia, including a specific discussion about its role in Ramakrishna's Vijnana Vedanta. You can also read there about Rama, Lakshmana, and Vashishtha.
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