I don’t learn, it’s as if the learning happens. This does not mean that it’s effortless. It means that the farmer puts in a lot of effort in tilling the soil, sowing and irrigation. But the plants grow on their own, at unpredictable times. And for most of us, we don’t even notice the plants growing, we only notice the flowers.
This realisation has a corollary. It means that the introspection and contemplation must be ceaseless, if one has to hope to get any clarity along the way. There is no clear correlation between what you do today by way of study or introspection, and what you realise tomorrow. There is no such thing as “I’ll study Vedanta from 8 AM to 9 AM, then get on with life.” One has to keep the fundamental tenets of what one is learning active in one’s mind during the activities of vyavahaarik life1. One has to re-interpret one’s ordinary activities in the light of these learnings. This is what I mean by ceaseless introspection.
- vyavahaarik = day-to-day, transactional, material, operational โฉ๏ธ