अविज्नातम् विजानताम् | विज्नातम् अविजानताम् ||

अविज्ञ्नातम् विजानताम् विज्ञ्नातम् अविजानताम्
ಅವಿಙ್ನಾತಮ್ ವಿಜಾನತಾಮ್ ವಿಙ್ನಾತಮ್ ಅವಿಜಾನತಾಮ್
avignAtam vijAnatam vijnAtam avijAnatAm
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ತಿಳಿದವನಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿದಿಲ್ಲ ತಿಳಿಯದವರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿದಿದೆ
जानॆवालॊ नजाने नजानॆवालॊ जाने
knows not does he who tells he knows, knows does he who tells he knows not
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This is rightfully one of the greatest gems of vEdic philosophy. If we were to translate it, it would become a beautiful superfluous thought kannaDa, as: "ತಿಳಿದವನಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿದಿಲ್ಲ ತಿಳಿಯದವರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿದಿದೆ ", in hindi as: " जानॆवालॊ नजाने नजानॆवालॊ जाने " and in english as: "knows not does he who tells he knows, knows does he who tells he knows not". At the outset, it's that plain simple. But, three and many layers of meaning are encapsulated within these beautiful collection of saMskrita words. Three of these, in order of their hierarchical philosophical, scientific and spiritual depths are:

1. Literary meaning.

2. Scientific meaning.

3. Spiritual meaning.

1. Literary meaning.

Sometimes, when somebody asks us - do you know mathematics, or even saMskrita, or even vAyustuti or even bhagavat gIta, or even the purANAs, , or even the brahmasutrAni, or even the upa-nishad, or even the vEdatrayI, or even the gAyatrI maMtra, or even the aum kAra), being all enthusiastic about the question, with a full bloated ego, we might have replied a big YES. But, what do we know really?.. If I speak in saMskrita as: "bhavatyAh nAma kim" or any such sentence, is it imperative enough and conclusive enough an evidence, that i know saMskrita. No. It only means that I know how to speak such a sentence, let alone understanding and speaking it correctly. Hence, the person who tells "I know" (with ego) really does not know. But if he says, "I do not know mathematics completely but, I do know what I know, and that which I know is tiny and puny", then there is a chance that at-least he knows the little of what he knows and also that he knows that he is open to learning what he does not know. Hence the line   "knows not does he who tells he knows, knows does he who tells he knows not". It is so prominent because, in the world of knowledge, what we do not know is infinite and what we know is highly limited and realistically very finite.

 - inspired by the words of my mAnasika guru, shrI guru Dr. bannaMje gOviMdAchArya

2. Scientific meaning.

(FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS IF IT DE-TRACKS YOU FROM THE TOPIC, since I have used a lot of scientific terms) Well, this is where the beauty of vEdic philosophy gets revealed. It is in fact one of the practical demonstrations to the words of the vEdAs and shrI madhwAchArya that "every sound is an epithet of GOD". GOD is known by infinite names. He is also sarvanAdapratipAdya. The literary meanings of nAda is 'vibration', 'sound', etc. This is one of the most practical and 'scientific' words actually. Temperature is the degree of hotness of something which exists, in that it is an indication of the degree of vibrations of individual atoms that the body is composed of. If there were nothing, and if the whole world is an illusion, then there would be no 'real' heat energy and hence there would be no temperature, in other words, there is zero degree Kelvin temperature. But, it is a proven fact that there is no such thing as zero degree Kelvin and in fact it is unattainable in practice according to the fundamental laws of thermodynamics, by which the universe is governed. Hence, in the word nAda, there is an inherent expression of the fact that - "the world is not an illusion and is real". Even if we were to stop the motions of atoms even for an infinitesimally small amount of time, it would result in two things: i) the very act of trying to make it come to stand still, would increase the entropy of the universe an amount proportional to the energy that would otherwise be contained in the atom if were to be left undisturbed !. That is, that portion of the nAda which would have been represented by that particular atom, is now represented by other atoms, on its behalf !!. ii) Even though, if were to make it stop vibrating, we would still not succeed in the mission because, the individual electrons and individual protrons and neutrons and their various interactions, still go on. If these go on, it means that there is subatomic vibration but we are not able to perceive the atomic level vibrations. Hence, the word nAda is also imperative of the fact that - "energy cannot be destroyed !! but can only be transferred", which is exactly the law of conservation of energy and hence also the first law of thermodynamics !!. Why i highlight these points is that we have to know the greatness of the word nAda. The individual swarAs of a language (be it saMskrit, or music, or kannaDa etc.) are multi-faceted expressions of the underlying nAda. Hence, every swara represents nAda. Understanding a swara leads us to the path of that underlying nAda. This inturn leads us to GOD; how does it do so--> janmAdyasya yataH. When something as fundamental as nAda (let alone physical matter) exists, it needs a source, which is vishNu or GOD, who is in turn his own source. These arguments are in essence a logical and scientific proof of Shri madhwAchAryA's sentence: "Every sound is an epithet of GOD".

3. Spiritual meaning.

In this meaning of the two lines, nothing negative is said and everything said is positive. Breaking down the sentence अविज्ञ्नातम् विजानताम् विज्ञ्नातम् अविजानताम् as: अ   विज्ञ्नातम्       विजानताम्            विज्ञ्नातम्        अ   विजानताम्, the new meaning is: one who knows and is aware of the knowledge of अ kAra (note: अ kAra signifies rig-vEda and hence also the purusha sUkta, अ kAra is another name of अ kAra shbdhavAchya visNu, अ kAra also signifies negation (that is denoting such a quality which is nothing like those that we know of)) [that is अ   विज्ञ्नातम् ], knows [विजानताम् ] (and what does he know? --- he knows more about what he knows. Its that simple). That is the first line tells -- One who knows even a little of अ (vishNu) knows (will know) more about अ (vishNu). Lets come to second line. One who knows विज्ञ्नातम् (what? -- one who knows that he knows not, one who knows that he has to know, one who knows that there are infinite unknowns, one who knows what he knows, one who knows that what he knows is very finite), he can understand अ [अ   विजानताम्]. That is the second line tells -- one who knows, will know अ (vishNu).

- Sunil Anandatheertha