Flawless Scholarship

By Karmayogi

Whatever is flawless is adorable. At that point, it becomes Perfect. Indian scholarship enjoyed that eminence. Western scholarship always aimed at it. While scholarship in the West is out of physical labour, Indian scholarship was, in those heydays of the Spirit, based on Intuition that is spiritual. The thinker excels the scholar. The poet exceeds the thinking philosopher. In English, the word poet stands for one who writes inspired poetry. In Sanskrit, the poet is denoted by the word kavi, which means one who sees, a seer. Only the yogi goes beyond the kavi. Even by 1910, Shakespearean scholars had produced about 11,000 volumes. The amount of research done in the field of literary criticism is phenomenal. Sometimes we hear a certain incident or phrase described as the flaw of Shakespeare. Mostly when that point is seen against the whole personality of the poet, it would be the point where the poet excels himself, where his genius emerges in perfect form. A well-known creative poet wrote to Sri Aurobindo about amending a line in the first Canto of his epic poem, Savitri. Sri Aurobindo replied that He thought it was His best line. Knowledge of Sri Aurobindo enables a great scholar to scale new heights and become a thinker.

Objectivity in research is very difficult. We see now old authenticated facts thrown out by new facts. Flawlessness in any work, whether it is a music performance or writing a letter, is no easy job. A South Indian company, very small in size representing one third of one percent of the national market, had the temerity to apply to a British multinational for its franchise. The tiny company was speechless when their application was granted. After a year when the British and Indian partners became close, it came to light that the British company had granted the franchise because they were impressed by the company's first letter.

The Indian company, in order to write that simple short letter, had entrusted the job to a perfectionist. Though it was a simple work (we can even call it a silly job), perfection in all its aspects made the multinational grant the franchise. Such perfectionists are found in many offices, in ordinary homes and in ordinary vocations. They are the spiritual resources of India, as their perfection comes from our spiritual foundation. If such housewives, clerks, and simple artisans invoke the Spirit, they will become national celebrities. The one condition is utter Truthfulness. India is great, as she has a vast reservoir of Spiritual wealth buried in her life.