You Are a Nobody If You Are Not Wise

By Squadron Leader (DR) Pravin Bhatia

There is so much poverty in the world because we were obsessed with knowledge. Every Holy Scripture from Bible to the Bhagavad Gita warns us against crowding the mind with knowledge. They all tell us that we must shift from knowledge to wisdom. Knowledge is just a range of information. It can be good or bad, useful or useless. The ability to choose knowledge as per objectives is the first step towards achieving wisdom. The creative use of correct choice of knowledge is its second step. The final step of wisdom is to persist till the objective is achieved.

The best place to achieve wisdom is in the class room. This is possible if teachers do not insist on teaching through lectures and testing children through examinations by forcing them to learn by rote like parrots. The teacher must ensure that the student learns by reading speaking, thinking, writing and listening in groups. The teacher must become a facilitator in the process of learning. This will create vibrant and wise children who will make our mother earth a great place to live in.

This book tells you how this can be achieved by the students. It also tells you how you can replicate the steps provided by the book for learning by students in acquiring wisdom in your own lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: May 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781482889901

Squadron Leader (DR) Pravin Bhatia

Squadron Leader (DR) Pravin Bhatia retired from the Indian Air Force in 1992 after twenty-four years as a squadron leader. He has written almost two hundred books and is the co-founder of Creative Educators, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that promotes the teaching technique of Dr. Ranchhoddas Mohota. He’s also the president of Nagpur Management Association and the director of education of SAARC Society International.

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Copyright © 2017 by Squadron Leader (DR) Pravin Bhatia.

ISBN:             Hardcover             978-1-4828-8992-5

                     Softcover                978-1-4828-8991-8

                    eBook                       978-1-4828-8990-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Contents

1. The Vital Questions

• An Epistemological Aberration

• The Teaching of Inert Facts

2. The Brain

• Every Organ Depends on other Organs

• A Poorly Thinking Brain Causes Misery

• The Moral Meaning of Money

• Creative Writing

• The Wisdom of Science

• Imagination is Health

• Analysing is Detailed Examination

• Decision Making

• Concentration is the Treasure-house of Knowledge

• Integrating the Information of the Senses

• Prejudice is the Reason of Fools

• Logic is the Soul of Wisdom

• Interest, Inquisitiveness and Enthusiasm

• Don’t Kill the Artist in a Child

• Intelligence and Sport

• Every Activity on Earth Requires Intelligence

• Conscious, Subconscious, and Unconscious Thought

• Brain’s Unique Characteristic

• Communication Comes from the Brain

• The Barrier between Men who Communicate

• Friendship is Sound Health

• The Art of Teaching

• Creating God out of Cold Marble

• Sherlock Holmes and the Power of Deduction

• There is no Understanding beyond the Human Brain

• Can we Prove God Statistically?

• Discarding Irrational Conflicts

• Destiny is a Matter of Choice, not of Chance

• Let us Study the Brain

• Do we know the Power of our Brain?

3. Using Definitions Wisely

• The Nature of a True Definition

• Prejudices cannot Exist Along with Happiness

• Different Definitions, same Word

• The Exceptional Abilities of Intelligence

• Definition of Head, Brain, Mind and Other Vital Words

• Knowledge is Not Power

• The Damage Caused by Literature

• Two Brains

• We are not Taught how to Use the Brain

• Right Knowledge

• Intelligence, not Knowledge, Makes us Great

• Worthwhile Reading

• Reading is an Art, as is Thinking and Writing

4. Can We Develop Intelligence?

• Can we Develop Intelligence?

• IQ Tests do not Gauge Absolute Intelligence

• The Importance of the Subconscious and Unconscious Mind

• Consciousness

• Living Life Second-hand

• Intelligence Engineering

• Focused Awareness

• Food for the Brain

• Attitude of Altitude

• Brainwashing

5. Developing Wisdom

• Learning and Wisdom

• Seeing with Purpose

• Use of Other Sensory Organs

• Methods to Train our Senses

• Thinking Should Liberate

• A World of Ideas or Prejudices

• Analytical Mind and Approach

• Intelligence is Useless without Concentration

• Hunger for Success Helps Concentration

• Creativity is Life

• Brainstorming

• The Discovery of a Standard of Judgements

• It is a Luxury to be Understood

• Words should not be Used like a Drug

• An Insult is not an Argument

• Greater Numerical Ability Means Greater Intelligence

• Shrewdness is the same as Intelligence

• Tact is Presenting a Bouquet of Roses without the Thorns

• Diplomacy is Dressing Realism in Morality

• Empathy

• Interest Energises the Creative Forces in our Brain

• Interest can Lead to Enthusiasm

• Persistence

• Confidence

• Precision of Ambition

• Self-control

• Co-operation is the Foundation of Organised Effort

• Coming Together of Great Minds

• Money is Wise, it Knows its Way

• Intolerance Comes out of Ignorance

• Creativity and Wisdom have no Diminishing Returns

• We are Scared of Change

• To Fear is to be Psychologically Ill

• Praise is but the Shadow of Virtue

• An Idea is a Feat of Association

• Reading with a Purpose

• Selfishness is a Virtue

• Nothing Ever Goes Wrong, that is the Basic Law

• Pain and Sorrow also Teach

• Virtuous Circle

• Work is Worship

• Smart Versus Hard Work

• Sacrifice is Simply not Possible

• Spiritual Intelligence

• Simple Living Means Finding Solutions to Problems

• High Thinking is Intelligence Working at its Best

6. The Key to Development of Wisdom

• Responsibility Stimulates the Mind

• The Power to Grasp Things

• Concentration is the Key to Success

• Balancing our Wisdom

• I’ll Give you a Simple Exercise

• Thought can Enslave or Liberate

• Hindu Scriptures Transform us

• The Relevance of our Spine

• Meditation

• The Wisdom of Food

• Energy-Producing Foods

• Vegetables

• Dairy Products

• Herbs

• Energy Depleting Foods

• Oils

• Sugar

• Salt

• Nutritional supplements

• Sleep

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pravin%20Bhatia%20sir%20jpeg.jpg

The author of this book is a retired commissioned officer of the Indian Air Force. He retired from the Indian Air Force in 1992 after twenty-four years as a Squadron Leader.

The author wrote 150 books between 1993 and 2008. He was declared Author of the Year and Bestseller Author of the year in 2008 by Books Today of India Today, the most prominent magazine of India. He has since then written twenty-one additional books. Some of these are being read or taught in countries throughout the world.

Since 2010, the author, Squadron Leader (Dr) Pravin Bhatia, has trained millions of students in India through the teaching technique of Dr R. D. Mohota. He has made the technique popular in schools and colleges as well as in the corporate world.

The author is co-founder of Creative Educators, the non-profit NGO which promotes the teaching technique of Dr R. D. Mohota.

The author can be contacted as per the details given below.

Squadron Leader (Dr) Pravin Bhatia

82, KADBI CHOWK,

NAGPUR

INDIA – 440004

Mob: [phone]

91-9156625456

E-mail: [e-mail]

Co-founder, Creative Educators

President, Nagpur Management Association

Director, Education, SAARC Society International.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Dr R.D. Mohota. He is the brain and inspiration behind its contents. This book would not have been possible without his magnificent and unique ideas and constant support. The words may be mine but the ideas belong to him.

Squadron Leader (DR). Pravin Bhatia

                                        Author

FOREWORD

This book took shape in my mind many years ago. At that time it was like an embryo, a vague subconscious urge, which did not find enough words and ideas to take the shape of a book. It took me ten years and a great idea from a friend to provide the energy to write it. But first, I have to narrate the incident that ignited my subconscious mind.

The heart is lubricated, said a speaker, the brain is dry. So follow your heart and fulfil your dreams. One thousand people in the auditorium stood and applauded. The only person who was baffled was me. I found the statement flawed; I was baffled because everyone else was inspired by it.

It was 15 December 2006. I was in a huge auditorium in the beautiful town of Bhopal. The speaker was an eminent personality who had reached the highest level in a software company in the U.S. He had come to motivate us all. The man himself looked elegant and eminently intelligent. He spoke in a crisp voice which exuded confidence and wisdom.

I wondered if the man had made an error. I understood that millions of us mindlessly accept what a seemingly intelligent or spiritual man utters. People throw rubbish into our minds because we keep them completely open, like dirty dustbins. So the applause was pardonable, even understandable, but the statement was not. It negated man’s existence. He survives – and thrives – through his reasoning mind. To give primacy to a flawed statement, which can at best be called a whim, is to put existence in danger. Errors of knowledge are not a problem; evasion of an understanding of how the human beings function is a terrible error; as is the suspension of thought.

One of the biggest problems of the human mind is being enamoured by aesthetic aberrations. Foggy metaphors, confused images, purposeless poetry, baseless slogans and arbitrary homilies do not alter the fact that man thrives by his intelligent mind. Charming nonsense said in a beautiful manner, is neither charming nor is it beautiful; it is nonsense. This stage is tolerable if it does not cause harm. It becomes terrifying when nonsense is replaced with anti-life thought.

Man’s only commandment is: Thou shall think; and this automatically means: Thou shall be wise. Despite being the weakest, he controls the entire animal world. He achieves this only when he uses his intelligence. Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. He becomes nature’s sole mistake when he gives up. Man has two traits, which are similar to animals. These are sensations and perceptions, but it is conception that separates him from an animal. It requires intelligence to convert sensations and perceptions into conceptions.

Man is the weakest of all animals. He does not have the strength of an elephant or the sharp claws of a lion. He cannot fly like a bird or swim like a fish. He cannot even lift many times his body weight as does the tiny ant. We must then laugh at such a man to avoid crying for him.

The greatest revolution of modern man is his ability to change the outer aspects of his life by upgrading the inner workings of his mind; without the mind, he becomes a blind, witless, low-brow, anthropocentric clod who inflicts lesions upon the earth–and upon himself. The first is unpardonable, the second unthinkable.

We all know that the body cannot remain healthy without a healthy mind; yet we do the least, if anything worthwhile at all, to keep the mind healthy. We all labour because we do not understand its basis and essence. We do not realise that health is not a condition of matter, but of mind. Natural forces within us are the true healers of diseases. These natural forces find their direction, and stimulation, from the mind. We also know that our success in every aspect of our existence depends upon our mind and how we use it. The Rig Veda has constantly reminded us about giving prominence to our intelligence over our emotions. It believes that every awakening in the world is a manifestation of the supreme power of our mind.

There is no secret to success. It simply calls for smart work, which in simple terms is the proper use of intelligence. Men are born to succeed, not to fail. Yet most men fail. They fail because they are not trained to use their minds in wise ways. They are more likely to overlook the use of their brains because they are told that their heart is of prime importance. The truth is the exact opposite. Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.

CHAPTER 1

The Vital Questions

This book began with three questions. I was in Dr R.D. Mohota’s house in Nagpur. The sprawling house with the grand vastness of the construction of the old days, when we lived like kings, and the neatly manicured lawns, looked magnificent to me. Dr Mohota could only talk about the menace of monkeys he had to face on a regular basis.

We were both sitting in Dr Mohota’s office, which also served the purpose of a study room. It looked like an antiquated British post box which had been placed vertically on the ground. Even the colours somewhat resembled the post box.

I had many questions to ask. I had many doubts based on what I had learnt. The questions will creep up as the book unfolds itself. Dr Mohota countered my doubts with a question.

Which is the most important part of your body, according to you? he asked me

My mind, I said without any hesitation.

Dr Mohota was surprised. He had asked this question from many people in the last twenty years. Hardly anyone had said that the mind was the most important part of the body. They talked about the heart being the most important part of the body. Some said the stomach was of the greatest importance. It was my turn to be surprised. What appeared to me the most obvious answer to the question did not appear so to others

How many pages have you read till now since your childhood?" Dr Mohota asked his second question.

I must have read millions of pages till now, I told him.

How many pages have you read about the mind? he asked.

I was stunned. I could not recall even one. I consider myself a voracious reader. It is both a passion and a professional necessity; yet, I had not read anything about the most important part of my body, not at least, in the sense where the mind could sustain my existence on earth. No wonder I felt a vacuum within me despite the learning. No wonder there was a constant feeling of inadequacy. I had not ever felt that I had performed to my potential. I realised that to fill the sixty minutes in the hour with true potential of our intelligence is happiness. I also realised why so many of us are miserable. We simply do not have the material to fill our mind with meaningful information.

A few days later, a greater insight dawned on me about the whole thing. I was delivering a lecture on Shakespearean tragedies in the most prestigious college of Nagpur. There were nearly two hundred students present. The students had gathered for a certificate course conducted by the Shakespeare Society of Central India. The lecture ended two hours later. There was still some time for the next speaker to arrive. I was asked to interact with the participants till he arrived.

Which is the most important part of your body? I asked.

It is the heart? said everyone in unison barring one frail looking boy. He had either not understood the question or he was not sure of his answer.

An Epistemological Aberration

The response baffled me. This was an elite gathering of students. Most of them were doing their masters in business administration, literature, economics, and so on. Some were doing their graduation. The applause of the audience in Bhopal came to haunt me. The students talked about the heart–its pains, its sorrows, its joys–little realising that the heart has no physiological ability to think or feel. That is the sole domain of the mind. The heart is a cone-shaped organ, the size of a fist, whose job is to pump blood. Then why had that seemingly intelligent man in Bhopal made his baffling statement? And why were these energetic students, on the threshold of greatness, making the same error? I think they all used the word heart as an epistemological aberration, simply because everyone uses it in the same manner.

The Teaching of Inert Facts

The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. It is a debt from the present to the future generation. Unfortunately, today education is what survives when what was learnt has been forgotten. Education has become a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. This happens because we endlessly teach inert facts at school. In any case, education can train, but not create, wisdom; because wisdom is proved not by ease of learning but by understanding what we learn. That is precisely what is not taught in our schools.

In the long run of history, the censor and the