Kathamrita Volume II - Swami Vivekananda

‘What will happen to them (wife and children)?How will they manage without me? Who willlook after my wife, my family?’ Rakhal said,‘What will happen to my wife?’ ”Harmohan — Did Rakhal say that?Sri Ramakrishna — What else could he do? Hewho has knowledge also has ignorance.Lakshmana said to Rama, ‘Rama, how strange!Even a saint like Vaishishtha Deva is sufferingthe bereavement of his son!’ Rama said,‘Brother, he who has knowledge also hasignorance. You must go beyond bothknowledge and ignorance.’“Take, for example, a person whose foot ispierced by a thorn. He finds another thorn totake out the first one. After he has removed theformer with the help of the latter, he throwsaway both thorns. To pull out the thorn ofignorance, one has to use the thorn ofknowledge. When one throws away both thethorns of knowledge and ignorance, one attainsvijnana. Assimilating the idea that the Lordexists, one has to know Him in a special way.One must talk to Him intimately. This isvijnana. That is why Sri Krishna said to Arjuna,‘You must go beyond the three gunas.’“To attain vijnana, one has to take refuge invidya maya [17] . Vidya maya includes thediscrimination that the Lord is the Reality and