Self knowledge is true wealth and power - Bhagavad Gita ch3:32

With age comes insight. The older we get, the better we get to know ourselves. This allows us to constantly improve as a person. Theoretically we should age well, like a good cheese.

Then why do some people deteriorate in character with age? It may be because they had bad habits to begin with. Whatever habits we have entrenched within us will become even more entrenched with age.

We have a lifetime to gradually improve ourselves. However, because we don't actually know who the self is, we may miss the opportunity and go in the opposite direction.

After all, the hard knocks of life on Earth may wear us out both in body and mind. And as our bodies weaken, we become surly or grumpy. As the mind weakens, we may become lost in ignorance. Alzheimers and dementia seems to be on the rise under the influence of our modern lifestyle.

Therefore, it is crucial, while we're young and fit, to invest our time in self knowledge and self realization. After all, life is one long preparation for Transcendence.

We may make a huge success of material life by accumulating vast amounts of assets, yet we leave it all behind in the end. All we have then is our personal state of consciousness. And that determines our future. That's all we have.

Which is why consciousness is the most important field of acquisition. It's our most valuable asset. Know Thyself, the ancient Greek philosophers and ancient Indian yogis tell us clearly. Everything else is secondary.

Without insight into our true identity and nature, we will die in ignorance, like an animal. This would be a great waste of this valuable human form of life. It's only in the human form of life that the eternal wandering soul can become deeply introspective and self aware.

And by cultivating this self awareness, we can observe and perceive our true nature as consciousness which is not only localized within the body, but can exist beyond the confines of the body.

There is anecdotal proof of this, as well as education about this within the ancient Wisdom texts left by our ancestors. Even scientists today will concur that their understanding of consciousness is maturing to align with what has been said in the ancient texts on the subject all along. Consciousness extends beyond the confines of the body.

Also consciousness can then exist beyond the body's demise. In other words, we continue to exist when the body dies. That is the conclusion of those who have investigated consciousness, past and present.

With this knowledge we are free. Death is not the end. We are more than this limiting body and personality. Without this knowledge, we remain ignorant and thus set to suffer because of misidentification with the temporary body.

Our ignorance binds is while our insight liberates us. Knowledge is power and the greatest power is self knowledge. That is your greatest gift to yourself.

Bhagavad Gita ch3:32

ye tv etad abhyasūyanto
nānutiṣṭhanti me matam
sarva-jñāna-vimūḍhāṁs tān
viddhi naṣṭān acetasaḥ

SYNONYMS
ye—those; tu—however; etat—this; abhyasūyantaḥ—out of envy; na—do not; anutiṣṭhanti—regularly perform; me—My; matam—injunction; sarva-jñāna—all sorts of knowledge; vimūḍhān—perfectly befooled; tān—they are; viddhi—know it well; naṣṭān—all ruined; acetasaḥ—without Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

TRANSLATION
But those who, out of envy, disregard these teachings and do not practice them regularly, are to be considered bereft of all knowledge, befooled, and doomed to ignorance and bondage.

PURPORT
The flaw of not being Kṛṣṇa conscious is clearly stated herein. As there is punishment for disobedience to the order of the supreme executive head, so there is certainly punishment for the disobedience of the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A disobedient person, however great he may be, is ignorant of his own self, of the Supreme Brahman, and Paramātmā and the Personality of Godhead, due to a vacant heart. Therefore there is no hope of perfection of life for him.

Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A C Bhaktivedanta, original MacMillan 1972 edition, freely available at prabhupadabooks.com.

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Edited on my mobile device and published onto the Hive blockchain in service to the past scholars and future seekers.