Swami Ananda Saraswati
The knowledge that is gathered by walking away from ethics always abandons man at the time of crisis. This works like a curse. This being the law of nature, it has to happen through somebody or another.
When you make an attempt to gain knowledge, is it to understand the importance of knowledge; upon attaining knowledge, do you have the desire of being useful to society or do you gain knowledge only to seek revenge for your insult in the form of proving and establishing yourself?
When one seeks knowledge in order to prove and establish oneself, one will put more effort to acquire knowledge. All his effort will be directed only to acquire knowledge so that he can heal his wound. The pain and agony that has come because of the past karma will be the motivation for the person to acquire more and more knowledge. Whereas, the truth is, in order to attain knowledge, one does not require engaging himself in hard work. Knowledge being an effortless quality of an individual, mere concentration and dedication are adequate to acquire knowledge.
But unfortunately, you being intelligent, you try to tell lie to yourself. While acquiring knowledge, where does your mind get focused?
When you believe knowledge is a means to obtain something else which in return will take care of your known/unknown sense of hurt, you set about to gain knowledge with a lot of effort. While garnering knowledge, you are unable to calm your mind. Knowledge is unable to become a quality of yourself. Just like colours in any apparel. As colours are not the natural quality of apparel, it fades away quickly in the sun or slowly in due course of time.
A person who gains knowledge by understanding the value of such a priceless entity excels in every field of his life. Whereas, a person who gains knowledge with the intent of obtaining something else, keeps competing all his life to prove himself superior light. However, he will never be able to excel in his life.
When your very intent of attaining knowledge is incorrect, you will be bound to forget the knowledge that you have gained and will never be useful at the time of crisis.