A disciple asked, "What is that one should know beyond which there is nothing else to be known?" His Master asked him to bring the seed of a pipal tree and then break it. When the disciple said that he found only small particles, he was asked to break the small particles also, till at last the disciple said that he could find nothing. Then the Master said, "Though you say you could see nothing, understand that it is from nothing that the great pipal tree is formed. Though you see yourself as a mere individual, you have great power within; of self-knowledge, similar to the power inherent in the seed, to become a great tree. Realize this and your potential to rise up to the level of Brahmin."

Problems can be traced to one single cause. It is one's eagerness to know everything about the world except for himself. Unless he knows about himself, he cannot know anything about others. Unless one knows the subject first, one cannot know the object. Rather than engaging oneself exclusively to gain knowledge of the world of science and technology, one needs to strive for complete self-knowledge that deals not only with one's material but also non-material aspects. Only that knowledge of the self is complete and self-sufficient by knowing that all the unknowable can be known.