In dnyan [Knowledge] there is adnyan [ignorance or not knowing]. But in adnyan there cannot be dnyan. Having all knowledge on the highest level, I can assume full ignorance on your level. In fact I am Infinite Knowledge, and as such I know what is to happen even after hundreds of years, yet I profess ignorance while I am on your level.
Even on the gross plane and in ordinary circumstances, knowledge and ignorance can be manifested simultaneously. For instance you say: "I do not know how to swim." This implies that you know that you did not know how to swim. Were you not to know that you did not know, you could not have had this understanding. This is "knowledge of ignorance."
In the same way, I who am Knowledge Itself manifest ignorance of knowledge. Thus it is that knowing all, I seem not to know, at one and the same time. Such is the ignorance of the All-knowing One.
R. Chakrapani came to Guruprasad from Talegaon on Thursday, 7 April 1960. He had previously been given certain orders by Baba. He looked like a sadhu, with a long beard and long hair, and he was observing silence.
Baba asked him, "Do you permit anyone to fall at your feet?"
Chakrapani shook his head no.
Baba gestured, "That is very good."
Addressing the gathering, Baba continued at length:
The only obstacle on the Path is the ego. Volumes have been written on the nature of the ego. But book knowledge helps very little and by one's own efforts, the ego remains insurmountable. Whether you fast or feast, whether you become aggressive or humble, the ego goes on nourishing itself. Even the natural tendencies of the ego such as "I see, I read, I sleep" create bindings. So night and day in the very act of expending old sanskaras, you create new sanskaras and get bound.
Then [if] you wear long hair and put on the robe of a sadhu, you thereby are indirectly courting respect. A false sense of advertisement in spirituality is liable to be created when you try to lead a life in some other way than that of the common people. Others begin to look upon you with respect, and you begin to accept homage without the spiritual authority to do so — outwardly in the name of God, but deep within there is nothing but self-gratification. As time passes, the superiority complex is nourished, and the ego craves greater honors. This is a dangerous pitfall!