What We Know is a Drop, What We Don't Know is an Ocean – A Lifetime Trauma

"As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." (Bhagavad Gita 2.22)

Human understanding is a fragile island in the midst of an infinite ocean of the unknown. Our knowledge, no matter how vast it appears, is but a flickering candle struggling against an all-consuming darkness. Isaac Newton once said, "What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean," and in this sentiment lies the greatest of philosophical truths—one that the Bhagavad Gita echoes through its exploration of duty, illusion, and the eternal self.

This article delves into the profound implications of the unknown, drawing from the Gita to explore how ignorance and knowledge shape our existence, the cosmic dance between certainty and uncertainty, and the path toward liberation from the abyss of the unknowable.


"The unreal has no existence, and the real never ceases to be; the seers of truth have concluded the same." (Bhagavad Gita 2.16)

We live under an illusion that our knowledge is expanding, that we are approaching a final understanding of reality. But the very fabric of our perception is flawed. The senses deceive us, the mind distorts reality, and our intelligence, bound by material limitations, constructs models of the universe that crumble with each new discovery.

Maya—the illusion of the material world—is the Gita’s strongest argument against the arrogance of human knowledge. Krishna tells Arjuna that all worldly attachments, desires, and fears arise from mistaking the temporary for the eternal. Our understanding is confined within the walls of time, space, and causality, yet the ultimate truth lies beyond these limitations. What we grasp as reality is only a shadow of the greater, unfathomable whole.

Even in the sciences, each breakthrough leads to new mysteries. The more we know about the cosmos, the deeper its mysteries become. Black holes, quantum entanglement, the nature of consciousness—each revelation forces us to accept that we are merely scratching the surface of a much grander reality. The Gita, however, does not simply present this realization as a philosophical dead end. Instead, it offers a way forward—a way to transcend the ocean of ignorance.


"Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead." (Bhagavad Gita 2.11)

The greatest irony of human knowledge is that it often becomes a barrier rather than a bridge to understanding. The more we learn, the more we believe in our own intellectual supremacy, and this very arrogance distances us from true wisdom.

The ego, according to the Gita, is the fundamental source of suffering. It is the ego that claims knowledge, the ego that fears the unknown, and the ego that clings to false certainties. But Krishna’s wisdom dismantles the illusion of self-importance. Knowledge that inflates the ego is ignorance in disguise. The highest knowledge is not accumulating facts but understanding the eternal truth—the Self beyond the mind and body.

In this sense, Newton’s metaphor is deeply spiritual. The drop of knowledge that we possess is claimed by the ego, while the vast ocean of the unknown remains hidden by the illusions of certainty. The wise are those who surrender to the unknown, who do not grasp at intellectual dominance but instead accept their smallness in the face of the infinite.


"I am Time, the great destroyer of the world, and I have come here to engage all people." (Bhagavad Gita 11.32)

One of the most terrifying and humbling concepts the Gita presents is the inexorable nature of time. All knowledge, all civilizations, all human endeavors are destined to be consumed by the eternal march of time. The known will once again become the unknown, and the cycle will repeat indefinitely.

The universe is in constant flux, and human knowledge is merely a fleeting construct within this grand cycle. Great philosophies rise and fall, scientific paradigms shift, and what was once considered absolute truth is discarded as primitive misunderstanding. The arrogance of any era’s knowledge is shattered by the future’s revelations.

Krishna’s declaration that he is time itself underscores the insignificance of human attempts to fully grasp reality. The only constant is change, and the wise are those who embrace this transience rather than resist it.


"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear." (Bhagavad Gita 18.66)

If ignorance is an ocean, then surrender is the raft that carries us across it. The final message of the Gita is one of surrender—not in the sense of giving up, but in the sense of transcending the illusion of control. The ego fights to understand, to categorize, to master, but wisdom lies in relinquishing this struggle.

Bhakti, or devotion, is presented as the ultimate path to truth. Krishna tells Arjuna that knowledge alone is insufficient; it must be accompanied by humility and surrender to the divine. True wisdom is not about conquering the unknown but about dissolving into it.

Even the greatest minds in history—Socrates, Newton, Einstein—recognized that their knowledge was but a speck in the vast darkness of the unknown. The Gita urges us to take this realization further, to not merely acknowledge our ignorance but to embrace it as a gateway to the divine.

"That which pervades the entire body, you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul." (Bhagavad Gita 2.17)

The unknown is not something to be feared but something to be revered. It is not a void, but a vast, living ocean of possibilities. The Bhagavad Gita does not provide simple answers—it urges us to question, to surrender, and to transcend.

Newton’s drop of knowledge is precious, but the wise do not mistake it for the entirety of truth. Instead, they step into the ocean with reverence, knowing that the greatest wisdom lies not in possessing knowledge but in recognizing its limits.

The path of the Gita is the path of fearless surrender—to duty, to time, to the great unknown. It is a call to dissolve the ego and embrace the eternal, where knowledge and ignorance merge into one ultimate truth—the truth that cannot be spoken, only realized.