Thiruvalluvar said those who have wisdom, but nothing else, may be said to possess everything. But the man who has no wisdom, even if he were to have all the riches in the world, is one who has nothing. But even the best among the wise may have some shortcomings, said Malayaman in a discourse. They may still be ignorant in some respects. Light a small lamp, and you will notice that while the little lamp provides light for the whole room, there is a small area beneath the wick that is dark.
In the same way, a man may be learned and wise, but may still be lacking in knowledge about some things. Sadly, even among the wise, there are those who are not even aware of the gaps in their learning. They do not analyse themselves to know how many of the ideas they hold are right. If they resort to self-analysis, they will become aware of their ignorance. Buddha pointed to the leaf of a simsapa tree and said his knowledge was as small as that leaf. His ignorance was as large as all the leaves in all the trees put together. Thiruvalluvar says that if we check the knowledge of the learned, we will find that there are some things they do not know. Kamban says that the wise are few in number. The Jain work Naladiyar says that our lifespan is limited, but what we need to study is vast like the ocean. So ignorance is inevitable.
