One day, a man called Malunkyaputta approached The Buddha and demanded that The Buddha explain the origin of the Universe to him.
If not, he'll cease to be His follower.
The Buddha calmly retorted that it was of no consequence to Him whether Malunkyaputta followed him or not, cos Truth need no followers, and Truth did not need any one's support.
To The Buddha, gaining knowledge about such matters was a waste of time cos such issues have no value for gaining spiritual wisdom - it doesn't help us to gain Enlightenment or Liberation, and man's immediate and critical task is to liberate himself.
To illustrate further, The Enlightened One explained,
"Suppose a man was shot by a poisoned arrow, but he refused to have the arrow remove until he found out everything about the person, who shot the arrow -
Was it a man or a woman?
Was it someone of noble birth, or a peasant?
Was the person tall or short? Fat or thin?
What about the family? How many sibling does the person have?
Was it a big bow, or a small bow, from which the person shot the arrow?
What was the bow-string made of?
What about the arrow? Was it made of rattan or of reed?
What kind of feathers did the person use to make the arrow? etc etc ........
Before he knows the answer to all these unnecessary questions, the poison would have entered his bloodstream and circulated throughout his whole system, and he would have died.
The thing to do is to remove the poisoned arrow first, "said The Buddha.
"It is more important to know what is important to know, and NOT what is unimportant."
"Learn what you should learn;
Practise what you should practise;
Remove what you should remove,
And know what is important.
Enlightenment."
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Our immediate task is to attain Nibbana, and NOT to worry about our beginnings."
- Venerable Dr K Sri Dhammananda
