Avidya, ignorance of one's own being, is the basic cause of the world. Once avidya, the ignorance of one's own being, disappears, the world also disappears - not the world of objects, but the world of desires; not the world that is outside you, but the world that you have been constantly projecting from the inside. The world of your dreams, illusions, projections, immediately disappears the moment ignorance disappears within you.

This has to be understood: ignorance is not simply lack of knowledge so you can go on gathering knowledge but ignorance will not disappear that way. You can become very knowledgeable, but still you will remain ignorant. In fact, knowledge functions as a protection for ignorance. Ignorance is not destroyed by knowledge. On the contrary, it is protected by it. The urge to collect knowledge, accumulate knowledge, is nothing but to hide one's own ignorance. The more you know, the more you think that now you are no longer ignorant.

There is a saying in Tibet:

Blessed are they who are ignorant, for they are happy in thinking that they know everything.

Trying to know everything is not going to help; it is missing the whole point. Trying to know one's self is enough. If you can know your own being you have known all because you participate with the whole, your nature is of the whole.

You are just like a drop of water. If you know the drop-of water totally, you have known all the oceans, past, present and future. In a single drop of water the whole nature of the ocean is present.

A man who is after knowledge continuously forgets himself and goes on accumulating information that he gets from outside of himself.

He may come to know much, but still he will remain ignorant. So, ignorance is not against knowledge; knowledge is not the antidote for ignorance. Then what is the antidote for ignorance?

Yoga says:

Awareness; not knowledge, but knowing; not focusing yourself outside, but focusing on the very faculty of knowing.