"The ordinary ignorant person knows very little but believes he knows much; he magnifies his small knowledge. And what he calls his knowledge is not his either, it is all borrowed, it is stolen. He is a thief. He is bragging about things which don't belong to him and he is continuously collecting more and more knowledge. He goes on becoming knowledgeable. That is the way of the ignorant man, to go on becoming more knowledgeable.

"The ignorant man finally becomes a pundit, a scholar, a rabbi, a bishop, a cardinal, a shankaracharya – carrying loads of knowledge. Not a single bit of it is his own experience. He is just a parrot, or perhaps even worse.

"I have heard that a woman was looking for a parrot in a pet shop. She was attracted towards a parrot who looked really nice, and gentlemanly – cunning people always look like that. He was sitting so seriously, so religiously, that the woman told the shopkeeper, 'This is the parrot I would like.'

"The shopkeeper said, 'Forgive me, madam; except for that parrot, you can choose any.'

"The woman became even more attracted. She said, 'Why are you not giving me that parrot? Don't be worried about the price, I am ready to pay any price. But look how religiously, silently, the parrot is sitting – the grace and the beauty of the parrot. No, I cannot have any other parrot.'

"The shopkeeper said, 'You are insisting – you will repent, because that parrot comes from a very bad place. He belonged to a prostitute, and all this religiousness and niceness and gentlemanliness is bogus; he is one of the worst parrots I have seen in my life. Once he opens his mouth, then there is not a single four-letter word that he does not know. This is the deception. I still ask you: don't insist. I have no problem; if you insist you can have it, but the responsibility will be yours. Don't come to me tomorrow.'

"The woman said, 'Don't be worried. Looking at the parrot I can say with authority I will change him. I have even changed my husband – what is this parrot? You don't know my husband…don't be worried; I know how to change people."