Knowledge In The Upanishad

The Upanishads are portions of a large body of sacred texts collectively known as the Veda. They are documents composed and edited by individuals at given moments in history, one part in particular, the ‘Brihadaranyaka Upanishad’, will be discussed in more depth through this essay. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is the concluding portion of the Shatapatha Brahmana of the Yajur Veda. Within this Upanishad we see many concepts and loose truths to life discussed. This essay will focus mainly on one concept, which is knowledge, as well as how knowledge plays into our concept of self. This essay will address the question of what the view of knowledge is in the Upanishads and therefore within the Hindu religion.
As we read through the Upanishad we

We judge their intellect, their knowledge by the way they speak and what they speak off. Therefore, speech is Knowledge. In the story Janaka is keen to learn and understand these teachings from Yajnavalkya, who explains the concepts of Atman and one’s Self. Yajnavalkya also informs Janaka that he would attain freedom from fear with the knowledge he had gained
But this is not the only idea on Knowledge that we see in the Upanishads. A question is raised in the fourth chapter of the Brihadaranyaka. Does Knowledge lead to darkness? “into blind darkness they enter, people who worship ignorance; and into still blinder darkness people who delight in learning”, is the verse on page 66 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The second line seems to say that even through knowledge one is still going into this blind darkness that is described. However, it does not make sense that the pursuit of knowledge would lead to a darker world, unless that knowledge tends to make us worldlier and desire-ridden. In addition to this, it does not make sense that one should pursue both ignorance and knowledge as interpreted by many scholars. How can the pursuit of knowledge lead anyone to a darker world? One would assume that