Wisdom or knowledge is the one that is most hardest to attain. There's a lack of proper guides, proper guiders, or systems, you name it. The worthier the wisdom, the harder it is to obtain. The right time, right environment, right people - everything matters.
In Vidura Neeti, Vidura says, "The wealth earned through fair means can be mishandled in two ways: give it to the undeserving and deny the deserving." Knowledge is also a wealth in itself. So, who is deserving and who is undeserving here?
Knowledge should flow to the seeker. The one who is ready to mould himself to get that knowledge deserves such knowledge. By knowledge, I mean to know. What's there to know other than the truth? What's there to seek other than the truth? The true seeker aligns himself with the truth. He is ready to shrug off anything that he has attached himself to for the sake of truth. A seeker doesn't have a personalized way of accepting things. He accepts things as they are. There's no opinion or perspective involved. He is relentless; he is ready to move mountains.
If one is not ardently seeking as if they are immersed in knowing something, one cannot attain the knowledge of it. This applies to everything. Even if there's the slightest oversight, then one misses that part of the wisdom. So, in knowing or in studies, one must stay vigilant at all times. Because to know means to know it completely or nothing.
I heard stories that earlier Gurus in the Gurukula education system prevalent in India made their disciples go through a lot of hardship just to test their intent to know or study. Those tests would be rigorous, making the disciple face health issues as well. Once the determination was made as to the willingness to study, then only the courses proceeded. What you have gone through makes you what you are today. If you were gearing against all odds to study something, you would study it with honesty. A book kept on the shelf doesn't make you wise. Also, reading it won't make you wiser unless you deserve that knowledge.
Here's what Swami Vivekananda ji said about his hard work in earlier days on learning Yoga,
"To practice this -- to be perfect -- all depends upon our past. I have been studying [Yoga] all my life and have made very little progress yet. But I have got enough [result] to believe that this is the only true way. The day will come when I will be master of myself. If not in this life, [in another life]. I will struggle and never let go. Nothing is lost. If I die this moment, all my past struggles [will come to my help]. Have you not seen what makes the difference between one man and another? It is their past. The past habits make one man a genius and another man a fool. You may have the power of the past and can succeed in five minutes. None can predict the moment of time. We all have to attain [perfection] some time or other."
- From "The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda"
The knowledge that's stolen or given to the undeserving is going to be a waste. Because that person is not in a position to know it. Even if the knowledge is simplified to reach the masses, that sacred wisdom will lose its essence. You might have seen that in the game of Chinese whispers, the longer the chain, the more distorted the original phrase becomes. That's exactly how it is. If you stay where you are, the knowledge that's been deduced and given to you will be completely different than the actual one. So, you have to strive for it. Otherwise, it will be defined as per some people's perception.
There's a story related to this. It goes like this: Four blind people were living together. Since they were all blind, they would hold each other's hands to move around. One time, they decided to see an elephant. Since none of them knew how it looked, they all thought, "Why can't we just visit a zoo and touch and feel it ourselves?"
At the zoo, one blind person went and touched the tail of the elephant; he said, "The elephant just feels like a snake." Another one touched the legs of the elephant; he said, "The elephant is just like a pillar." Another one touched the body or stomach of the elephant and said, "It's just like a wall." The one who touched the tusk of the elephant said, "It is just like a sharp spear."
The story ends.
Here, you know that nobody got to know what the elephant looked like; all they had were their interpretations. In the same way, knowledge to the undeserving, no matter how simplified it is, doesn't add value. It's just their plain interpretations of their memory. If that memory is not the one needed to know the thing at present, no matter what you do, it doesn't add up to your wisdom. That is why you see most people here on social media use scriptural references for whatever they do. They aren't ready to change themselves to know. So, they change the meaning as per their convenience.
I liked Naval's quote, where he said, "The smartest people are all self-taught, even if they went to school." For that to happen, you must know what you need to know in the first place. Also, you need to know what you don't need to know. You have to make yourself the deserving one to know. No guidance or simplification can help, unless you are where you are meant to be.