THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 09
RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:
VERSE NUMBER 01
Text in Transliteration:
sree bhagavaan uvaacha
idam tut e guhyatamam pravakshyaamy anasooyave
jnaanam vijaanasahitam yai ynaatvaa mokshyase ‘subhaaat
Text in English:
The Blessed Lord said:
To you who do not cavil, I shall surely declare this, the most profound knowledge combined with realization by knowing which you will be released from evil.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Mundane life itself is an evil, and ignorance is the basis of this transitory life. It is because of ignorance that man embraces evil and suffers from its consequences. Mere intellectual knowledge of Atman would not free man from misery. It requires to be combined with realization which is the real Brahma-jnana. The man of Self-knowledge alone is free from evil and its outcome, misery.
Cavil which is born of conceit and jealousy is a rotten disease of the mind that prevents man from rising in knowledge and wisdom. It robs him of divine disposition. Arjuna is no victim to this canker; he is all magnanimity and broad-mindedness. He is therefore eminently fit for the most profound knowledge combined with the realization.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
vijnaanasahitam, anubhavayuktam. Shankara. We take jnaana, however, as meaning wisdom and vijnaana as detailed knowledge. If the former is metaphysical truth, the latter is scientific knowledge. We have at our disposal these different and complementary means of obtaining truth, an intuitive as well as an intellectual expansion of the human mind. We must acquire wisdom and knowledge, penetration of reality and a profound grasp of the nature of things. The philosophers prove that God exists but their knowledge of God is indirect; the seers proclaim that they have felt the reality of God in the depths of their soul and their knowledge is direct. See III, 41; VI, 8.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Idam (this) alludes to knowledge of the Self.
Jnana: Theoretical knowledge of Brahman through the study of the Upanishads, also known as Paroksha Brahma Jnana.
Vijnana: Direct intuitive perception of Brahman or Atma-Sakshatkara, also known as Aparoksha Brahma Jnana.
This alone forms the direct means of attaining to liberation from evil or the bondage of Samsara, freedom from birth and death.
The knowledge of the Self is the most profound secret. It can hardly be described in words. It can be realized only through direct experience or spiritual intuition. Atma or Brahman or the self-luminous, eternal, Supreme Purusha is ever shining in the chambers of the hearts of men. Throughout the ages there have always been a few who have trodden the spiritual treasure of the precious pearl of the Self. Knowledge of the Self is the only direct means for attaining liberation. Karma Yoga purifies the heart and leads to the dawn of the knowledge of the Self.
Lord Krishna says, “O Arjuna, I shall teach you this profound secret knowledge combined with realization as you are free from jealousy”. From this, we can clearly understand that freedom from jealousy is an important qualification for an aspirant. Knowledge can only dawn in a mind which is free from all forms of jealousy which causes great distraction of the mind and produces intense heart-burning. Matsarya (malicious envy), Irshya (jealous of others’ prosperity or happiness) and Asuya (envious or indignant over the merits of another) are all varieties of jealousy. If you superimpose evil qualities on a virtuous man who really does not possess these qualities and speak ill of him, this is jealousy (Asuya). To behold evil or to look at a person with the fault-finding evil eye, and to see evil in him who is free from any kind of fault and who is virtuous is Asuya. Jealousy is only petty-mindedness. This is a modification of ignorance. It can be eradicated by enquiry of the nature of the Self and cultivating its opposite qualities, viz., nobility, broad and universal tolerance, magnanimity and large-heartedness.
To thee who does not carp or cavil: This implies that Arjuna was endowed with all the virtues of a disciple such as straightforwardness, self-control, restraint of the senses, the serenity of mind, discrimination, dispassion, etc. This is the Upalakshana (the truth alluded to where only a part is stated) and Asuya is the Upalakshaka (the hint which alludes to the Upalakshana).
Comments by the blogger:
The dictionary meaning of the word cavil in its verbal form is ‘to take objection at or find fault with in a petty-minded way’. Arjuna is free of this weakness. To a person who can’t tolerate the merits of another, this tendency to carp and cavil comes naturally. But the very name Arjuna means ‘the sinless one’. Then, the Lord Master Himself is teaching him the Gita. Then where is the room for petty-mindedness?
Even with regard to the Kauravas or Dhuryodhana and his brothers at whose hand Arjuna and his four brothers suffered much, Arjuna is not petty-minded. But, on the contrary, Arjuna is large-hearted enough to suffer intensely at having to slay them all! That is the greatness of his mind.
And the confusion and misery were short-lived, and they gave way to the steady teaching of the Lord about Atman and Its nature. Now He is going to teach Arjuna the Sovereign Science and Sovereign Secret unknown to others.
A teacher’s magnanimity is open only to a fit student who does not carp and cavil. Instead of doing that, Arjuna has lately put seven pregnant questions in the form of doubts to the Lord. And the Lord has answered all the questions in their order. And then, taking His disciple’s high merit into consideration, He comes forward to teach him further.
Even the most profound knowledge without combining with the practice will not lead to Liberation.
But I said in my comments for the last verse, chapter 08, that an intellectual understanding of the teaching will lead to liberation step by step (through many births and deaths).
I stand by that statement. But there might be among us many persons thirsty for direct knowledge apart from an intellectual cognizance of the same. Such souls are blessed indeed. And those free and great souls should not be discouraged or distracted. And such souls might take to the Yoga that is going to be described and taught in this chapter. But nobody, howsoever higher his or her knowledge might be, should delve into this science of Yoga and take to the practice without the supervision and guidance of a fit master.
Worldly life is considered as evil by the Lord. That is why He says, “by knowing which you will be released from evil.” We should keep this in mind while negotiating the daily activities or transactions of day-to-day life. Because by keeping this in mind, such of the self-complaisance that might have been harboured by us in the secret chambers of our heart, whether knowingly or unknowingly, about the high-worth of ourselves will be checked! In this way, we will have due knowledge about our worth in negotiating our daily life. This will free us completely from all petty-mindedness if any. I am saying this because the Lord calls this life as evil. He does not call those evil-minded persons’ lives as evil. That is, of course, pure evil. But even the magnanimous and broad-hearted persons among us must consider this life as evil because till we are chained to births and deaths we are away from God. That alone will make everything here evil.
But don’t lose heart.
The Lord is compassionate even to the real evil persons. Because the Self-Realization is their birthright! We human beings are blessed in that way. And the good and devout and magnanimous are doubly blessed. And the chanting of the Lord’s Name alone will give us human birth time and again. And we will and can only progress and thus the human birth is ensured. And it is the Law of the Lord’s Nature and Scheme of the Universe that we should only make further progress birth after birth by picking up the thread where we left off.
And one more thing: all the devout readers of the Holy Gita can be assured of a good human birth in a good family at the next time so as to take and pick up the Gita-thread from where we will have left off.
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