THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 09
RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:
VERSE NUMBER 02
Text in Transliteration:
Raajavidyaa raajaguhyam pavitram idam uttamam
Pratyakshaavagamam dharmyam susukham kartum avyayam
Text in English:
The sovereign science, the sovereign secret, the supreme purifier is this; directly realizable, in accord with dharma, very easy to practise and imperishable.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The public road is called raaja-paatha. The yoga common to all religions is called raaja-yoga. Similarly Brahma-jnana which is the birthright of all is called raaja-vidyaa. All are entitled to it and they are wending their way to it knowingly or unknowingly. If so, can all get at Brahma-jnana as unfailingly as all are able to procure food for the body? No, the impure in heart cannot have access to it. The purity of the mind is the criterion for it. They alone shall inherit this Divine Treasure who are perfectly pure at heart. But those that have not yet refined the mind, those that are given to cavil and such like defects will not be able to grasp it even. To them it is the sovereign secret. This science is a sealed book to them. As water cleanses the body, Brahma-jnana cleanses the Jivatman (human beings) of his fallen state and reinstates him in Brahmanhood. The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. Brahma-vidyaa is therefore the supreme purifier.
A man who wakes up from a dreadful dream brushes aside his agony as a mere fiction of his mind. The mundane life itself is a misery-laden prolonged dream from which the Brahma-jnani wakes up into the bliss of Reality. Thenceforth his life gets fixed in Truth. Therefore it is bound to be in accord with dharma. Self-knowledge is the home-coming of the Jivatman, and so it is very easy to practise. There is a possibility of a thing easily obtained being easily lost also. But Brahma-jnana being one’s Original State, is never lost any more than the man losing himself. It is imperishable.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Raajavidyaa, raajaguhyam: literally king-knowledge, king-sercret the greatest wisdom, the greates secret.
pratyakshaavagamam. It is not a matter for argument but is verified by direct experience. It is knowledge by acquaintance and not by description, hearsay or report. The truth is there shining by its own light, waiting to be seen by us, if the obstructing veils are removed. The Supreme is to be seen by one as one’s own self, through one’s developed and purified intuition. Cp. pratibodhaviditam
Kena Upanishad., II, 12.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
There is neither blind faith nor faith-mongering in this ‘royal science’. The truth, the sovereign secret, (the Self or the Absolute) can be directly realised by intuition or immediate perception. The science of the Absolute is the most splendid of all sciences. It is the science of sciences. Of sciences the highest, of secrets the most profound, of purifiers the supreme is this. The knowledge of Brahman is the best purifier. It reduces the roots of all karmas and all the Karmas themselves which have been stored up in the course of many thousands of births, into ashes in the twinkling of an eye. It destroys Avidya(ignorance) along with its effects. An expiatory act (Prayaschitta) cannot destroy all sins. It removes the effect of a single sin, only to some extent. Even if it is removed the effect of that sin remains in a subtle state in the mind and forces him to do sinful acts in his next birth. But the knowledge of the Self destroys quickly all the sins in their gross and subtle stats that are accumulated in the course of several thousands of births along with Avidya, their cause. That is the reason why it is a supreme purifier. The causal body of the Jiva( human being) is called Mula-Avidya (root-ignorance). The Avidya or the veil of ignorance that envelops the visible objects of this world is called Sthula Avidya or gross ignorance. The knowledge of the Self is not opposed to Dharma. It is the fruit of all actions done in many births without expectation of fruits. Further, the knowledge of the Absolute can very easily be attained. One may think that this knowledge will perish soon as it is easily obtained, when its effect is exhausted. It is not so. It is imperishable. It is everlasting. It shines for ever by its own Self-effulgence. He who has tasted this nectar even once becomes immortal. Therefore the knowledge of the Absolute is certainly worth acquiring. You will have to strive very hard to attain it anyhow in this birth, as it is very difficult to get a human birth. Strive hard every moment, for life is uncertain and the prize (final liberation) is great.
Comments by the blogger:
All beings including human beings move toward the Ultimate Reality, Brahman. Only most of us do not know of the fact or even if we knew, we are not always conscious of the fact. The beasts also are moving toward the Lord’s sachidhananda state or the state of everlasting bliss. The definitely don’t know the fact but are guided by instincts. Each and every one of us is like the beasts unknowingly moving toward the ultimate ananda or bliss. This bliss is not cloying. It lasts forever once attained.
In everything, we do we think of our comforts. If we build a house, we are very particular about the amenities of all kinds within our budget. Some people go for loans of various types to get their houses finished with every imaginable amenities. If we go on a tour, or even on an official tour to some exotic place, we think of our comforts. There is something called joining pleasure with work.
When we think of these comforts, we do not include those without which we can’t live. Such comforts like food and drink, slumber at night are called creature comforts. We share this along with the beasts. But every single item apart from creature comforts should come under the head of little bliss or ananda we are in constant search.
If we take a moment to think of our daily exertions, this will come to the fore and pleasantly shock us. From the small boys and girls who have finished their home works satisfactorily to adults like us who have fixed nice husbands for our girl children, every day-to-day exertion toward any goal, short term or long term, is filled with our searches for ananda or bliss.
Sri Ramana Maharishi would say that we are in search of a drug or some cure when we get a headache. Because we want to be rid of the splitting headache. Why, because we could remember the time when we did not have a headache! Like that, we are the children of that Light which is self-luminous and ever experiences bliss, and since we have come from there, we and the beasts are on constant search of that bliss, whether knowingly or unknowingly.
The Lord says the Sovereign Science He is going to teach us is a Supreme purifier. Once we attain that state, like Swami Sivananda says, all our past karmas are set at naught. It will never germinate again. This yoga cannot be taught at school. It can only be realized. But it is easy to practise, the Lord says. Because we all are, whether the Hindus, Muslims or Christians, capable of doing this and attain the everlasting bliss. There is no faith mongering in this. No one has to reveal his or her religious state to the master teaching this yoga. That is why Swami Chidbhavananda says, like the public road being called raja-patha and the yoga common to all the religions is called raja-yoga the Science of Brahma Knowledge is open to all irrespective of religious differences. This is the contribution of the Hindu Sages to the Mankind in general. Curiously, no Saint or Seer of Hinduism, who found truth in Its fullness even suggested that we should take this to others who are not Hindus. Probably it was because at that hoary time both Christianity and Mohammedanism did not exist. Only in Greece, Roam and Egypt Great Souls were in similar search of ananda or bliss of everlasting quality.
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