Bg 7.1
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ
asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu
Bg 7.2
jñānaṁ te ’haṁ sa-vijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ
yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo ’nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate
Bg 7.3
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ
Translation
The Blessed Lord said: 1. With the mind intent on Me, Partha, practising YOGA and taking refuge in Me, how thou shalt, without doubt, know Me fully, that do thou hear.
2. I shall declare to thee in full this knowledge combined with realisation, which being known, nothing more here remains to be known.
3. Among thousands of men, one perchance strives, for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only one perchance knows Me in essence.
Commentary
It would be, naturally, the doubt of all seekers, especially before they enter the seat of meditation, as to how it is possible for a limited mind to understand or embrace the unlimited. This doubt can come to such seekers, who try only for intellectual appreciation of the philosophy of Vedanta; but all seekers could only be, in the beginning, mere scholarly students of the Vedantic literature. This is an unavoidable state in the Path of knowledge. The Science of Vedanta exhaustively deals with this problem and tries to explain how the mind, when made to meditate upon the Infinite, comes to transcend its own limitations and comes to experience the Infinite.
Here Krishna, introducing the theme to be dealt with in the next six chapters, assures Arjuna that He would explain the entire science and technique, which will clearly show how a meditator, by fixing his integrated mind upon the contemplation of the NATURE of the Self, can come to experience the Divine. From this chapter onwards the term 'mind' is to be understood, not as a debilitated and disintegrated mind, but as an integrated mind properly tutored to walk, implicitly obeying the will of the discriminative intellect. When such a mind is firmly established in full concentration upon the divine nature of its Godly potentialities, the seeker evolves double quick. The logic of this inward development, it is promised, will be the theme of this section.
NOW LISTEN TO WHAT I AM GOING TO SAY AS TO HOW YOU ALSO, THUS ACTING, WILL, WITHOUT DOUBT, KNOW ME IN FULL, POSSESSED OF INFINITE GREATNESS, STRENGTH, GRACE AND OTHER APPARENT ATTRIBUTES:
According to Shankara, speculative knowledge is Jnana, and actual experience of the perfection is Vijnana. Here Krishna is promising that he would not only deliver to Arjuna the theoretical explanation of the Art of Divine Life, but also, during the very discourse, take him to the highest peak of Self-rediscovery. This may look rather unbelievable but unlike Yoga and other types of philosophies in India, Vedanta is not an indirect process, inasmuch as, after the study of this Shastra, it is not necessary for A FIT STUDENT to retire into the jungles to practise and bring the experience of perfection into his cognition.
During the very discourse, if the student is mentally fit to walk along with the teacher step by step and follow carefully the logic and significance of his explanations, he can gain glimpses of realisation during the very hours of his study. It is because of this that Vedanta is taught only to a student who has been made fit for this flight to the beyond. If an individual student is perfectly integrated inwardly and if he can continuously maintain his adventurous thirst to experience the Reality, then he, in his attempt to identify himself with the thought and the spirit of his teacher's discourses, can ultimately come to revel in the experience of the very goal that is indicated by Vedanta. Self-realisation is instantaneous, during the study and understanding of scriptures, gained through the teacher-taught discussions.
IF VEDANTA IS THUS A COMPLETE SCIENCE, AND THE EXPERIENCE OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SELF CAN BE HAD EVEN DURING THE VERY TEACHER-TAUGHT DISCUSSIONS, HOW IS IT THAT SELF-REALISED MASTERS ARE SO RARE IN THE WORLD? LISTEN:
The idea that Vedantic realisation and knowledge can come into the experience of only a rare few has been repeatedly emphasised in different portions of spiritual literature in India, by different Masters, in different expressions. We were told previously (II-29) how the very theoretical side of Vedanta is heard and understood as marvel. In the Upanishads also, the same idea has been very clearly expressed by the Rishis.
Here, however, Krishna shifts the entire responsibility for not realising the Self upon the individual seeker himself and attributes it entirely to the sadhaka's lack of self-application. Vedanta being a subjective science, it is not sufficient that we know how to eradicate our weaknesses and cultivate our inward strength, but we must also live up to those ideals and try to bring about the necessary re-adjustments in ourselves. Very few can discover in themselves this necessary urge to evolve.
Of the thousands that hear intelligently, and perhaps understand all the theory and text of Vedanta, only a few sincerely apply themselves to live fully the Vedantic way-of-life. Even among a thousand such sincere seekers, only a rare-few "COME TO KNOW ME AND MY REAL NATURE."
The chances are that when this Vedantic way of life is perfectly explained by a Sad-Guru to a student, who is seemingly attending with all enthusiasm, with sincerity and concentration, he may raise himself up to, perhaps, the very gates of Truth, but there, he himself may come to bar his own entry into the sanctum 'within.' There, some imperceptible vanity, or unsuspected desire, is sufficient to exile him from himself. In this sense, there is a wealth of meaning in Lord Christ's declaration that a camel can pass through the eye-of-a-needle more easily then a "rich" man through the gates of heaven --- the RICHES here are not the 'worldly wealth,' but the individual's mental vasana-wealth. Unless the mind is perfectly naked, it has no entry into the Bliss of Truth.
Viewing the stanza in the light of the Krishna-spirit, it only means that rare indeed are people who come to study sincerely and get a true glimpse of the Vedanta-literature, and only a low percentage of these again can discover in themselves the necessary mental stamina, the intellectual vision and the physical forbearance to live that life of truth and purity in the world. Since Arjuna and all the students of the Geeta are such rare souls, they represent the community of evolvers. To them Krishna promises that He can, through His Divine Song, not only deliver the speculative part of the philosophy of Vedanta but also practically hand over chances to live subjectively the vital moments of vivid inner experience of the Self.
Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ
asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu
Bg 7.2
jñānaṁ te ’haṁ sa-vijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ
yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo ’nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate
Bg 7.3
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ
Translation
The Blessed Lord said: 1. With the mind intent on Me, Partha, practising YOGA and taking refuge in Me, how thou shalt, without doubt, know Me fully, that do thou hear.
2. I shall declare to thee in full this knowledge combined with realisation, which being known, nothing more here remains to be known.
3. Among thousands of men, one perchance strives, for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only one perchance knows Me in essence.
Commentary
It would be, naturally, the doubt of all seekers, especially before they enter the seat of meditation, as to how it is possible for a limited mind to understand or embrace the unlimited. This doubt can come to such seekers, who try only for intellectual appreciation of the philosophy of Vedanta; but all seekers could only be, in the beginning, mere scholarly students of the Vedantic literature. This is an unavoidable state in the Path of knowledge. The Science of Vedanta exhaustively deals with this problem and tries to explain how the mind, when made to meditate upon the Infinite, comes to transcend its own limitations and comes to experience the Infinite.
Here Krishna, introducing the theme to be dealt with in the next six chapters, assures Arjuna that He would explain the entire science and technique, which will clearly show how a meditator, by fixing his integrated mind upon the contemplation of the NATURE of the Self, can come to experience the Divine. From this chapter onwards the term 'mind' is to be understood, not as a debilitated and disintegrated mind, but as an integrated mind properly tutored to walk, implicitly obeying the will of the discriminative intellect. When such a mind is firmly established in full concentration upon the divine nature of its Godly potentialities, the seeker evolves double quick. The logic of this inward development, it is promised, will be the theme of this section.
NOW LISTEN TO WHAT I AM GOING TO SAY AS TO HOW YOU ALSO, THUS ACTING, WILL, WITHOUT DOUBT, KNOW ME IN FULL, POSSESSED OF INFINITE GREATNESS, STRENGTH, GRACE AND OTHER APPARENT ATTRIBUTES:
According to Shankara, speculative knowledge is Jnana, and actual experience of the perfection is Vijnana. Here Krishna is promising that he would not only deliver to Arjuna the theoretical explanation of the Art of Divine Life, but also, during the very discourse, take him to the highest peak of Self-rediscovery. This may look rather unbelievable but unlike Yoga and other types of philosophies in India, Vedanta is not an indirect process, inasmuch as, after the study of this Shastra, it is not necessary for A FIT STUDENT to retire into the jungles to practise and bring the experience of perfection into his cognition.
During the very discourse, if the student is mentally fit to walk along with the teacher step by step and follow carefully the logic and significance of his explanations, he can gain glimpses of realisation during the very hours of his study. It is because of this that Vedanta is taught only to a student who has been made fit for this flight to the beyond. If an individual student is perfectly integrated inwardly and if he can continuously maintain his adventurous thirst to experience the Reality, then he, in his attempt to identify himself with the thought and the spirit of his teacher's discourses, can ultimately come to revel in the experience of the very goal that is indicated by Vedanta. Self-realisation is instantaneous, during the study and understanding of scriptures, gained through the teacher-taught discussions.
IF VEDANTA IS THUS A COMPLETE SCIENCE, AND THE EXPERIENCE OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SELF CAN BE HAD EVEN DURING THE VERY TEACHER-TAUGHT DISCUSSIONS, HOW IS IT THAT SELF-REALISED MASTERS ARE SO RARE IN THE WORLD? LISTEN:
The idea that Vedantic realisation and knowledge can come into the experience of only a rare few has been repeatedly emphasised in different portions of spiritual literature in India, by different Masters, in different expressions. We were told previously (II-29) how the very theoretical side of Vedanta is heard and understood as marvel. In the Upanishads also, the same idea has been very clearly expressed by the Rishis.
Here, however, Krishna shifts the entire responsibility for not realising the Self upon the individual seeker himself and attributes it entirely to the sadhaka's lack of self-application. Vedanta being a subjective science, it is not sufficient that we know how to eradicate our weaknesses and cultivate our inward strength, but we must also live up to those ideals and try to bring about the necessary re-adjustments in ourselves. Very few can discover in themselves this necessary urge to evolve.
Of the thousands that hear intelligently, and perhaps understand all the theory and text of Vedanta, only a few sincerely apply themselves to live fully the Vedantic way-of-life. Even among a thousand such sincere seekers, only a rare-few "COME TO KNOW ME AND MY REAL NATURE."
The chances are that when this Vedantic way of life is perfectly explained by a Sad-Guru to a student, who is seemingly attending with all enthusiasm, with sincerity and concentration, he may raise himself up to, perhaps, the very gates of Truth, but there, he himself may come to bar his own entry into the sanctum 'within.' There, some imperceptible vanity, or unsuspected desire, is sufficient to exile him from himself. In this sense, there is a wealth of meaning in Lord Christ's declaration that a camel can pass through the eye-of-a-needle more easily then a "rich" man through the gates of heaven --- the RICHES here are not the 'worldly wealth,' but the individual's mental vasana-wealth. Unless the mind is perfectly naked, it has no entry into the Bliss of Truth.
Viewing the stanza in the light of the Krishna-spirit, it only means that rare indeed are people who come to study sincerely and get a true glimpse of the Vedanta-literature, and only a low percentage of these again can discover in themselves the necessary mental stamina, the intellectual vision and the physical forbearance to live that life of truth and purity in the world. Since Arjuna and all the students of the Geeta are such rare souls, they represent the community of evolvers. To them Krishna promises that He can, through His Divine Song, not only deliver the speculative part of the philosophy of Vedanta but also practically hand over chances to live subjectively the vital moments of vivid inner experience of the Self.
Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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