Gita 18.55 Don’t divorce the literal reading of one word from the overall context of the text

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna bhaktyamam abhijanati yavan yashchasmi tattvataha tattvamam tattvato jnatva visate tad anantaram bhagavad gita 18.55 krishna is talking here about how we all can move towards perfection towards liberation towards life’s ultimate attainment by the practice of bhakti bhaktyamam abhijanati by bhakti one can know me yavan yashchasmi tattvataha as I am in truth tattvataha tattvamam tattvato jnatva and having known me in truth thereafter visate tad anantaram one will go into that infinite world anantaram visate one will enter into that infinite existence this verse is a very interesting verse because the previous verse said that those who have come to the brahman platform then they attain bhakti so that was if we work towards that after we come to the spiritual platform of brahman then when we are situated well in that platform seeing all things and seeing all people equally then we move forwards and go one level higher to attain bhakti so now after having attained bhakti what happens one knows Krishna in truth it is said yavan yashchasmi tattvataha and after knowing him in truth what is the next result one enters into the infinite so this can seem confusing because if the word visate enters into anantaram infinite this might refer on first reading to something like the impersonal absolute the brahman and merging into the brahman however if that were the case then what is the need for bhakti to come in between between 18.54a and 18.55d 18.54a is brahmabhoota prasannatma so brahmabhoota is already the platform on which one is situated and if one has already come to that platform where one is seeing everyone equally which is quite advanced spiritual state almost perfected spiritual state then why does one have to gain bhakti at that time and why does one need to know krishna and then after knowing krishna one goes to brahman so it logically here the literal reading doesn’t make sense with the flow because the flow is saying after coming to brahman one knows krishna and after knowing krishna one enters into the infinite so why is there any need to know krishna at all if the impersonalist if this verse were a straight forward supporting the idea that impersonal liberation is the highest is the ultimate attainment is the post krishna attainment as some people might say we know krishna and after knowing krishna we transcend krishna that is the idea if that were the purpose of saying this then why talk about knowing krishna at all from brahman one could just go to vishate tanantaram because the impersonalist idea is that bhakti is a tool to mukti and bhakti is needed for people who are not spiritually advanced enough to conceive of the formless and so they need some form to focus their consciousness on now if somebody has already transcended brahman somebody has already attained brahman that means they have transcended the need for any form if they don’t need any form then why do they need at all to come to bhakti and to know krishna so this verse is certainly not a this section 54 and 55 is certainly not a straight forward vindication of the monistic idea that bhakti is a tool to mukti at the same time it doesn’t seem to be a straight forward vindication of bhakti either because there is terminology vishate tanantaram terminology refers to it sounds quite impersonalistic tanantara, enter and infinite so let’s look at the first half of the verse to understand what is going on in the second half bhaktya mam abhijanati it is by bhakti alone that krishna can be known now this itself is a very strong indication in bhakti we devote ourselves to the object of devotion and if bhakti were the way to know the object of devotion then certainly there cannot be any merging between the object of devotion and the subject of devotion because the essence, the substance of bhakti is this relationship between the devotee and the lord and this by bhakti alone that krishna can be known this is a theme that has been talked repeatedly in the gita for example in the 11th chapter also krishna says krishna says this by bhakti alone anya shakya it is only by unalloyed devotion that i can be known and not by any other means ahamevam vedho arjuna you can know me arjuna so so what is going on if now the idea of the monistic conception is that you devote yourself and then you become sufficiently advanced and then you understand that you and your object of devotion are one and that is a that is definitely not a non devotional realisation or if it is at all realisation that is understanding is almost anti devotional understanding to think that the lord whom we have worshipped and adored as the infinite to think we are one with the lord so then and anyway so that insight will not come through that insight if it is at all true that is a jnana insight that is not a bhakti insight because by bhakti we adore the lord by jnana we desire to we think that ok god and i am one so if the true nature of krishna is that he is just a temporary face of brahman he is a temporary manifestation of brahman that needs to be transcended then it would say that it is by jnana that one can it is by philosophical contemplation by scriptural understanding by whatever by jnana we will understand krishna tattvataha but here it is categorically stated and it has been said earlier also in 11.53 and 54 that is only by bhakti that krishna can be known so tattvataha so by bhakti if we know krishna that means we know him as the eternal object of devotion and we know him tattvataha means we know him more and more initially we think of him as a historical figure or just as a mythical figure but over a period of time as we practice bhakti and we start perceiving like spiritual dimension then we start understanding krishna more and more we start relishing his sweetness his all attractiveness and thus we become absorbed in krishna in his greatness and his sweetness so devotion reveals increasingly the attractiveness of krishna and in that sense we get to know krishna more and more through devotion we know him in his infinity in his sweetness in his mercifulness through devotion and the vishnu acharya has explained that the enter here simply refers to entering into the spiritual sky that entering into the infinity of the spiritual existence so in the spiritual existence there is a vast spiritual sky and there are also the spiritual planets so where exactly we go that is not being mentioned over here so somebody goes to america now for indians america might be a very glamorous place or lets take the other example that somebody goes to india now in the western world some people may think of india as the land of snake charmers or the land of sectarian violence land of violence against women the land of caste discrimination now yes there may be parts of india where these things happen but there are over a billion people living in india and there are metropolises metropolises where millions of people live and where things are very different so entering into india doesn’t convey which part of india we are entering into so anantaram unlimited spiritual spiritual existence entering into that simply means that one so the stress here is not specifically where one is entering it is just that by knowing krishna and truth we become liberated from material existence so that is the stress over here and after becoming liberated where exactly we go that the bhagavad gita has specified several times elsewhere they come to me krishna says in the gita janma karma chame devyam evam yo vetti tattvata tattva deham punar janma naiti mameti so arjuna naiti mameti so krishna says they will come to me now if krishna were not existing as a person if krishna is personal the person who is speaking this is himself a temporary manifestation of brahman then krishna would not say they will come to me and incidentally there also krishna has used the word tattvata when they know me in truth then they come to me so here krishna says when they know me in truth they enter the infinite sky and here there is when they know me in truth they come to me so the statement that krishna that they come to krishna has no meaning if krishna is not a personal being and since there are many many verses where krishna says they will come to me they will come to me so they will come to me something which krishna has stated repeatedly so there is no ambiguity about the fact that bhakti takes us to krishna and that is there is emphasis on this topic so this verse seen in that light simply means that here krishna is generically stating that we will attain the spiritual world he is not specifically stating where in the spiritual world we will go to and we don’t have to impose our conceptions on where the destination is going to be sometimes when we are leery about impersonal realization then we may recoil on seeing any impersonal terminology but it’s not impersonal terminology it is just terminology to describe the absolute in the chaitanya charita amrit it is described how mukti padesa daibhag is well known verse in the prayers of brahmaji and sarvam bhattacharya wanted to change it to bhakti pade but chaitanya mahaprabhu said there is no need to change it because mukti pade mukti is also desirable and it is mukti liberation situated at the lotus feet of the lord so in that sense gaining liberation is auspicious and devotees understand such verses in the light of the overall scriptural understanding and so acharya has explained that here vishuddhi tanantaram means a green bird enters into a green sky or into a green so the spiritual soul enters into the spiritual world so although to the material vision the bird may not be visible because everything is green but still the bird continues to exist and similarly the spiritual soul enters into the spiritual world the soul continues to exist so in the so the literal reading especially if we come from impersonalist background the literal reading might seem a little jarring but if you make a logical reading of the gita of the flow of this verse as well as the teaching in the other sections then we will see that what this verse is teaching is actually generic spiritual destination which is easily harmonizable with the overall understanding of bhakti thank you