Gita 04.34 – Learn from guru how to do karma as yajna and attain jnana

Thank you pariprashnena sevaya upadeekshantite jnanam jnaninas tattva darsinaham bhagavad gita 4.34 tadviddhi pranipatena tadviddhi to know that knowledge that knowledge refers to what was discussed in the previous verse jnana pari samapyate that karma culminates in knowledge so tadviddhi pranipatena pranipatena offer obeisances pariprashnena sevaya so pranipatena literally means offer obeisances it means also moving down it also means submissiveness as attitude not just as a physical action but as a inner disposition pariprashnena sevaya pariprashnena asking questions sevaya sevaya is doing service upadeekshantite jnanam upadeekshanti will bestow you will give you te jnanam that knowledge jnaninas tattva darsinaham those who are in knowledge and who can give knowledge jnaninas tattva darsinaham so tadviddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya now this after this verse is moving the focus from yajna to jnana in the flow of the bhagavad gita the question of whether arjuna should act or not act that was the defining question and krishna told him that you should act and act in the mood of sacrifice that was mentioned in 4.23 and how the principle of sacrifice pervades all activities was discussed in subsequent section from 24 to 33 and now that section concluded that what will be the result of acting like this one will acquire jnana so after acquiring knowledge now ok so if knowledge is the goal of all these different kinds of karma then the question may come up for arjuna ok there are so many different ways in which yajna can be performed so what should arjuna do among all these activities so that he said krishna is telling him go to a guru go to a spiritual master go to a tattva darsinaha and learn from the tattva darsinaha so essentially krishna is stating that jnana is acquired is acquirable by various processes by dravya yajna, jnana yajna tapo yajna by living as a renunciate living as a householder from 25 to 29 krishna discussed various ways so now specifically what arjuna should do that is something which a spiritual master can tell him and so therefore krishna tells arjuna go to a spiritual master and ask tadviddhi pranipatena pariprashnena selvaya and normally when we discuss this verse often the focus is on the attitude with which one should go to the spiritual master and there are three components which are talked about there is pranipat pariprashnena selvaya so we have sos so sos is save our souls so we could say that this verse can be can be summarized as sis sis is submission inquiry and service so in one sense we could also put it as another way as if you replace submission by humbleness humility then it will be his so his grace krishna's grace comes through the guru's grace his grace his humbleness inquisitiveness and service mindedness now from the point of view of the context here humbleness means I don't know the way inquisitiveness means I want to know the way and service mindedness means I want to go along the way so we cannot learn unless we acknowledge admit that I don't know and that acknowledgement is what krishna is offering arjuna here krishna sorry that krishna is recommending to arjuna and in fact that acknowledgement is what arjuna offered krishna at the start of the gita in 2.7 and 8 karpanye doshopatasubhava now I don't know the way there are many people who don't know the way and they are simply satisfied ok maybe there is a way maybe there is not a way who cares I want to know the way that is the important thing in life to be inquisitive dhato brahma jijnasa starts with inquiry about what is the purpose of life what is the spiritual reality who am I now after this there is it's not just enough to know the way I don't know the way I ask the spiritual master the way and the spiritual master tells me the way but after that I have to move along the way and for that there is service attitude now it is the service attitude that enables us to move along the way otherwise otherwise we stay stuck wherever we are without moving forward in our life we may just acquire a lot of intellectual knowledge but without attitude of service we will not move forward in that knowledge upadekshanti te jnanam when we have this humility inquisitiveness and service attitude then upadekshanti they will impart this knowledge jnaninas tattva darsinah because the bhagavad gita has not yet developed the concept of bhagwan or bhakti very elaborately so the focus of the enlightened soul is that they have knowledge jnane parisamapate that was what 4.33 said so therefore how can that jnana be acquired by those who have jnana so that's the qualification of tattva darsin or jnani that is what jnaninas tattva darsinah now interestingly there is the plural used to refer to the person from whom we are seeking knowledge jnaninas tattva darsinah that means that we don't we don't have an exclusivist attitude where we think that we restrict ourselves to only one spiritual teacher no we connect ourselves to sampradaya where we get connected with multiple spiritual teachers and through all of them we learn and we move onwards in our life based on what they have taught us so we shouldn't limit guru to one person although we may have although we do have one diksha guru but along with that we have many shiksha gurus and we learn from all of them so in this way we all can move forward in our life now in this particular verse or from this particular verse the focus will shift from yajna to jnana so from 34 onwards till 42 krishna will glorify jnana that the knowledge which arjuna is seeking through renunciation that knowledge can also come through action if it is done properly so if arjuna works with a mood of detachment then through that work knowledge will blossom in his heart and what kind of work arjuna should do how he should perform yajna that he should learn from a spiritual master or from a community of spiritual masters of a community of enlightened souls who will guide and instruct him how best to practice the principles of dharma and thereby attain the jnana that will save him from bondage and lead him to liberation.