Gita 04.38 – Don’t reduce jnana to jnana-yoga

Bhagavad Gita 4.38 Krishna is continuing his praise of the gyana that is acquired through the practice of dutiful detached work and here he is describing nahi gyanena sadrusham there is nothing like gyana pavitram yah vidyate as pure as the this knowledge tatsvayam yogasamsiddhah tatsvayam that knowledge tatsvayam means on its own spontaneously yogasamsiddhah when one becomes practiced in yoga when one becomes perfected in yoga kaalena atmani vindati kaalena in due course of time atmani vindati one will rejoice in it within atmani so essentially Krishna is speaking over here and he is telling that the knowledge is extremely pure and it comes spontaneously tatsvayam, now the purity of that knowledge has already been exemplified through two examples in the previous two verses 36 and 37 actually from 35 itself the glory of that knowledge is being talked about so first it is said that it takes one to a level where one will not fall back into illusion again secondly that was verse 35 36th verse was that even the most sinful of sinners can with the boat of this knowledge cross over the ocean of miseries and in 37th verse that this knowledge burns away karma as fire burns away firewood, so after giving all these pointers to the potency of this knowledge now Krishna is stating that this knowledge is supremely purifying knowledge has such enormous potency, now what exactly is this knowledge we will see that Krishna will talk about who is the person in knowledge and by that we will understand that this knowledge is actually devotional knowledge itself, Krishna says in 10.8, the first verse in chatushloki bhagavad gita that aham sarvasya prabhavo matah sarvam pravartate iti matva bhajante mam budhah bhavasa manvitah so budha, the person who is enlightened who is this enlightened person one who understands Krishna's position, supreme position, the source of everything aham sarvasya prabhavo matah sarvam pravartate and not only does the person understand it intellectually but also becomes devoted to Krishna iti matva bhajante mam the person becomes devoted to Krishna, such a person is budha, so similarly in 15.19 Krishna states yo mam asamudho jaanati purushottamam sasarvavid bhajate mam sarvabhavena bharata that one who is asamudho, that one who is without any delusion understands that jaanati purushottamam one who understands me to be the purushottamam sasarvavid bhajate mam such a person is sarvavid such a person knows everything that means Krishna is quite unambiguously emphatically underscoring the point that this is a person who is in knowledge so that knowledge which Krishna is glorifying over here that knowledge which comes by the ripe fruit of yoga so that knowledge in its highest stage is the knowledge of bhakti and bhagavan so at this stage Krishna is not specifying what knowledge is but he is glorifying that knowledge and yoga samsiddha Krishna is not just using karma yoga samsiddha, yoga samsiddha so often we tend to equate gyana with gyana yoga and yoga with ashtanga yoga but this sort of equalization can be mistaken can mislead us when we are studying the bhagavad gita most of the time when the bhagavad gita is talking about gyana, it is not talking about gyana yoga, gyana yoga is associated with inaction and there is practically no section of the bhagavad gita which endorses inaction and bhakti so yoga is a generic term and based on the context we have to understand what yoga refers to sorry gyana is also a contextual term and based on the context we will have to understand which gyana it refers to and similarly yoga also which yoga is being referred to, we should simplistically equate yoga with ashtanga yoga because at this stage Krishna has not even talked anything about ashtanga yoga except for two references to it in 4.27 and 4.29 while describing different kinds of yajna of course there Krishna describes more the process of regulating the breath and things like that yoga yajnas that was mentioned in the 4.28 so there have been very generic references to yoga without any specific reference to ashtanga yoga, that will be mentioned first in 5.27 28 and then in the 6th chapter in several verses so here yoga samsadha means by the practice of yoga what will happen kaalenaatmani vindati if we keep practicing yoga then by our practice gradually our inner maturity will happen and with the inner maturity we will be able to attain an inner taste, a higher taste because essentially the practice of yoga enables us to connect with higher spiritual reality and the highest spiritual reality is Krishna in 7.7 he will say that there is no truth higher than me so by understanding how Krishna is the highest reality and how yoga will connect us with that highest reality we will understand that there will be aatmani vindati there will be inner satisfaction, why will there be inner satisfaction because Krishna is the source of all happiness ramante yogino anante satyananda chidatmani ramante yogino anante satyananda the absolute truth to do unlimited happiness in the practice of yoga satyananda chidatmani they experience real happiness now when we talk about this point here if we just keep practicing yoga then our taste for Krishna increases if you are practicing bhakti yoga if you are practicing karma yoga then just the generic taste for transcendence increases one starts recognizing that one is a soul and as we start realizing the satchitananda nature of the soul there is happiness in that and further as we start relishing the spiritual happiness in relationship with Krishna then there is no limit to the happiness that a person experiences so in this way this verse is describing the glories of the transcendental knowledge that it will give great happiness there is nothing in this world as pure as knowledge and what is this knowledge that knowledge is the fruit of Krishna has said that that when we do different whatever karma we may do the purpose of that karma is that it should culminate in enlightening us from within and that enlightenment will be the will essentially be liberation so Arjuna if you continue doing your duty fighting as a part of your duty doing it as a yoga then you will become purified by that far from becoming contaminated the knowledge that will awaken by the practice of yoga will purify you you will relish internally.