Gita 13.13 That which grants the immortal is the most vital knowable

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita, 13.30 gēyam yattat pravakṣāmi jñātvā mṛtaṁ aṣṇute anādimat parambrahma na sattaṁ nāsad ucchate It’s 13.30, from this verse onwards, 13 onwards, Krishna speaks about the gēyam. Arjuna has asked questions about kṣetrajña, puruṣa-prakṛti and jñāna and gēyam. So Arjuna, Krishna has answered about kṣetrajña and then he has answered about jñāna from 8 to 12.
And now he’s going to answer about gēyam. So jñāna is knowledge or the process of knowing, we could also say. And gēyam is the knowable, the object which is to be known.
Now there are infinite objects around us about which we can study. If we just probe into an atom or even into a fundamental particle within an atom, there can be hundreds of subjects or hundreds of books, thousands of papers, hundreds of researches going on on some fundamental particle also. And there are often earnest researchers who are doing all these researches.
So the point is that there is so much to know in this world. And the scientific way of knowing, instead of taking us towards the end of knowledge, it just reveals to us the endlessness of knowledge. And endlessness of knowledge means that when initially we may have thought that the end of knowledge has come with the discovery of the atom, which Alten thought was the fundamentally irreducible particle, but then the atom was shown to contain many particles.
And then those particles also contain some further particles. So at the end of knowledge shows us the endlessness of knowledge. We are trying to seek knowledge, we have to seek that knowledge which is most relevant, most important, most important, most urgent for us.
If we are in a jail, then we need to check, we could do a study of the floor design of the jail, the wall patterns of the jail, but all this would be like idle study. A person who is in the jail actually, not a person who is a researcher who has gone into the jail to study the jail, a person who is actually inside the jail may also do the study of this, but the purpose will be how can I break out of the jail? How can I come out of the jail? So for the researcher, it is a study, but for the prisoner, for the researcher, it is just another subject of study, but for the prisoner, it is the only important subject to study because say that prisoner has been unfairly put in jail and there is no hope of the government releasing that person, then the only hope would be how can I escape, how can I break out? And that knowledge will be studied with a zeal that has few parallels. So similarly, when we look at, right from the perspective of, we look at the world from the perspective of our inescapable mortality, when we understand that no matter what happens, we are all going to die and die soon.
Just like a prison limits our scope of movement physically, so our mortality limits the scope of movement chronologically. Our mortality is just like a prison that keeps us within certain chronological fetters, shackles, limits. Now, once we understand the limitation caused by our chronology, then by our mortality, then recognize that the most important knowledge for us is the knowledge that will enable us to break free from this mortality.
It will be the knowledge that will enable us to progress towards immortality because ultimately that is the only thing that matters. Everything else is temporary. Without this, everything, without that, whatever we may have, none of it is going to last for us.
Therefore, if you focus primarily on this principle that we are meant for serving and we are meant for becoming free from the shackles of mortality and that requires directing our love towards the eternal object of love, that is Krishna. And to the extent we learn to love Krishna, to that extent, we go beyond the shackle of mortality. Then we understand that the immortal object of love is the most important object to know for me.
How can I love him? Why should I love him? And what will happen when I love him? All these questions are answered when we direct our inquisitiveness towards Krishna. So, Krishna is telling Arjuna that now I will speak about that knowable. I’ll speak about that object to be known by knowing which we will attain immortality.
Nectar. Amrita can refer to a substance and it can also refer to a state. Amrita as a substance refers to the liquid that is drunk by the gods in the hope of prolonging their lifespan, in the hope of attaining immortality.
And Amrita or Amritattva that can also refer to immortality. So, it is a substance that is said to grant immortality, in the state of immortality. So, Yajnavatva Amrita Mashnute whereas the celestial nectar is, celestial nectar actually doesn’t grant immortality.
Celestial nectar actually grants only a prolonged, elongated life. But the nectar of spiritual knowledge culminating in the perfection of all knowledge, that is Krishna, that will grant immortality. So, that Krishna is the culmination of all knowledges is quoted by Krishna earlier in 7.19 in the Gita.
वहुनाम जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानमान्मां प्रपद्यते वासुदेवः सर्वमिति समःत्मासुदुर्लभा So, after many lifetimes when a person becomes knowledgeable, they understand that आसुदेवः सर्वमिति He is the be-all and end-all. He is the purpose and perfection of all knowledge. He is the embodiment and fulfillment of all our heart’s aspirations for love and joy.
And Krishna has said earlier in 4.9 that जन्म कर्मचमेदिव्यम् एवं योवति तत्वताते प्लाधेहं पुणजन्म नाईति मामिति सौर्जिना That by knowing Him, one can attain immortality. So, it’s the same point that we will not come back to this world, but we will attain His eternal abode. Here also it is said that ज्ञानत्वा अम्रुतमश्णिते We will attain immortality.
And then, अनाधि मत्परंब्रम्ह नसत्पन्नासदुच्छते This is complex. And we will unravel and we will decompress or decode its meaning later as we move on in this section. But here, suffice it to say that the point being made is that अनाधि, bad object of knowledge is beginningless.
मत्परं It is manifesting from me. I am the highest reality. That is a part of me.
It’s sustained by me. I am its shelter. I am the ultimate reality.
ब्रह्मा नसत्पन्नासदुच्छते That सदसद refers to the causal chain. It can refer to temporary, eternal. It can also refer to material cause and effect.
There is something that is something exists. It manifests for some time. Sometimes it doesn’t manifest at some time.
Something doesn’t manifest at some time. So that object of knowledge which will give us eternal existence that exists beyond the duality beyond the causal chain of this world, beyond the dualities of this world. And Krishna will describe this गिया which will grant immortality.