Gita 14.01 – The Gita’s jnana section higlights its bhakti essence

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
abode. Thank you. Krishna begins with a attention drawing statement about the importance of the glory of the knowledge that he is speaking so here he speaks param bhuya pravakshami param param is the highest bhuya again pravakshami pravakshami I speak jnananam jnanam uttamam jnananam jnananam is knowledge jnanam uttamam all the different kind of knowledge is the best knowledge yajnatva manaya sarve yajnatva I acquire this knowledge manaya sarve all the great sages param siddhim itogatah param siddhim they attained the supreme perfection so this knowledge which Krishna is going to speak about is the knowledge of analysis of the modes but it is not just about the modes the modes he describes but then he further describes how the analysis of the modes culminates in bhakti that is evident in the concluding verse of this chapter and the last two verses second last verse 14.26 mentions how he is he Krishna is the devotion to Krishna is the means to transcend the modes 14.26 one can go beyond the modes and then one can attain the brahman platform and then further Krishna speaks in the next verse about how the brahman is situated in subordination to brahman brahmano nipatishthaham on the support of the brahman so essentially here Krishna talks about how the brahman that he is the highest sadhya brahman is considered to be often the goal of liberation Krishna is supported by him that means he is higher than brahman and thus this verse or this chapter points to bhakti as the bhakti as the best sadhya and bhagavan as the bhakti as the best sadhana bhakti as the bhakti as the best sadhana bhakti as the best sadhana bhagavan as the best sadhna in 26 and 27 verses so this knowledge of the top most sadhya and sadhana is param jnanam, in the topmost knowledge.
So param guhya pravaksham jnanam jnanam uttamam. So now all the different kinds of knowledge. I am speaking the topmost knowledge to you and significantly Krishna uses the word guhya again.
So the key point to recognize here is that if you look at the contents of the 14th chapter it is an analysis of the three modes and this analysis has not been done earlier. Krishna has referred to the modes repeatedly throughout the Gita but he has not systematically analyzed the characteristics of the modes and the destinations of those people who live in of different people according to which mode they live in. All that analysis has not been given.
So when Krishna is saying guhya I will speak again that cannot refer to what he has already spoken what he has not already spoken. So certainly this 14th chapter contains the knowledge of the three modes of material nature and that’s a very important knowledge. But by using the word guhya Krishna is conveying from his perspective as a teacher of the Bhagavad Gita what is the essential point that he wants to convey.
Sometimes a speaker may give an elaborate analysis and the purpose of that analysis is usually to help the person help the student to understand a particular point to drive the analysis towards a particular goal. So to the extent that goal is understood to the extent that goal is being pursued to that extent the whole analysis is successful. And even if the student forgets the whole analysis or does not really develop the whole analysis it’s most important that the student remembers the conclusion.
So for example if a doctor is explaining the analysis of a particular disease now the doctor may say that in this particular disease this complication can occur and then this may lead to this and that may lead to that so therefore you must be very careful first if you anytime start experiencing any abnormal heart palpitations immediately take precautions call a doctor, go to hospital or whatever so now in that same complication or similar complication which requires the patient to take precaution and do a preventive checkup that particular point may come because of multiple factors and when the doctor concludes the whole analysis it’s good if the patient understands the analysis but the point is even if the patient does not fully understand the analysis if the patient gets the point that whenever I get heart palpitations I must pay attention to it and do what is necessary and do a preventive checkup or whatever so similarly Krishna is when he is saying param bhuya pravachami and I am speaking this again to the knowledge of jnana or knowledge of three modes that is not the knowledge that he is giving it is the conclusion towards which the analysis leads the conclusion is that one should practice bhakti and seek Bhagwan as the ultimate goal so that analysis Krishna is that conclusion analysis is what Krishna is referring to when he says param bhuya pravachami I am speaking again to you Ajna so we all need to when we study the Bhagavad Gita because the Bhagavad Gita was spoken 5000 years ago there is a transcendental aspect to the Bhagavad Gita and then there is a contextual aspect to the Bhagavad Gita the contextual aspect to the Gita is that there is no there are specific so Krishna spoke to Arjuna at a specific time when specific systems of thought were prevalent and for example the Sankhya system of thought was quite prevalent and some people thought that the Sankhya is non-theistic or even atheistic there is no concept of the param purusha in that so Krishna takes that Sankhya system which was existing at the time of the Gita and that shows how that is actually a theistic system how through the analysis of the Gunas one can move towards the goal of Bhagavan and Bhakti because by understanding how entangling the modes are and how consuming the captivation can be we can move towards the conclusion that we need to surrender to Krishna and that ultimate surrender is the focus of the Gita’s analysis so sometimes some people say that the Bhagavad Gita recommends different paths for different people and while at one level this is true yes the Bhagavad Gita does talk about different paths and it reflects the broad Vedic understanding that different people have different Adhikar Adhikar means qualification it’s a rough translation of that and according to their level or their qualification their inclination, all that is included in the word Adhikar they are doing practice some people may practice Karma, some may practice Jnana some may practice Ashtami Yoga some may practice Bhakti Yoga so the Bhagavad Gita does offer does reiterate that reciprocal, universal, accommodating kind of surrender there are different paths for different people but the Bhagavad Gita does something very moved something significantly moved that is it also shows how these various paths culminate in Bhakti and that culmination is the stress of the Gita’s message and that’s why although we have in the Gita in the course of the Gita’s discussion different paths we have discussed but the Gita concludes with Sarva Dharmaan Parityatra Maam Ekam Shiranam Vajra this is by any standard a dramatic declaration that Krishna is telling Arjuna that give up all varieties of Dharma and just surrender to me surrender to me Maam Ekam Shiranam Vajra so here we see this is a very categorical statement very inclusive there is Sarva and Ekam Sarva means all so give up all Dharmas without any exception and only this Maam Ekam so 18.66 is a very categorical declaration about the culmination of Bhakti to Krishna as the most recommended sadhana and it is that which Krishna is referring to in 14.1 and he says Parambhuya Pravakshami that Arjuna will speak this again so what Arjuna is what Krishna is going to speak again is the knowledge of Bhakti so where has he spoken this actually he has been speaking this throughout the Gita here it is for Ekam 2.61 itself 2.61, 3.30 4.9 5.29 6.30, 6.41 6.47 and then between 7-12 chapters Krishna is, those are actually the Bhakti chapters themselves that whole section the middle section of the Gita section of Bhakti and that section is a very critical section for understanding the emphasis of the Gita the heart of the Gita as Vishwanath Chakraborty says that just like jewels treasure of jewels is kept in a chest chest has a upper covering and a bottom and in between are the jewels, so like that the bottom and the upper are the first and the last six chapters and in between the treasure of the Gita’s message of Bhakti is there and so even from this analysis sometimes it is said that first six chapters talk about Karma last six chapters talk about Jnana and the middle six chapters talk about Bhakti that is not exactly a precise understanding it is a fair division but a more complete understanding is that yes, the first six chapters talk about Karma but they don’t just talk about Karma in isolation they talk about how Karma culminates in Bhakti and the last six chapters don’t just talk about Jnana they talk about how Jnana culminates in Bhakti and in this way the Gita consistently takes us towards the conclusion of Bhakti so Krishna is telling Arjuna that Arjuna the conclusion which I am going to give you in this chapter this is a paraphrase of 14.1 that Jnanam Jnanam Uttamam the topmost knowledge that the topmost knowledge which I have given to you earlier Arjuna so he is referring here to for example Rajabhuya in 9.2 which talks about how Bhakti is the most confidential knowledge or Bhuyo e Mahabahu Shunme Paramam Chaha so Rajabhuya was in 9.2 10.1 is Oh Arjuna, Bhuya again I will speak to you Shunme Paramam Chaha I will speak the topmost knowledge to you so all this knowledge consistently actually refers to the knowledge of Bhakti it is this knowledge that Krishna has given to Arjuna repeatedly and it is this knowledge which Krishna is pointing to when he states that Oh Arjuna, I will speak this knowledge to you again but in this particular chapter he will talk about knowledge of Bhakti conclusively but that analysis which will lead to that conclusion will be based on the analysis of the three modes of material nature so in this way by the starting and the last words in this chapter by the emphasis of Krishna by significant use of the word Bhuya we can understand that Krishna is demonstrating how Gyana also culminates in Bhakti