श्रद्धावान् लभते ज्ञानं तत्पर: संयतेन्द्रिय: |
ज्ञानं लब्ध्वा परां शान्तिमचिरेणाधिगच्छति || 39||
śhraddhāvānllabhate jñānaṁ tat-paraḥ sanyatendriyaḥ
jñānaṁ labdhvā parāṁ śhāntim achireṇādhigachchhati
śhraddhāvān—a faithful person; labhate—achieves; jñānam—divine knowledge; tat-paraḥ—devoted (to that); sanyata—controlled; indriyaḥ—senses; jñānam—transcendental knowledge; labdhvā—having achieved; parām—supreme; śhāntim—peace; achireṇa—without delay; adhigachchhati—attains
Translation:
The man of faith, having Knowledge as his supreme goal having controlled the senses, obtains knowledge of Atma, and having obtained that enjoys everlasting peace.
Commentary:
Three qualities are mentioned here for gaining Knowledge.
(1) The man of faith: Faith is the seed of success even in worldly matters. The degree of faith in the Sastras and the teaching of the Guru, determine the degree of success. The greater the faith the sooner the success. The seeker should do the prescribed Sadhana with deep faith and it would surely lead him to spiritual illumination. Doubt will not bear any fruit what-so-ever. Doubt is the very negation of faith and want of faith results in utter failure. That is why the Lord insists on faith as an indispensable condition for the aspirant. The sick man should have faith in the physician and the medicine prescribed by him. Otherwise, the efficacy of the medicine is neutralised by the negative attitude of the patient. As the Sadhaka practises the discipline sincerely at first, he would gain some simple spiritual experience, which would confirm his faith in the higher laws of spirituality. It should be understood that Faith is not a denial of one’s reason and judgment. What is implied is that the seeker should carry out the instructions of the Sastras and the Gure in the full hope that they would yield the best results. And when he knows by experience the value of faith, his progress becomes quicker and smoother. So one should have faith in his spiritual destiny.
(2) Having Knowledge as the supreme goal: The aspirant should have single-minded devotion to the spiritual ideal. There should not be any discordant note in the general harmony of word, thought and deed. One may talk of spirituality and yet his thoughts may be plunged in gross worldliness, and his deeds may be utterly sensual. Such a split personality cannot make any progress in any direction. Divided aims and distracted minds achieve nothing. The personality of man, complete and entire, should be dedicated to the spiritual aim. He should fully realise within himself that there is no other goal to strive for. Naturally, by discrimination, when it is known that all other things are painful perishable worthless stuff, the spiritual aim alone shines as a perfect star. Then Self-realisation becomes possible.
(3) Of controlled senses: Faith and single-minded devotion to the divine aim should be accompanied with systematic practice of sense-restraint. Faith and aspiration may do much, but for perfection in Jnana, the senses should be brought under control. So long as the mind runs after material objects through the channels of the senses, wisdom cannot be found. The attempt is to turn the mind inwards. The sense-organs by their very nature function by attaching themselves to some physical object or other. The mind is linked to the senses, and so the mind runs out. This link should be cut, and the mind should be trained to look inward. Then the senses can do nothing. They remain powerless in their places. So sense-control is prescribed as the third characteristic of the man of Knowledge.
What is the fruit of this Knowledge? Peace, Supreme Peace (Param santim adhigacchati). Swiftly the wise man attains peace. Everyone is seeking peace and happiness. But it is eluding him. He seeks it in worldly pleasures and possessions. But he does not find it in them. So he is restless and distracted. Where is that peace? The Lord answers the question. Peace is in the Knowledge of Atma, and nowhere else. Every little satisfaction which one desires from small pleasures and successes here and there in the world are only shadows of the real peace of the Self. So let all people go to the very source of Peace – Atma. Having thus described the excellence of Jnana, the Lord concludes that it leads to Supreme Peace.
Swami Saradananda: “Of the ‘Six treasures’ (viz. calmness of mind, control over the senses, etc.) Shraddhå or unswerving faith is one. What really counts in the spiritual domain is this faith -faith in the words of one’s Guru, in the Lord, in the scriptures. “The Guru has asked me to do such and such a thing, if I act up to his instructions I am sure to attain success, it can never be otherwise.’ Such burning faith in the words of the Guru is what is really required.
…… “The reality must not be lost sight of. One must have a tight hold over it-the Truth, the only abiding thing in this fleeting world. The Master once told Hari Maharaj (Swami Turiyananda), ‘You are studying Vedanta. What’s the essence of it? Brahman alone is true and the Jagat (the world) is false. Isn’t it? Or anything else? What you require is the essence; throw off everything else.’ The Master first heard what the great saints of different sects and faiths had to teach, then one day he collected a good number of scriptures, made a garland of them and having put it on danced for a while and then tore the books to pieces and threw them off. You get a letter requesting you to send certain things to the writer, when you get the things and send them on, you have no need of the letter. The Truth is what we require – the essence of this universe.” (Source: Spiritual Talks by the First Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna)
SATYAKAMA AND THE THOUSAND COWS
In the Chandogya Upanishad, when the young boy Satyakama approached the Master, the Master found the boy aflame with immense śraddhā. To protect Satyakama from being influenced adversely by the other students, the Guru sent him away to the forest with some cows and instructed him, “Live there till the cows breed and become a thousand. Only then should you return.” The boy went to the forest and stayed there with the cows, with his mind constantly brooding on the Truth, because śraddhā was already awakened in him. He had seen the Master and obeyed him without questioning his words. He lived in the forest for several years in the company of the cows, the bulls and other creatures, the trees, the brook, the sky, the earth, the wind, the fire and the water-birds. All of them taught him the truth about Brahman. One day, the cows themselves spoke to him and said, “Satyakama! We have already become a thousand in number.”
How did the cows speak to him? Because he had become the Universal Self. He had become one with all. Thus he could understand the cows, and the cows could understand him. Established in that oneness, Satyakama returned to the pāṭhaśāla—the home of his Master. Seeing the radiant boy, the teacher asked, “O boy! Who initiated you into the knowledge of Brahman? You shine forth like a Brahmanishṭha.” “Master, no man taught me. The Divine spoke through the trees, animals and birds in the forest.” This is mysticism in its purest form. This is the power of śraddhā.
When śraddhā is present, Realisation happens with so much simplicity. For this purpose alone, it is said that the disciple must live in the gurukula with the Master—as we do not know when śraddhā will wake up. The moment śraddhā wakes up in the disciple, and if the Master is also in the right mood, the whole thing is over. (Source: Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Elixir of Eternal Wisdom | Vol 1)
ANANDAGIRI TO TOTAKACHARYA
In Sankaracharya’s life, we have the example of Anandagiri, an illiterate boy. All he did was serve the Master. He had immense śraddhā and gurubhakti and listened to the Master’s teachings with great devotion every day though he did not understand a single word of it. But ultimately, one day, the sacred moment happened; the Master’s grace found its way into the heart of the disciple. At that time, he was also ready—aflame with śraddhā—and the Truth just walked into him. He woke up and proclaimed in great delight, “O Master! You are the ocean of compassion—karuṇā-varuṇālaya! By your Grace, I have attained Realisation” (To.Ash.2). Not only the knowledge of the Self, but all the śāstras too walked into him. And that illiterate boy was named Totakacharya—the great teacher who sang a song in the toṭaka metre. This is the power of śraddhā. (Source: Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Elixir of Eternal Wisdom | Vol 1)
KING JANAKA, SAGE ASHTAVAKRA AND THE HORSE
King Janaka approached the sage Ashtavakra, in a highly ripe state of mind. While Janaka was about to alight from the horse, Ashtavakra asked, “Can you surrender and come down?” The king said, “Master, I have surrendered to you.” And he could not even alight from the horse. With one leg on the stirrup and the other lifted up suspended in mid-air, he stood transfixed in samādhi, with his whole attention on the Self. He stood thus because, acireṇa—the moment the śraddhā is awakened—the moment the teaching goes into you, that very instant you look at the Self by the Self, and you are the Self—brahma nirvāṇa is yours; śānti is yours. “śāntiṃ nirvāṇa-paramām,” says the Gita (6.15). Śānti means nirvāṇa and nirvāṇa means śānti—that peace which is possible only through Realisation of the Self.
Later (18.62) too, Bhagavan says that śānti is the result of surrender. There, śānti and sthānam have been spoken about. “You will attain peace, and you will be established.” There, Bhagavan says, when you surrender, peace is yours. And here, it is said, when you attain jñāna, you will have peace, because jñāna tells you that you need not go anywhere for peace; you are Peace, the Self. Śānti is your very nature. The Atman is peace. (Source: Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Elixir of Eternal Wisdom | Vol 1)
Question: Who can attain Jnana?
Answer: The man of faith, devotion, and self-control attains Knowledge.
Question: What is the fruit of Jnana?
Answer: Peace.
Question: What is the way to peace?
Answer: Atma Jnana.
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