यज्ज्ञात्वा न पुनर्मोहमेवं यास्यसि पाण्डव |
येन भूतान्यशेषेण द्रक्ष्यस्यात्मन्यथो मयि || 35||
yaj jñātvā na punar moham evaṁ yāsyasi pāṇḍava
yena bhūtānyaśheṣheṇa drakṣhyasyātmanyatho mayi
yat—which; jñātvā—having known; na—never; punaḥ—again; moham—delusion; evam—like this; yāsyasi—you shall get; pāṇḍava—Arjun, the son of Pandu; yena—by this; bhūtāni—living beings; aśheṣhāṇi—all; drakṣhyasi—you will see; ātmani—within me (Shree Krishna); atho—that is to say; mayi—in me
Translation:
O Arjuna! Having obtained this knowledge, you will not thus be deluded again and by this Knowledge, you will see all beings in your Self and also in Me.
Commentary:
The Knowledge received from the Brahmanishta Guru consists of (1) the removal of all former delusions forever, and (2) the perception of all beings in one’s own Self and also in God. Let us understand these two aspects in Jnana.
(1) The proof of having eyes is not to fall into the pit. If a person falls, it is clear that he cannot see. Thus the proof of Brahmajnana is the clearing away of all delusions which have been haunting man from time immemorial. Atma, the Self, is alone real and all else is an illusion. To know this from experience is Jnana. How can that wise man be deluded again? He sees everything as his own Self and knows that there is nothing else but the Self. All this is one indivisible ocean of Sachidananda.
When the mango is raw it is sour and bitter. But when it becomes ripe, it is sweet all over. Thus in the deluded state when man sees the manifold world, there is fear and hatred, and sorrow and suffering. But when all is seen as Atma, as God Himself, there can be no delusion, and when there is no delusion, there is no sorrow. Arjuna was deluded when he saw his relations and friends, and sorrow possessed him at the awful vision of their destruction on the battle-field. The Lord teaches him that he would never again be the victim of such delusion any time thereafter when he obtained Brahmajnana from the Master.
The sine qua non of wisdom is freedom from delusion and any kind of attachment to sense pleasures. The Lord emphasised the need for practice and realisation and exposes the pretensions of those for whom religion is mere talk and verbal jugglery. It is practice that counts. The seeker should constantly examine himself: Am I free from delusion? Am I free from pride and arrogance? Am I free from envy towards other people’s fame and prosperity? Is there hatred and anger in me? How far have I overcome my sensual nature? In this way, everyone should thoroughly cleanse his mind day after day and purify the senses and the mind. There is no other way. The aspiration for the higher Self should be strengthened in order to overcome the desires of one’s lower nature. ‘Aim at the highest, do the best, and success is assured in due course.’ This is the Lord’s exhortation to all mankind in the Gita.
(2) The second aspect of the Jnana is that the sage of steady wisdom is able to see the whole universe in his own Self and also in God. The whole universe with all its elements moving and unmoving is superimposed on Atma which is the basic Reality. When the rope is mistaken for a snake, what is the reality on which the delusion is based? The rope is the reality. So the snake which is superimposed by one’s delusion is not different from the rope. Even so, the super-imposed universe is not really different from Brahman. This being so, the wise man sees the entire world in the Self, Brahman. The mind is the creator of the universe, and the mind itself is in Atma, the Self. Even so, the mind and all that it creates is in the Self. ‘You are not in delusion. It is the delusion that is in you; all the worlds are in you and you are not in any world; all time is in you and you are not in any time, past, present or future.’ The Jnani has understood the Truth.
Also in me: For the sage of steady wisdom, the Self, is the Lord Himself. And so what he sees in his Self, the same is seen in God also.
‘The Jnani is Myself – says the Lord. There is no difference. This is the Advaitic realisation of the supreme Brahman. In that state, the devotee and God are one, and the disciple and the Guru are one. There is no second thing at all. It is all one indivisible absolute Reality.
By seeing all beings in Self and God the sage becomes one with God. It cannot happen that the whole universe can be seen in two separate things. Self and God are one and the same. The man of Self-realisation is God Himself.
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
Master (To M.): “Before you came here, you didn’t know who you were. Now you will know. It is God who, as the guru, makes one know.
“Nangta told the story of the tigress and the herd of goats. Once a tigress attacked a herd of goats. A hunter saw her from a distance and killed her. The tigress was pregnant and gave birth to a cub as she expired. The cub began to grow in the company of the goats. At first it was nursed by the she-goats, and later on, as it grew bigger, it began to eat grass and bleat like the goats. Gradually the cub became a big tiger; but still it ate grass and bleated. When attacked by other animals, it would run away, like the goats. One day a fierce-looking tiger attacked the herd. It was amazed to see a tiger in the herd eating grass and running away with the goats at its approach. It left the goats and caught hold of the grass-eating tiger, which began to bleat and tried to run away. But the fierce tiger dragged it to the water and said: ‘Now look at your face in the water. You see, you have the pot-face of a tiger; it is exactly like mine.’ Next it pressed a piece of meat into its mouth. At first the grass-eating tiger refused to eat the meat. Then it got the taste of the meat and relished it. At last the fierce tiger said to the grass-eater: ‘What a disgrace! You lived with the goats and ate grass like them!’ And the other was really ashamed of itself.
“Eating grass is like enjoying ‘woman and gold’. To bleat and run away like a goat is to behave like an ordinary man. Going away with the new tiger is like taking shelter with the guru, who awakens one’s spiritual consciousness, and recognizing him alone as one’s relative. To see one’s face rightly is to know one’s real Self.” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Related Articles:
- Arjuna said: My delusion is destroyed, I have regained my memory through your grace, ‘O Krishna! I stand firm, free from doubt; I will act according to your word. (BG 18.73)
- The sage harmonised in yoga sees the Self in all beings, and all beings in the Self; he sees the same everywhere. (BG 6.29)
- He who sees Me in all beings and all beings in me never becomes lost to me, nor do I become lost to him. (BG 6.30)
- The Yogi who worships Me abiding in all beings and who is established in unity abides in me in whatever manner he is acting. (BG 6.31)
- Its hands and feet are everywhere; Its eyes, heads, and faces are everywhere; Its ears are everywhere; Its existence envelops all. (BG 13.14)
- He who sees the Supreme Lord abiding alike in all beings, and not perishing when they perish— verily he alone sees. (BG 13.28)
- Because he sees the Lord present alike everywhere, he does not injure Self by self, and thus he reaches the supreme state. (BG 13.29)
- The wise man beholds all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings; for that reason he does not hate anyone. (Isha Upanishad, Verse 6)
- Seeing the Atman in all beings, and all beings in the Atman, one attains the highest Brahman – not by any other means. (Kaivalya Upanishad, Verse 10)
- See God in All
- Akhanda-mandalākāram Mantra
Question: What is the fruit of obtaining Jnana?
Answer: Man is never deluded thereafter; he sees the whole universe in his own Self, and also in God.