Bhagavatgita- a detailed study-chapter 7-knowledge and experience

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16. chathurviDhaa bajanthe maam janaH sukrthino arjuna

 

aartho jinjnaasuh arThaarThee jnaanee cha

bharatharshabha

 

'Four types of devotees of noble deeds worship Me, Arjuna,the seeker after worldly possessions, arTHArTHee the afflicted, Arthee seeker for knowledge, jijnAsu and the man of wisdom,jnAnee., O best of Bharathas'

A man who believes in God prays for the fulfilment of his cherished objects of the world, wealth or child and so on. When he gets them as a result of his prayer his devotion is strengthened and develops into faith. If he has not already acquired faith he will lose belief if his desire is not fulfilled. This is why we often hear the cry 'I no more believe in God,' from those who face disappointments in life.Sugreeva and Dhruva can be cited as examples of arTHArTHee type of devotees, the former developed faith after the fulfillment of his desire while Dhruva had both faith and belief and became a jnani later, elevated to the status of dhruva star.

The second kind of devotee who seeks God as his sole refuge when in distress like Droupadi or Gajendra are Arthees with staunch faith that He alone is their saviour, which is termed as mahAvisvAsam ,among the five requisites of saranAgathi. They do not seek Him for worldly pleasures but remain ardent devotees through out their life which alone will make them call out to Him in earnest. In normal life we do not have that faith in God even though we have belief in Him and therefore we suffer in consequence

Here comes the importance of the word 'sukrthinah' which Krishna uses to describe the four kinds of devotees. To think of God and yearn for His mercy requires poorvajanmapunya. There is a story to illustrate this.

A man who was a confirmed sinner was sitting on a tree and Lord Siva happened to pass that way with Parvathi. Siva told Parvathi that the man is going to fall from the tree and die since it is his fate. Parvathi, being the divine mother, took pity on the man and said that they should save him to which Siva replied that it was his karma being a sinner to die such a death. When Parvathi remonstrated with him Siva said that He will save the man if he cries out 'appa' and she should save him if he says 'amma' when he falls. Parvathi was happy without realising the real purport of Siva's words. The branch on which the man was sitting broke and he fell down crying 'aiyo,' because he did not have the sukrthi to call God's name at the time of death

JijnaaAsu is one who has pure devotion and does not seek the pleasures of life nor is he worried about distress because the only thing that could cause pain to him is being away from the Lord. Uddhava and to a certain extent Paikshit are the examples of this kind of Bhakthi. A jijnAsu loves the Lord for his own sake and seeks to acquire the jnana which the Lord Himself gives as in the case of Udhdhava or through someone as He did for Parikshit.

The last but not least is the jnani who has realised the truth about the Lord like Prahlada, Narada and other sages who were both bhakthas

 

 

 

17. theshaam jnaanee nithyayukhah ekabhakthiH viSishyathe

 

priyo hi jnaanino athyarTham aham sa cha mama priyaH

 

 

Of these, jnani, the knower who is ever integrated and exclusively devoted, excels. " I am exceedingly dear to him and he to Me."

In this sloka Krishna give the definition of jnani. Bearing in mind that these six chapters deal with bhakthiyoga, the jnani is the one with ekabhakthi. One who has devotion only to the Lord without any other thought in his mind. He is constantly contemplating on the Lord and His qualities am and actions, nithya yukthah. The word nithyyuktha is explained in chapter 9 as those who always sing His praises, offer everything to Him and bow down to Him with devotion. (Ch9.14) This is ekabhakthi..'

He is dear to Me and I am dear to Him can be explained in the light of the next sloka where the Lord says that the jnani is the Lord Himself. No one is dearer than oneself. It also means that a true devotee, to whom the Lord is the dearest, is also dear to Him because the Lord comes to us in whichever form or relationship we deem Him to be. If one loves Him dearly he reciprocates and to the one who shows enmity he also appears as the enemy. He is the inner self of all and however we consider ourselves we behave like that only. Positive and negative vibrations get reflected outside and come back to us in the same manner.

 

18.udhaaraah sarva eva ethe jnaanee thu athmaiva me

matham

 

aasThithaH sa hi yukthaathmaa maameva anutthamam

gathim

All of them are noble but the jnani is not different from Me. Being united in Me he attains the greatest status.

Then are not the other three dear to the Lord? Krishna clears this doubt by saying 'udhaaraassarvaevaithe,' all the four are praiseworthy but the jnani is said to be the dearest in the sense that he is the very self of the Lord, that is, non-different from Him.

19. bahoonaam janmanaam anthe jnaanavaan maam

prapadhyathe

 

vaasudhevassarvam ithi sa mahaathmaa sudhurlabhaH

 

Only after several lives a jnani resorts to Me. The sage who considers that vasudeva is everything is very rare.

 

The jnani is extolled because only after several births one becomes a jnani and reaches Me,' says krishna, and to find such a great soul to whom everything is Vasudeva is very difficult. Saint composers like Thyagaraja, Ramadas. Kabir and the devotees like Gorakumbha, Meera and the like are examples of this ekabhakthi.

 

The Lord said in the beginning of the chapter that only one among thousands tries for yoga and even among them a rare one alone knows the Lord as such, and ,as declared in the fourth chapter, `janma karma cha Me dhiyam," (Chapter4.9) such a jnani is never born again. Hence this is the final stage to be reached in yoga, which takes several births and the final birth is the one in which he feels `vaasudevassarvanm ithi.' Krishna says that such a jnani is rare.

 

This does not mean that it is impossible to reach the state of a jnani as otherwise no one will aspire for it. Salvation. mukthi, is the birth right of a human being but how many births it will take for him to attain it is known only to the Lord because it depends on out accumulated karma and the intensity of our effort. Here it is only meant that in any one particular time and age, it is rare to get such jnanis. We know it only too well that Sankara, Ramana, Ramakrishna, Ramanuja, Kabir, Thyagraja etc. are not born often but only rarely.

 

Vasudevassarvam ithi is the attitude described in the sixth chapter as `yo maam paSyathi sarvathra sarvam cha mayi pasyathi.' (ch.6.30) In that chapter we also find the sloka sarvabhoothasThitham yo maambajthyekathvam aaSrithaH; sarvaThaa va rthamaano api sa yogee mayi varthathe, that is, one who sees the Lord everywhere always abides in the Lord. This is the idea expressed in the previous sloka as `jnaanee thu aathmaiva me matham.' That is, the jnani is non-different from Myself.

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