Bhagavat Gita a detailed study-chapter4The truth about action

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34. thath viddhi praNipaathena pariprSnena sevayaa

upadhekshyanthi the jnaanam jnaaninaH

thatthvadharSinaH

 

Know this knowledge by prostration, repeted questioning and by service. The wise who have the knowledge of reality will impart it to you.

praNipaatha is dhandavath praNaama, falling at the feet.

 

pariprSna is asking repeatedly to clear all the doubts with earnest desire to know.

 

Seva- The service at the feet of the mast3er with all humility.

 

These are the qualifications to acquire jnana from the guru.

 

To get this knowledge Krishna directs Arjuna to approach a guru with full faith and humility and ask him with genuine interest Two questions may arise with respect to this advice of Krishna to Arjuna.

 

1. Was that a proper time and place to ask Arjuna to approach a guru in order to acquire wisdom because the intention of Krishna in giving out the Gita was to make Arjuna fight the ensuing battle?

 

2. What was the utility of the eighteen chapters of Gita if even after hearing it Arjuna still needed a guru to acquire jnana?

 

Krishna , like a surgeon performing an emergency operation to remove a bullet, preached Gita in order to remove the delusion in the mind of Arjuna and gave him a glimpse of the highest knowledge which made Arjuna to rise up to the occasion and fight As the surgeon relinquishes the post operative treatment to the physician, Krishna advises Arjuna to approach guru to continue his learning if he so wishes.

 

.The Gita was forgotten by Arjuna as soon as he started fighting when his natural propensity surfaced and he became a kshathriya and nothing else Arjuna asked Krishna after the war to tell him the Gita again but Krishna replied that He Himself had forgotten what He said because Arjuna was not ready for jnanayoga and what was given to him at the outset of the war was only an emergency treatment

Krishna did not want to impart the jnana Himself because the spiritual instruction should be given in a proper manner in order to culminate in self-realisation The disciple has to approach the guru in obeisance, pranipaatha, and with humility and obedience, seva and learn through exhaustive questioning, pariprasna. Then the guru who is a jnani and tathvadarsi, a realized master, will impart the knowledge of Brahman. What is implied here is that unless the student has humility, faith and healthy enquiring mind he cannot acquire spiritual knowledge.