Personality Development through Gita 14. Knowledge Gives the Greatest Peace

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Personality Development through Gita

14. Knowledge Gives the Greatest Peace

 

There was a town-hall in a particular town. There were many

tables, chairs and books in it. It was a library. Many people sat

there till late in the night to read books. One day, as somebody

was stepping into the hall, the lights went out. He hit against a

chair. He shouted at the attendant to remove it. The chair was

removed accordingly. Then he hit against a stool. It was removed.

He hit against a table. It was removed. Then he hit against a wall.

Can the wall is removed? Then somebody lighted a candle and his

series of miseries came to an end. The darkness is our ajnana and

the light is our jnana. We should drive out the darkness of ajnani

through the light of our jnana.

 

Le us say that we noticed some cow-dung on our slippers

after we reached home. Do we start brooding over the problem? Do we

ask questions like, `where did I stamp cow-dung? How silly of me?

Did anybody notice it? Which idiot has left his cow on the

road? `No! The first thing we do is - to go wash our slippers and

even feet. The same way, if we are in the state of Ajnana there is

no point in brooding over our state of affairs. How did I acquire

ajnana? When did I acquire it? What is the root cause of it? There

is no answer to these questions even with great people, but they all

tell us to drive ajnana by acquiring jnana!

 

How then do we acquire jnana?

 

Krishna has given a very simple explanation.

 

sraddhavan labhate jnanam tat-parah samyatendriyah

jnanam labdhva param santim achirenadhigacchati. - Bhagavad Gita 4-

39.

 

sraddha-van--a faithful man; labhate--achieves; jnanam--knowledge;

tat-parah-

very much attached to it; samyata--controlled; indriyah--senses;

jnanam--knowledge; labdhva--having achieved; param--transcendental;

santim--peace; achirena--very soon; adhigacchati--attains.

 

He who has faith and who is earnest in his pursuit and who

has a control over his mind and senses attains knowledge. Once he

attains knowledge he attains supreme peace, immediately in the form

of God realization.

 

Before we learn how to seek knowledge, let's see why, in the

first place, should we seek knowledge? Krishna has an answer for it.

 

na hi jnanena sadrsam pavitram iha vidyate - Bhagavad Gita 4-

38

 

There is nothing equivalent to knowledge in all the three

lokas. Here knowledge of course refers to Atmajnana, but in our

limited sense we can take it as the knowledge we require. But

unfortunately we don't realize the greatest impact of knowledge.

 

For instance, whenever I question my students, `By studying

well and by getting good marks, you will be pleasing four people.

Can you tell me who they are?' Pat comes the reply, `Teachers,

parents....' Never the other two `They themselves and the

institution at large.' I try to put my face as innocently as

possible and ask them again, `So nice of you. OK fine. When you get

into a job, do you give away your salary to me?' You should see the

startled look on their faces `of course not, why?' is the feeling.

Then I explain you don't give even a piece of sweet to the teachers

after you get a job, you may just buy some presents to parents with

the first salary, you will not come back to the institution again,

until you require a testimonial. Now tell me who is benefited? Now

the chorus `we ourselves.' How very true, but we don't realize it

till we pass out of learning stage.

 

So Krishna has enlisted three qualities required of a seeker

of knowledge it can be any knowledge.

 

a) Sraddha - Faith is the first requisite. Faith, faith,

faith in ourselves faith, faith in God, this is the secret of

greatness' proclaimed Vivekananda. When I tell my students `If you

listen to me carefully, if you learn as I tell you to learn, you

will definitely get 90%' , they have ninety doubts `How can I get so

many marks ? Do we get only these questions? Is there choice? So

on and so forth. So the first thing they should do is to drive out

these doubts with the knife of jnana - (Samsayatma Vinasyati) They

should have faith in themselves, faith in the teachers who teach

them, faith in the parents who seek to provide the best education

and finally faith in God. If they have faith in their parents and

teachers and do their duty sincerely, God will never fail them.

 

`Sraddha vihinasya tu na pravruthihi

pravruthi sanyasya na sadhya sidhihi

Asraddyai vaabhi hatascha sarve

majnanthi samskara maha samudra'

 

Without sraddha we don't find an interest in the work we do.

Without interest in it, we cannot acquire what we seek. We are

stuggling in the sukha sagara of samsara, being hit by this lack of

interest. So sraddha is the most essential feature. `One who has

faith attains knowledge.' The statement appears simple but we have

doubts again. If somebody tells us `curiosity kills the cat' we ask

which curiosity which cat, why does it kill? The same way, we ask

when, where and how do we obtain this jnana? Krishna answered these

three questions in just one line in the previous sloka.

 

tat svayam yoga-samsiddhah kalenatmani vindati - Bhagavad Gita (4-38)

 

This half sloka has a great impact in Gita. `Tat' means this

jnana is not attainable by every Tom, Dick Harry. Who can attain

it? It is attainable only yogasamsidhaha one who has purified his

mind. We have to take the contextual meaning as one who has tuned

his mind.'

 

Where does he attain it? Atmani. In himself! The knowledge

is reflected in himself but not in others.

 

How does he attain it? Swayam. By his own efforts. He

should acquire knowledge by his own efforts. Guru, parents and God

only guide him or show him the path, but ultimately he has to walk

in the path. The sign boards at cross roads are kept to avoid

confusion and direct you. The same way gurus are like sign boards.

 

When does he attain it? - Kalena - in due course. It depends

on the amount of effort put to it. A student can learn a lesson in

ten minutes, while another may require an hour for the same.

Patanjali said, `teevna samvegana masannaha'. If the effort is

serious and sincere, the goal is always at close quarters.

 

So one who makes a sincere effort himself, will attain

knowledge in himself at the earliest.

 

A seeker of knowledge also requires two more qualities -

tatpara earnestness and samya tendriya (a total control over sense

organs.)

 

Earnestness - Faith brings earnestness. For instance a

business man hopes to succeed in his business, he continues his job

with earnestness unmindful of the suffering in due course - lack of

rest, physical discomfort untimely meals etc. He carries on his work

with firm resolution. Suppose you wish to become a computer engineer

your body, mind and soul should be centered round it you should talk

computers, eat computers, drink computers, sleep computers and walk

computers. Then only can you attain jnana, here your goal.

 

Samyatendriya ha - control of sense organs - yatendriya

itself means control of sense organs. God has used a more powerful

word - Samyatendriya to mean a greater control of sense organs. We

are prey to our indriyas and they have an upper hand over us. If we

wish to attain our goal, we should forget the material comforts for

instance, a student at the intermediate level has to be very

careful, because he is at the cross roads of his life. His success

in intermediate and EAMCET decides his career. To attain it he

should give up his pleasures of watching TV, visiting friends,

attending marriages and seeing movies. The greater his control is,

the easier his task is.

 

How do we control? Is it so simple? It is simple provided

we direct our mind. Suppose there is a grand spread of delicacies on

the table and just as we are about to attack it, if we are told

there is poison in two of the items (God knows which two?) do we

attack it? We pick up a `banana' at once to avoid the food. It

means the mind controlled the sense organs even though they are

lured to it. So we have to tune our mind to the required goal.

 

What is the benefit?

If we attain jnana through faith, earnestness and control of

mind, what is the benefit? We attain param santhi - mind you not

ordinary peace, but a great peace. A seeker of atma jnana attains

salvation. A seeker of material jnana attains serendipitous joy.

 

Have you ever struggled over a sum for nearly half an hour?

Have you ever struggled to write an article, to paint a landscape,

to invent something? Then you understand the `serendipitous joy' the

joy of discovery. Edison was asked how you felt when you failed 85

times.' He only answered, `I am happy I was successful after 85

attempts' that is the joy of acquiring knowledge.

 

When does he get it?

When does the seeker of knowledge get it? Achirena - as

quickly as possibly. The very first rays of sunlight dispel the

darkness around giving us a clear visibility of the trees, the road,

the birds and the buildings - A ray of thought, a stroke of line, a

flash of an idea fills our mind with the heaps of steps to follow

and leads us to the greatest joy.

 

A ray of thought gives rise to a path of goal.

A path of goal leads to an abundance of joy.