So far we have seen what is jnanam (meaning jnana sadhanam), the qualities required for one’s mind to know the truth. After this, the question posed by Arjuna is, `What is jneyam?’ or `What is the thing that is to be known?’ Krishna answers him in verse 12 by saying, `Jneyam is to know that you are immortal.’ ‘Anaadimat parambrahman’ meaning Brahman which has no beginning and no end. In other words, what is to be known is the Reality, Brahman, which is free from all limitations of time and space, and that has to be recognized as I / myself. We have dealt with this in the second chapter. I am nothing but this Reality-Existence-Awareness unconditioned by time and space. That is what Krishna presents as the thing to be known. When you think of it as Reality-Existence-Awareness, you will think of it as free from all qualities, names, etc., which is true. But at the same time, wherever there is any form or quality, it is a manifestation of the same reality. This is stated very beautifully in the next verse.
Sarvatah panipadam tat sarvato aksisiromukham|
Sarvatah shrutimalloke sarvam avrtya tisthati || 13.13||
That (Jneyam brahma) has hands and feet on all sides, has eyes heads and mouths (faces) on all sides, has ears on all sides in the (bodies) of the people, and remains pervading everything.
In fact, all names and forms are his names and forms, and the Reality, he says, pervades everything. From that standpoint, it is nothing but Ishvara. When looked upon as itself, it is nothing but Brahman (Existence-Awareness), but the same reality looked upon as a manifestation will be called Ishvara. That’s why he says, in the 14th verse, sarveindriya guna bhasam, meaning that which is manifest in all the gunas, the qualities in the world, and at the same time which is sarveindriya guna vivarjitam, which is free from all the gunas. Meaning that which has all the gunas from the standpoint of manifestation, but from its own standpoint is free from all the gunas, is mithya (apparent) and cannot have the absolute Reality as Brahman itself or as Me.
Therefore, he says, I am asaktam, not touched by anything, but, at the same time, I carry everything within me. I am nirgunam and, at the same, I appear having all qualities.
Again, revealing the Reality, he goes further. He says, `Bahirantah cha bhutanam’, meaning `It’s inside and outside everything’. In fact, all that is there is in this awareness alone. There is another verse which is quoted often – ‘Antah purnam bahih purnam, purnakumbham evambhase’, which means, `Like a full pot kept in the water, there is water inside, outside, everywhere.’ There is another example in the same verse ‘anatah shunyam bahih shunyam….’Like an empty pot kept in space. Therefore, it is not that there is a divine spark inside me. We saw Krishna dismissing this in Chapter 9. It is not a Reality that is out there in Timbuktu, beyond everything. It is transcendental, beyond everything and at the same time it is immanent. Only then can it be really recognised as infinite. It’s not a divine spark, it’s divinity itself. It is the closest thing, because nothing can be closer than myself. It is also farther than the farthest, durastam, because anywhere I go, whatever dimension I reach, Existence-Awareness will be there and the manifestation of the dimension will be there too . Therefore, I exist in all dimensions as Existence- Awareness, Krishna says. By itself, it is undivided because the infinite can’t be divided by anything, but, at the same time, it appears divided in everybody because everybody has a sense of I. It is the one source from which everything is manifest, it is that into which everything is resolved. All this is what is to be known.
Krishna goes further to say that it is not only the thing to be known, but it is also the goal of knowledge and it is also the ‘I’, the one who knows everything. The goal that you try to gain is knowledge, it’s also the knowable, and it is also ‘I’, the knower. All this is nothing but the manifestation of one Existence-Awareness manifest in a form. The knower is nothing but Existence-Awareness manifest in a mind, and knowledge is nothing but Existence-Aawareness manifest in thought. Really speaking, all that is there is one Existence-Awareness. The moment you know that, you are free and you are no more under the bondage of ignorance. All human bondage, not only in terms of food, clothing, and shelter, but the problem of our existential issues of loneliness, purposelessness arise because I believe myself to be a finite being. The moment I know what I am, I am free from the whole thing. And after that what? Enjoy life, have a cup of coffee.
Swamiji, are loneliness, purposelessness the biggest challenges facing us? And how can this knowledge help?
The human problems of food, clothing are easily solvable. Agreed that in some places the problem is very serious, but these are problems created by human beings and they can be solved easily. All it requires is some political will. But once these problems are solved, deeper issues come up –the problem of human sadness, the problem of human isolation, of feeling finite and limited, the problem of loneliness, the problem of purposelessness. What is the point of all that I have achieved is what most people ask? I’m finally going to go under the earth. Even if a person has a good life and good relationships, if one’s spouse and children don’t understand what one wants one can feel very lonely. The problem may not manifest in a big manner, but the underlying issue is still there, unresolved. This is the human problem, this perception of myself as a finite entity is born of the ignorance of what I really am. I am really nothing but the jneyam (what is the knowable) that we spoke of in the post. But ignorant of that, I consider myself a finite entity and then all these issues of loneliness, etc., all our existential issues start. These can be handled only by knowledge, knowledge which is not going to give you food, clothing, shelter unless you start your own religion and become a new-age guru. This is the vedic wisdom also known as Vedanta as revealed in the Bhagavad Gita.