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TEXT 2 raja-vidya raja-guhyam
SYNONYMS  raja-vidya--the
king of education; raja-guhyam--the king of confidential knowledge;
pavitram--the
purest; idam--this; uttamam--transcendental;
pratyaksa--directly
experienced; avagamam--understood; dharmyam--the principle
of religion; su-sukham--very happy; kartum--to execute; avyayam--everlasting.
TRANSLATION This knowledge
is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest
knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization,
it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully
performed.
PURPORT This chapter
of Bhagavad-gita is called the king of education because it is the
essence of all doctrines and philosophies explained before. There are seven
principal philosophers in India: Gautama, Kanada, Kapila, Yajnavalkya,
Sandilya, Vaisvanara, and, finally, Vyasadeva, the author of the Vedanta-sutra.
So there is no dearth of knowledge in the field of philosophy or transcendental
knowledge. Now the Lord says that this Ninth Chapter is the king of all
such knowledge, the essence of all knowledge that can be derived from the
study of the Vedas and different kinds of philosophy. It is the
most confidential because confidential or transcendental knowledge involves
understanding the difference between the soul and the body. And the king
of all confidential knowledge culminates in devotional service.
Generally,
people are not educated in this confidential knowledge; they are educated
in external knowledge. As far as ordinary education is concerned, people
are involved with so many departments: politics, sociology, physics, chemistry,
mathematics, astronomy, engineering, etc. There are so many departments
of knowledge all over the world and many huge universities, but there is,
unfortunately, no university or educational institution where the science
of the spirit soul is instructed. Yet the soul is the most important part
of this body; without the presence of the soul, the body has no value.
Still people are placing great stress on the bodily necessities of life,
not caring for the vital soul.
The Bhagavad-gita,
especially from the Second Chapter on, stresses the importance of the soul.
In the very beginning, the Lord says that this body is perishable and that
the soul is not perishable. That is a confidential part of knowledge: simply
knowing that the spirit soul is different from this body and that its nature
is immutable, indestructible and eternal. But that gives no positive information
about the soul. Sometimes people are under the impression that the soul
is different from the body and that when the body is finished, or one is
liberated from the body, the soul remains in a void and becomes impersonal.
But actually that is not the fact. How can the soul, which is so active
within this body, be inactive after being liberated from the body? It is
always active. If it is eternal, then it is eternally active, and its activities
in the spiritual kingdom are the most confidential part of spiritual knowledge.
These activities of the spirit soul are therefore indicated here as constituting
the king of all knowledge, the most confidential part of all knowledge.
This knowledge
is the purest form of all activities, as is explained in Vedic literature.
In the Padma Purana, man's sinful activities have been analyzed
and are shown to be the results of sin after sin. Those who are engaged
in fruitive activities are entangled in different stages and forms of sinful
reactions. For instance, when the seed of a particular tree is sown, the
tree does not appear immediately to grow; it takes some time. It is first
a small, sprouting plant, then it assumes the form of a tree, then it flowers,
bears fruit, and, when it is complete, the flowers and fruits are enjoyed
by persons who have sown the seed of the tree. Similarly, a man performs
a sinful act, and like a seed it takes time to fructify. There are different
stages. The sinful action may have already stopped within the individual,
but the results or the fruit of that sinful action are still enjoyed. There
are sins which are still in the form of a seed, and there are others which
are already fructified and are giving us fruit, which we are enjoying as
distress and pain, as explained in the twentieth verse of the Seventh Chapter.
A person
who has completely ended the reactions of all sinful activities and who
is fully engaged in pious activities, being freed from the duality of this
material world, becomes engaged in devotional service to the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Krsna. In other words, those who are actually engaged in the
devotional service of the Supreme Lord are already freed from all reactions.
For those who are engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, all sinful reactions, whether fructified, in the stock, or
in the form of a seed, gradually vanish. Therefore the purifying potency
of devotional service is very strong, and it is called pavitram uttamam,
the purest. Uttamam means transcendental. Tamas means this
material world or darkness, and uttamam means that which is transcendental
to material activities. Devotional activities are never to be considered
material, although sometimes it appears that devotees are engaged just
like ordinary men. One who can see and is familiar with devotional service,
however, will know that they are not material activities. They are all
spiritual and devotional, uncontaminated by the material modes of nature.
It is said
that the execution of devotional service is so perfect that one can perceive
the results directly. This direct result is actually perceived, and we
have practical experience that any person who is chanting the holy names
of Krsna (Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare
Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare) in course of time feels some transcendental
pleasure and very quickly becomes purified of all material contamination.
This is actually seen. Furthermore, if one engages not only in hearing
but in trying to broadcast the message of devotional activities as well,
or if he engages himself in helping the missionary activities of Krsna
consciousness, he gradually feels spiritual progress. This advancement
in spiritual life does not depend on any kind of previous education or
qualification. The method itself is so pure that by simply engaging in
it one becomes pure.
In the Vedanta-sutra
this is also described in the following words: prakasas ca karmany abhyasat.
"Devotional service is so potent that simply by engaging in the activities
of devotional service, one becomes enlightened without a doubt." Narada,
who happened to be the son of a maidservant, had no education, nor was
he born into a high family. But when his mother was engaged in serving
great devotees, Narada also became engaged, and sometimes, in the absence
of his mother, he would serve the great devotees himself. Narada personally
says, "Once only, by their permission, I took the remnants of their food,
and by so doing all my sins were at once eradicated. Thus being engaged,
I became purified in heart, and at that time the very nature of the transcendentalist
became attractive to me."(Bhag 1.5.25) Narada tells his disciple
Vyasadeva that in a previous life he was engaged as a boy servant of purified
devotees during four months of their stay and that he was intimately associating
with them. Sometimes those sages left remnants of food on their dishes,
and the boy, who would wash their dishes, wanted to taste the remnants.
So he asked the great devotees whether he could eat them, and they gave
their permission. Narada then ate those remnants and consequently became
freed from all sinful reactions. As he went on eating, he gradually became
as purehearted as the sages, and he gradually developed the same taste.
The great devotees relished the taste of unceasing devotional service of
the Lord, hearing, chanting, etc., and by developing the same taste, Narada
wanted also to hear and chant the glories of the Lord. Thus by associating
with the sages, he developed a great desire for devotional service. Therefore
he quotes from the Vedanta-sutra (prakasas ca karmany abhyasat):
if one is engaged simply in the acts of devotional service, everything
is revealed to him automatically, and he can understand. This is called
prakasah,
directly perceived.
Narada was
actually a son of a maidservant. He had no opportunity to go to school.
He was simply assisting his mother, and fortunately his mother rendered
some service to the devotees. The child Narada also got the opportunity
and simply by association achieved the highest goal of all religions, devotional
service. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that religious people
generally do not know that the highest perfection of religion is the attainment
of the stage of devotional service. Generally Vedic knowledge is required
for understanding of the path of self-realization. But here, although he
was not educated in the Vedic principle, Narada acquired the highest results
of Vedic study. This process is so potent that even without performing
the religious process regularly, one can be raised to the highest perfection.
How is this possible? This is also confirmed in Vedic literature: acaryavan
puruso veda. One who is in association with great acaryas, even
if he is not educated or has not studied the Vedas, can become familiar
with all the knowledge necessary for realization.
The process
of devotional service is a very happy one. Why? Devotional service consists
of sravanam kirtanam visnoh, so one can simply hear the chanting
of the glories of the Lord or can attend philosophical lectures on transcendental
knowledge given by authorized acaryas. Simply by sitting, one can
learn; then one can eat the remnants of the food offered to God, nice palatable
dishes. In every state devotional service is joyful. One can execute devotional
service even in the most poverty-stricken condition. The Lord says, patram
puspam phalam: He is ready to accept from the devotee any kind of offering,
never mind what. Even a leaf, a flower, a bit of fruit, or a little water,
which are all available in every part of the world, can be offered by any
person, regardless of social position, and will be accepted if offered
with love. There are many instances in history. Simply by tasting the tulasi
leaves offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, great sages like Sanat-kumara
became great devotees. Therefore the devotional process is very nice, and
it can be executed in a happy mood. God accepts only the love with which
things are offered to Him.
It is said
here that this devotional service is eternally existing. It is not as the
Mayavadi philosophers claim. They sometimes take to so-called devotional
service, and as long as they are not liberated they continue their devotional
service, but at the end, when they become liberated, they "become one with
God." Such temporary time-serving devotional service is not accepted as
pure devotional service. Actual devotional service continues even after
liberation. When the devotee goes to the spiritual planet in the kingdom
of God, he is also engaged there in serving the Supreme Lord. He does not
try to become one with the Supreme Lord.
As it will
be seen, actual devotional service begins after liberation. So in Bhagavad-gita
it is said, brahma-bhuta. After being liberated, or being situated
in the Brahman position, one's devotional service begins. By executing
devotional service, one can understand the Supreme Lord. No one can understand
the Supreme Personality of Godhead by executing karma-yoga, jnana, or
astanga-yoga or any other yoga independently. Without coming
to the stage of devotional service, one cannot understand what is the Personality
of Godhead. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is also confirmed that when
one becomes purified by executing the process of devotional service, especially
by hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita from realized
souls, then he can understand the science of Krsna, or the science of God.
Evam
prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti yogatah. When one's heart is cleared
of all nonsense, then one can understand what God is. Thus the process
of devotional service, of Krsna consciousness, is the king of all education
and the king of all confidential knowledge. It is the purest form of religion,
and it can be executed joyfully without difficulty. Therefore one should
adopt it.
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