Having A Perfect Vision

Bangalore, India

(Below is a continuation of the post What Really Is Sin?)

The ninth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is called the Raja-Vidhya Yoga or the Raja-Guhya Vidhya (the most supreme and confidential knowledge).
A king (Raja) never makes too much effort for anything. Have you ever seen a king work hard for anything? So, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that this knowledge is one that can be learnt effortlessly.
He also calls it Raja-Guhya Vidhya, meaning that this knowledge is a great secret.

So, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, 'Idam tu te guhyatamam pravaksyamy anasuyave. Jnanam vijnana-sahitam yaj jnatva moksyase 'subhat'. (9.1)

He says, ‘O Arjuna! You are Anusuya (one who is without envy and negativity), so I shall tell you a great secret now’.
What does Anusuya mean? One who does not keep finding faults in everything is called Anusuya. Who is called Asuya? One who finds faults in everything around him.
When one's vision is distorted and imperfect, they seem to find fault in everything around them. Such a person who sees faults in everything is Asuya.
So Asuya is one whose vision is distorted. Anusuya is one whose vision is free from distortion and negativity.
For example, if anyone says something to a person who is miserable, he feels that the other person is making fun of him. Have any of you ever had this experience?
Even if you praise a person who is disturbed, they feel that you are making fun of them. Even if you do something good for them, they still find fault in it.
No matter how noble your intention may be with which you do something for such a person, they find some or other fault with it. Such a person who tends to see wrong motives behind any action is called Asuya.
Anusuya means one who does not have such a distorted vision. Such a person knows and accepts things as they are, rather than finding imperfections in them.

So whom can you tell a great secret to? One who is Anusuya.
You can tell a secret only to someone who does not find fault in everything, and whose vision is not distorted.
One who is Asuya will only find fault in everything, no matter where they go. Such people project the negativity of their own mind onto the world outside, and they blame other people for it. One whose vision is distorted cannot see his own imperfections. He just sees imperfections and bad qualities in others. He keeps trying to find more and more faults in the people around. Such a person is Asuya. No one can accept such a person as a disciple because even if a Guru accepts such a person, he will find fault in the Guru's teachings as well.
He will say, ‘Gurudev, you said this, but there is a fault in what you said’.
What can such a person imbibe from his Guru if he blames his Guru and keeps on finding faults in his teachings? He will not be able to receive anything. That is why it is said that you should not see the Guru with the limited vision of the intellect, but rather from the broader vision of knowledge.

So Lord Krishna tells Arjuna, ‘Since your vision is free from distortions, I shall now reveal an astounding secret knowledge to you. By knowing this knowledge, you shall be free from all your sorrow and negativity. This knowledge is both scientific (vijnana) and also transcendental (jnana)’.
Science is knowing ‘What is this?’ (referring to knowledge of the material realm), while spiritual knowledge is knowing ‘Who am I?’ (referring to the transcendental Self-knowledge).
So He says, ‘By knowing this knowledge, you shall be free from all that is inauspicious and there will no more be any negativity around you. No harm or suffering will ever come to you after knowing this’.

In the next verse, He says, 'Raja-vidya raja-guhyam pavitram idam uttamam. Pratyaksavagamam dharmyam su-sukham kartum avyayam'. (9.2)

So He says, ‘I will not tell you anything that you cannot understand or put into practice. There is no use of telling you such a thing’.
Suppose a Guru tells the disciple something and he cannot do it, then what is the use of such a thing? If a Guru keeps giving very high and complex knowledge that the disciple cannot grasp, then what is the use of it?

There was a gentleman who once went to attend a discourse given by a wise sage. When he returned from the session, he told his friends, ‘Oh, the session was wonderful. The saint gave amazing knowledge’.
One of his friends asked him, ‘Tell us, what did the saint speak about?’
The gentleman replied, ‘Oh, the knowledge was of a very high level. It all went over my head’.
So what did he gain by listening to such high knowledge when he could not understand anything. And even if one understands, still there is no use if one cannot put it into practice, and follow it.
This is why Lord Krishna says, ‘I will not tell you anything that you cannot understand and practice. The knowledge I am going to give you is the king (the most supreme) of knowledge. It is the most confidential knowledge, full of secrets; it is the highest and most sacred of all. It is the best’.

If knowledge that is royal and Divine is not sacred, then what is its use? It may be the greatest secret, but if it does not have any sacredness to it, then what can one do with such knowledge?
Usually it is the shameful things that are kept secret. But in India this was never the case. Nothing shameful was ever kept secret. What was kept secret was only that from which great things could be achieved. This is why this knowledge is called Raja-Guhyam: The supreme and the most confidential knowledge.

The specialty of India is that secret and sacred always went hand in hand with each other.
A disciple was given a mantra in a secret manner. The initiation of a disciple into the chanting of the Gayatri Mantra, which is the most sacred of all mantras, was done in secret by whispering the mantra in the ear. The disciple was then told to keep the mantra a secret, so that the mantra would reside in him in the form of a seed. Just like how a seeds is sown under the soil.
When a seed is sown, it is always hidden under the soil, only then does it sprout and grow into a tree. So a secret is like a seed. A secret is that which brings purity to life because of which life becomes wonderful.

So Lord Krishna says that this (knowledge) is the greatest secret of all. It is not a trivial or useless secret. Neither is it something to be ashamed of, or to be kept hidden. It will only bring great joy and benefit to the one who knows it. It bestows the knower with the supreme deliverance from everything.

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(Note: The discourse was given in Hindi. Above is a translation of the orginal talk.)