“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.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.2)

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राज-विद्या राज-गुह्यं
पवित्रम् इदम् उत्तमम्
प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यं
सु-सुखं कर्तुम् अव्ययम्

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ
pavitram idam uttamam
pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ
su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam

1. Atma-vidya

The premise is that there is a flaw to the way we commonly understand philosophy. We think of it in terms of a way of acting, like a guidebook for behavior, for following best practices in attaining a specific goal. The issue is that these goals are temporary in nature. It is like having a philosophy on the right programs to watch on television, the best way to stay awake while driving a long distance, or the factors impacting sleep at night.

The criticism is that the knowledge associated with such philosophy has temporary significance. In a sense, it is not wisdom. There is a class of literature known as moksha-shastra. These are religious law codes, books of governance, rulebooks, if you will, relating to a specific goal.

Moksha is the release from the cycle of birth and death. In the manner that we experience a repeating cycle of days, from the time of birth to the time of death, so the same cycle, at a grander scale, continues through lifetime after lifetime.

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

Moksha-shastra is for wisdom, and the philosophy it describes is knowledge of the individual. That individual is atma. This is a superior way of describing identity. I am not the body. I am not my thoughts. I am not my concerns, my fears, my worries, my hopes, or even my dreams.

I am who I am, which is atma. This knowledge is the most important to receive. It is actual wisdom, and so genuine philosophy must be synonymous with atma-vidya. That is a genuine kind of education, the likes of which every person has a right to seek, to deliberate upon, and to follow.

2. Brahma-vidya

Philosophy as atma-vidya can be further defined. Atma is distinct from the deha, or body. Atma is the singular factor which remains unchanged. That is how we distinguish identity. I am the same person today that I was during childhood. Indeed, I was the same person while within the womb, but I have no personal recollection of that period of time.

The understanding of atma is like finding the blip on the radar screen, but Brahman is for defining the properties of that identification. Atma is actually Brahman. What exactly is Brahman? It is unchanging. It is spotless. It is amazing. It is beyond comprehension. Atma is like a spark of that Brahman energy.

आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन –
माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्यः
आश्चर्यवच्च‍ैनमन्यः श‍ृणोति
श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित्

āścarya-vat paśyati kaścid enam
āścarya-vad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ
āścarya-vac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti
śrutvāpy enaṁ veda na caiva kaścit

“Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.29)

3. Science of the Divine

The complete understanding is like knowing both Brahman and any distinction based on a juxtaposition to Brahman. This is something like the science of the Divine. As it is the highest subject matter upon which to deliberate, the resulting understanding is not attained so quickly or cheaply.

It is not like placing a few coins in a machine and receiving a single answer as to the meaning of life. It is not insisting upon a specific vision, an intentional exhibition to satisfy skepticism. It is the most valuable understanding, and so it is something like a secret, guhyam.

Shri Krishna refers to this specific definition of philosophy as raja-vidya. It is the king of education. Krishna shared the philosophy with Arjuna, who was the disciple at the time. Arjuna was not envious of Krishna. He was not seeking to compete. He was not looking to steal the meanings and then later distort them to mislead the general public.

This viewpoint into philosophy reveals wisdom which is ever-significant. Krishna spoke this philosophy to Arjuna some five thousand years ago. The same words, accessed in their original form, have the same potency. They can deliver any person, provided they have the proper qualification for understanding, for hearing, and for subsequent implementation.

This is the work of the genuine sadhu. They teach genuine philosophy for awakening the sleeping conditioned souls, for bringing them out of ignorance and back into the light. As atma, as spirit souls who are Brahman, that knowledge is already within them. It simply has to be revived.

In Closing:

Simply to be revived,
Not understanding contrived.

Same as what Krishna taught,
Wisdom to battlefield brought.

That identifying properly so,
As spirit soul to know.

Different from temporary to unfold,
Rescued by teacher intelligent and bold.

Categories: the three

Tags: hare krishna, philosophy, poem, poems, poetry, vedanta