A Study of the Bhagavadgita - Part 1.1 : Swami Krishnananda

10/05/2019
Chapter-1. Introduction to the Bhagavadgita: 1.
Post-1.
(Spoken on March 3rd, 1974)

The ancient scriptures speak in a triple voice and, therefore, in the study of this great lore we have to employ the triple method of interpretation and evaluation. It is especially the case with such deep and comprehensive spiritual literature as the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita. It is for a want of this comprehensive approach to the subject of these great reservoirs of knowledge that many exponents have emphasised one or the other aspect of the great teachings, and we see divergences among these interpretations of the scripture. This situation has arisen on account of the exponents not paying due attention to the multifaceted form of super-normal wisdom.

The wisdom of life, or the knowledge of the Spirit as we are sometimes given to understand, is not ordinary scientific knowledge or an empirical understanding of the things of the world. There is a great difference between the normal human approach to things in matters of day-to-day life and the requisite approach in matters that are supernatural. There are things which man cannot understand with his intellect. Even logic, which is the best of human equipments, will not be of much help where superhuman truths are involved, because logic is a human instrument and superhuman realms cannot be approached merely through any endowment of the human understanding.

We have, therefore, to put on a newer attitude of greater humility in such matters that seem to be beyond the ken of our perception. All seekers of knowledge were humble aspirants who were always open to rectification and correction and teaching, who never assumed a preconceived notion of having mastered things already, because what we do not know is much vaster than what we already know. Therefore, we come to a point, in our later life especially, when we begin to realise, to our great discomfort, that the larger part of our life has been spent in the acquisition of a knowledge which does not seem to be of much help to us in times of difficulty. Then it is that we turn to Gurus and Masters and yogis and adepts, and we go to institutions, study the Gita and the Upanishads and the Vedas, and whatnot. But our physical life in this world is naturally limited, and we go with a wry face of dissatisfaction of having learnt very little, perhaps almost nothing.

To be continued ..