Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 9 verse 2

 Chapter 9 verse 2 

“This knowledge is the king of sciences and the most profound of all secrets. It purifies those who hear it. It is directly realizable, in accordance with dharma, easy to practice, and everlasting in effect.” 

Lord calls true devotion to Him as the king of sciences and secrets. Why “king of sciences-raja vidya”? What Krishna says is not part of a religion, dogma/belief/sect or doctrine. It is knowledge and wisdom-it is scientific to the point that this act of devotion is what takes the least energy from all beings to reach exalted state. Does not all beings try and reach the lowest energy state of existence in the scientific world? Is this not then the king of sciences? Why is it the “King of Secrets-raja guhyam”? Unless one seeks Him, the necessary conditions are not created for the true bhakti or devotion to occur in that being. Is it not? That’s why Divine is hidden in maya but is available at all times for those who seek Him. When this inner voice of bhakti is realized and heard, the person is already purified. Devotion/para bhakti is in line with sanatana dharma, easy to follow, easy to practice and is eternal in benefit. What else do we need? Then why is it so difficult for us to realize this?

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 9 verse 1

 Chapter 9 verse 1 

“The Supreme Lord said: Since you are not envious of Me, I shall now impart to you this very confidential knowledge and wisdom, upon knowing which you will be released from the miseries of material existence.” 

The Lord stresses that one has to be non-jealous to be qualified to hear the most secret knowledge of Universe. If a being is a non-believer in the divinity of God principle, then they don’t qualify to get God’s grace. Krishna was the first cousin of Arjuna, being the son of Vasudeva who was the elder brother of Kunti, Arjuna’s mother. When you have a close relative calling themselves divine principle, it is often times very difficult to comprehend and trust this person. The mind and intellect comes in the way of accepting this declaration. This is also the reason why most people are not able to digest the declaration over millennia of the avatars of God of sanatana dharma but also all other major religions as well. There are also 2 concepts illustrated in this verse- different between information/knowledge and wisdom- jnanam and vijnanam. I call this wisdom as experiential reality. As long as the spiritual seeking is just information or knowledge gathering, one doesn’t make the grade or jump towards Bhakti or true devotion. The leap happens if and only if the devotee breaks out of the mind and intellect complex and surrenders self to Supreme Self. Surrender is key to getting rid of the miseries of material existence.  

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 8 verse 27-28

 Chapter 8 verse 27-28 

“Yogis who know the secret of these two paths are never bewildered. Therefore, at all times be situated in Yoga (union with God).The yogis, who know this secret, gain merit far beyond the fruits of Vedic rituals, the study of the Vedas, performance of sacrifices, austerities, and charities. Such yogis reach the Supreme Abode.” 

Lord talks about 2 paths- path of light and path of darkness. Path of light is the path of complete surrender to Supreme Lord by forsaking the 6 derailers- kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and matsarya. Yoga is union of body, mind and spirit. In the conclusion to 8^th chapter, Lord is imploring beings to be in union or yogam with GOD and HIM alone. This is also the right path. The other path which is path of darkness is everything which attaches us to the material world with the 6 derailers and is also called the path of the pleasant. The pleasantness is very short lived and creates longer term suffering by repeating the cycle of birth and death. Vedic rituals and austerities as stated in the karma kanda of the Vedas are good to perform if and only if these karmas leads one to the jnana of the need to merge with the Divine. Even charities done without the thought of “idam na mama; sarvam Vishnu mayam jagat” or “this does not belong to me in the first place and everything is God principle” is the right kind of charity. Adi Shankara had called this out as well in his bhaja govindam-“samprapthe sannihite kaale, nahi nahi rakshathi dukrun karane-reciting the Vedas per correct grammar in your last breadth is not going to lead you to Moksha as much as contemplation on the Divine”.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 8 verse 23-26

 Chapter 8 verse 23-26 

“I shall now describe to you the different paths of passing away from this world, O best of the Bharatas, one of which leads to liberation and the other leads to rebirth. Those who know the Supreme Brahman, and who depart from this world, during the six months of the sun’s northern course, the bright fortnight of the moon, and the bright part of the day, attain the supreme destination. The practitioners of Vedic rituals, who pass away during the six months of the sun’s southern course, the dark fortnight of the moon, the time of smoke, the night, attain the celestial abodes. After enjoying celestial pleasures, they again return to the earth. These two, bright and dark paths, always exist in this world. The way of light leads to liberation and the way of darkness leads to rebirth.” 

Arjuna had at the beginning of chapter 8 asked the Lord how one can be united at the time of death with Him. Krishna had provided the answer to the question of “How” earlier stressing about the surrender and devotion to Him. In these verses, he points to fact that beings who have trod the path of righteousness and constantly attached to the Supreme, leave this earth with lots of blessings in the northern run of the sun- Uttarayana, during the shukla paksha of the moon- which is the 15 days after amavasya and during the day. This is another way of signifying light and fire in nature. Beings that leave earth at other times also reach abodes based on their nityakarma and would just take a longer path to salvation. The key to remember here is not the time as much as the need to be attached to Supreme at all times. That qualification alone can open all doors literally for all mortals. Bhisma is a good example of this condition. He had exhausted his karmas on earth and chose to wait for uttarayana even though that meant lot of physical pain for him, so he doesn’t need to go through another birth.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 8 verse 22

 Chapter 8 verse 22 

“The Supreme Divine Personality is greater than all that exists. Although He is all-pervading and all living beings are situated in Him, yet He can be known only through devotion.” 

Let us take the life of Adi Shankara-the great advaitin of the new age. He attained the highest form of knowledge-jnana yoga, became the epitome of karma yoga-travelling and spreading sanatana dharma all over bharata varsha and exhibited highest level of raja yoga or ashtanga yoga including the ability to master all 8 highest siddhis-ashta maha siddhis. However he brought all back to bhakti or true devotion to the supreme lord as the only way to bind all paths and without this total surrender, he opined that life becomes a complete waste. His seminal work on bhaja govindam and all other devotional compositions such as soundrya lahiri etc., are proof enough for this postulation. We look at history to learn our lessons. Why don’t we learn from our able ancestors and Gurus? If not, our paramaguru is clearly stating what to do in this verse-surrender to Him and then we can KNOW HIM!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 8 verse 21

 Chapter 8 verse 21 

“That unmanifest dimension is the supreme goal, and upon reaching it, one never returns to this mortal world. That is My supreme Abode.” 

Only the Supreme Lord is permanent in this Universe. Everything else is subject to destruction and creation repeatedly. Ultimate goal for all living beings is to escape from this cycle of birth and death and merge with the Supreme.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 8 verse 20

 Chapter 8 verse 20 

“Transcendental to this manifest and unmanifest creation, there is yet another unmanifest eternal dimension. That realm does not cease even when all others do.” 

So far, Lord was enumerating about the infiniteness of space, time and how beings are acting in this cycle of birth and death. These all happen in the material energy space of the Supreme Lord. In this verse, He begins to talk about the spiritual energy which is also part of Him. This spiritual energy is the cause of Universe and remains unmanifest at all times and is “anantha-with no beginning or end”.