Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Bg 7.2

jñānaṁ te ’haṁ sa-vijñānam
idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ
yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo ’nyaj
jñātavyam avaśiṣyate

Word for word: 

jñānam — phenomenal knowledge; te — unto you; aham — I; sa — with; vijñānam — numinous knowledge; idam — this; vakṣyāmi — shall explain; aśeṣataḥ — in full; yat — which; jñātvā — knowing; na — not; iha — in this world; bhūyaḥ — further; anyat — anything more; jñātavyam — knowable; avaśiṣyate — remains.

Translation: 

I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. This being known, nothing further shall remain for you to know.

 

jñānaṁ te ’haṁ sa-vijñānam, knowledge and realisation both together, Jnana and Vijnana are referred at various places in BG, this combination together, in 6th chapter we saw Jnana-Vijnana coming together once, Jnana-Vijnana trip atma BG 6.8, before that this combination together is also talked about in the section where Sri Krishna has talked about how lust is destroyer of knowledge and realisation BG 3.41.

It will also come in 9th chapter, in 9.1 Edam tu te Guhyamam …, Sri Krishna has and will talk about this in several places and everywhere meaning is not same although there will be similarity in sense of usages. Generally Gyana refers to theoretical and Vijnana refers to realisation or transformational knowledge.

Here Srila Prabhupada used in a slightly different way: jñānam — phenomenal knowledge; vijñānam — numinous knowledge. Now what is phenomena and numina? These are actually very philosophical terms, to understand these terms we have to recognise that philosophy itself is search for deeper reality beyond the normal, what is normal perception, so Phenomena refers to things as it appears to us and numina refers to things as they actually are, independent of our sense perception, now what is the difference between the two? One of the fundamental insight while studying spiritual knowledge is that not only spiritual knowledge but any methodology in serious way, one of the point which comes up is things are deeper then what they appear to be, reality is not as it appears to our eyes. So even in western intellectual history as well as in Vedic history the idea is always that the way things appear and the way things are actually are there is a difference. Now the question is we perceive world by our senses and if we put aside our senses, then how we can know these things, as they are, this question is also present in western philosophy, there is something call empiricism and rationalism so empiricism refers to direct perception empirical knowledge we say and rationalism refers to knowledge through reasoning, among these two way of knowledge there is conflicts so empiricism is PRATAKSHA and rationalism is ANUMANA. So science started originally form empiric to rational that is empirical that Newton observed fruit falling, now most of the people who observe fruit falling will just eat it and forget about the whole thing, good that the fruit fell down when I was there, but a thinker like Newton thought why does this fruit fall down? And after that one moves to rational. Rationality means one tries to come up with logical framework of conceptual understanding which makes sense of the world around us. jñānaṁ te ’haṁ sa-vijñānam, so means as the things are and vijñāna as the things actually are that would roughly correlate with western rationalistic idea that actually beyond the things appear there is a framework which we need to understand. Different Acharys gave different meaning of Gyana and Vijnan, e.g. Viswanath Chakravarti Thakur refers that Gyana refers to Asvarya and Vijnana refers to Madhurya, the greatness of God and the sweetness of God. So the imp point Sri Krishna is referring that there are two aspect of this knowledge and both I will give. idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ, aśeṣataḥ that means I will hold nothing back from you, yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo ’nyaj, having acquired this knowledge, jñātavyam avaśiṣyate, nothing will remain to be known, this is quite a bold claim, having acquired this knowledge there is nothing remain for you to know, how could anyone make such a claim? There is nothing more for one to be known, actually this claim is based on the understanding that everything is spiritual reality and when it comes from Sri Krishna it is spiritual, when we know the essential principal we know everything in the sense of knowing the principals, the details are endless and the details can never be known, we can contrast this statement in BG that there is nothing else to be known with Sri Krishna Himself telling in the 10th chapter while describing His Vibhutis, Sri Krishna tells that I will tell you only samples of my glories or opulence because my glories are endless and also Arjuna says not even devtas or danavas nobody knows your glories in full. So when both Arjuna and Sri Krishna has said that Sri Krishna’s glories are not entirely knowable by anyone then what Krishna means when He says that you will know everything, nothing left, this He is talking about principals and not about details. So generally the Upanishads talk about Tattva-traya, Tattva-traya are three fundamental truths, what three fundamental truths?  It is Jiva, Jagat and Jagdish, it is called Tattva-Traya. Consciousness, material nature and ultimate causative principle (absolute truth). So Sri Krishna is saying as far as principles are concerned you will know completely and there will be nothing more for you to be known. But in details the amount of knowledge is endless, so jñātavyam avaśiṣyate, there is nothing more to be known.

We also mention that BG is graduate level of knowledge, Bhagavatam is post graduate and CC is Doctorate level of knowledge, again the question comes is what does it means if Sri Krishna is telling there is nothing more to be known, how can we say that Bhagavatam is higher knowledge and CC is even higher, actually there is progression which can be classified as:

  • Gita talks about God’s identity
  • Bhagavatam talks about God’s activity
  • CC talks about God’s mentality.

That means BG helps in understanding who is God. Is the absolute truth a person or he is impersonal, if He is a person who is that person? So Gita helps in understanding who is God. In BG glories of Sri Krishna’s pastimes are talked about like Janma Karma Ca Mey Divyam…but specific pastimes are not explained in details, so these activities are described in Bhagavatam, God’s activity comes in Bhagavatam and beyond that is God’s heart His mind, How does God think, what is God desire, what God likes or not likes that is described in CC. So Sri Krishna feels that he is bereaved that devotees have missed out that Gopis are relishing greater nectar than what He is getting, so He wanted to taste the love of Gopis especially Smt. Radharani, so Sri Krishna taking mood of Smt. Radharani come as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so this type of esoteric heart of Lord is talked in CC. So there is nothing more to be known, is talked essentially in terms of principles. But the details about Sri Krishna are infinite. The truth that absolute truth is a person, the truth that absolute truth can be attained by Bhakti, the truth that absolute truth is Bhakta Vatsal, these are fundamental principles, truths that are outlined in BG, but as far as details are concerned those are endless, it is not that details are not important but details also illuminate Sri Krishna’s glories and they make Sri Krishna remembrance more relishable but details come later what initially comes is the fundamental principle which increments gradually.

As explained earlier Srila Viswanath Chakravarti Thakur described Gyana as Aishvarya and Vijnana as Madhurya so,

  1. Jananam: Aishvarya Gyana – Chp 7 & 8
  2. Vijnana: Madhurya Gyana – Chp 9
  3. Both together – Chp 10-12 – Jana Vijnana sahitam

Words can have different meanings, Madhurya Gyana is not Madhurya Rasa Gyana, Madhurya Rasa is a specific congeal Rasa, Madhurya Gyana refers to Sri Krishna’s sweetness in contrast to His greatness. E.g. Sri Krishna tied up by mother Yashoda is also Madhurya Gyana, Krishna defeated by Gopas in internal fight is also Madhurya Gyana these are not Madhurya rasa (conjugal relationship) BG doesn’t talk about Madhurya Rasa but in 9th chapter the Bhakta Vatsalya is hunger for love and how devotion is appetiser all these things are talked about and how He always protects His devotees, so this way Madhurya Gyana is given. And in 10th, 11th & 12th both comes up, Aishvarya as well as Madhurya aspect will come up.

 

How is Gita complete

Complete Principles are given; complete details can never be given

Tattva-Traya: jagad, jiva, jagadisha(Matter, Spirit, Controller: MSC).

The basic outline and how they interact are talked about in this chapter. So in that sense chapter gives complete knowledge to us. 

Srila Prabhupada said in purport: 

Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. This is transcendental knowledge.

What this means is, now it is interesting we would think that transcendental knowledge means knowledge about transcendental world but if the knowledge is about material world, phenomenal world, how can it be called transcendental knowledge? So transcendental knowledge doesn’t mean only knowledge about transcendental world, it also means knowledge that directs our consciousness towards transcendence, if we see this world and its connection with absolute truth even that knowledge is called transcendental knowledge. Because that knowledge is directing us towards transcendence. Any knowledge which connects us to Krishna is transcendental knowledge. 

Srila Prabhupada also quotes in what sense we know everything, The Vedas (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.3) say, kasminn u bhagavo vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavatīti.

That means once one knows the absolute truth then everything else becomes known.

End of transcription.