Bhagavad Gita · 9.2 · Yoga through the King of Sciences·2 of 34
राजविद्या राजगुह्यं पवित्रमिदमुत्तमम्।प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यं सुसुखं कर्तुमव्ययम् ॥
rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ pavitram idam uttamam
pratyakṣhāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam
Sanskrit recitation
A royal secret, simply held · 9.1–9.10 · Teaching
Translation
This is the royal science, the royal secret, the supreme purifier, realizable by direct intuitive knowledge, according to righteousness, very easy to perform and imperishable.
Meaning
In this verse Lord Krishna eulogies the knowledge of Brahman very highly in order to create a great interest in the spiritual aspirants for attaining It quickly.There is neither blind faith nor faithmongering in this royal science. The truth, the sovereign,secret (the Self or the Absolute) can be directly realised by intuition or immediate perception. The science of the Absolute is the most splendid of all sciences. It is the science of sciences. Of sciences the highest, of secrets the most profoun, of purifiers the supreme is this. The knowledge of Brahman is the best purifier. It reduces the roots of all Karmas and all the Karmas themselves which have been stored up in the course of many thousands of births, into ashes in the twinkling of an eye. It destroys Avidya along with its effects. An expiatory act (Prayaschitta) cannot destroy all sins. It removes the effect of a single sin, only to some extent. Even if it is removed the effect of that sin remains in a subtle state in the mind and forces him to do sinful acts in his next birth. But the knowledge of the Self destroys quickly all the sins in their gross and subtle states that are accumulated in the course of several thousands of births along with Avidya, their cause. That is the reason why it is a supreme purifier. The causal body of the Jiva is called MulaAvidya (rootignorance)
After Swami Sivananda
A royal secret, simply held· 9.1–9.10→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 9.1The Blessed Lord said, "I shall now declare to thee, who does not cavil, the greatest secret—the knowledge combined with experience (Self-realisation). Having known this, thou shalt be free from evil."
9.2This is the royal science, the royal secret, the supreme purifier, realizable by direct intuitive knowledge, according to righteousness, very easy to perform and imperishable.
- 9.3Those who have no faith in this Dharma, O Parantapa, return to the path of this world without attaining Me.
- 9.4All of this world is pervaded by Me in My unmanifest aspect; all beings exist within Me, but I do not dwell within them.
- 9.5Nor do beings exist in Me (in reality); behold, My divine Yoga, which supports all beings, but does not dwell in them, is My Self, the efficient cause of beings.
- 9.6As the mighty wind, moving everywhere, always rests in the ether, so too, know that all beings rest in Me.
- 9.7All beings, O Arjuna, go into My Nature at the end of a Kalpa; I send them forth again at the beginning of the next Kalpa.
- 9.8Animating My Nature, I again and again send forth all this multitude of beings, helpless under the force of Nature.
- 9.9These acts do not bind Me, O Arjuna, sitting as one indifferent, unattached to those acts.
- 9.10Under Me, as supervisor, Nature produces the moving and the unmoving; therefore, O Arjuna, the world revolves.
Word-by-word→
- idam
- this
- kartum
- to practice
- avyayam
- everlasting
- uttamam
- highest
- avagamam
- directly realizable
- dharmyam
- virtuous
- pavitram
- pure
- su-sukham
- easy
- pratyakṣha
- directly perceptible
- rāja-guhyam
- the most profound secret
- rāja-vidyā
- the king of sciences
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