Bhagavagd Gita - Session 23- Track 2303

jñānaṁ te ’haṁ savijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ |
yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo ’nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate || (VII, 2)

Now, in a very short phrase it says…it makes a distinction between jñāna and vijñāna.

jñānaṁ te ’haṁ savijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ |,

“I shall tell you ‘aśeṣataḥ’, without remainder…” that is to say, “having known what now I am going to describe to you, nothing more will remain to be known”. But it is not only Knowledege: jñānaṁ te ’haṁ savijñānam, “I shall tell you the knowledge, and I shall also tell you savijñānam”, it will be combined with vijñāna.

Now, what is the meaning of jñāna and vijñāna. As I told you there is a brief words given and therefore, one would ask the question, jñānaṁ te ’haṁ savijñānam idaṁ, then only it becomes aśeṣataḥ; it is only knowledge given to you; it is not aśeṣataḥ, it is not without remainder. It is only when jñāna is given with vijñāna: vijñānameans…viśeṣam jñānaṁ iti vijñānam. That which is viśeṣa, that which is additional, that which is more specific, that which is in detail: that is called vijñāna. Even we translate the word science, vijñāna, that is because of the same reason, because vijñānatells you knowledge in detail. The knowledge that is given in detail is vijñāna. That which is simply given in tattva is of one kind: I can tell you in essence; but when I tell you the detail of manifestation of that essence, then it is vijñāna. If I simply tell you that, “look, in essence this is the whole story”, but to that story in detail with all incidence and plots and the crossing of events, it makes all the difference in your appreciation in the understanding of the main plot, of main essence. So here you will get the knowledge, the statement of the knowledge of the Reality in essence, jñānaṁ; then He will tell you also savijñānam, He will tell you also in detail.

And then He says: “yaj jñātvā, having known which…neha bhūyo ’nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate,…having known it, there is nothing here which remains to be known.” That is a tremendous promise that is made, that it is such a knowledge which is given here, that having known, nothing more remains to be known here.

And now you will see the description of that knowledge with all the details of knowledge in two or three sentences, and that is what creates such a big anxiety in our consciousness, because we could expect that there would be now volumes after volumes because jñānaṁ savijñānam, instead you have only two or three sentences, followed by few other sentences, followed by three or four more other sentences. In every chapter from 6th to 12th, you have one or two more sentences, and you find that it is so intriguing! And what you are expecting, savijñānam, it is savijñānam, there is no doubt about it. But to understand all this is extremely difficult.

We shall see all that as we can now read the text of the Gita:

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye |
yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ || (VII, 3)

“Among thousands of people, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu, among thousands of people, kaścid yatati siddhaye, only one………

“Among thousands of people, only some one makes an effort to achieve realisation or accomplishment.”

yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ ||

“Even among those who are accomplished, siddha(s), among them those who try only some one, kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ, only some one really comes to know Me essentially, tattvataḥ.”

So, Sri Krishna gives a warning that what is described here if you do not understand, you try again and again, because even among those who are really accomplished, when they try again and again, then only they come to know the Reality essentially.