Verses 9.13–9.15
महात्मानस्तु मां पार्थ दैवीं प्रकृतिमाश्रिता: | भजन्त्यनन्यमनसो ज्ञात्वा भूतादिमव्ययम्
mahātmānastu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtimāśritāḥ / bhajanty ananya-manaso jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam / / 9.13
O Pārtha (son of Prithā), the great souls, who are not deluded, are under the protection of My Divine nature. They are fully devoted to Me with a single-pointed mind as they know Me as the origin of all creation, the unchangeable.
सततं कीर्तयन्तो मां यतन्तश्च दृढव्रता: | नमस्यन्तश्च मां भक्त्या नित्ययुक्ता उपासते
satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaśca dṛḍhavratāḥ / namasyantaśca māṁ bhaktyā nityayuktā upāsate / / 9.14
Always chanting My names and glories, fully striving with great determination, bowing down onto Me, these great devotees of firm resolve, perpetually worship Me with devotion.
ज्ञानयज्ञेन चाप्यन्ये यजन्तो मामुपासते | एकत्वेन पृथक्त्वेन बहुधा विश्वतोमुखम्
jñānayajñena cāpyanye yajanto māmupāsate / ekatvena pṛthaktvena bahudhā viśvatomukham / / 9.15
Some worship Me by acquiring and spreading wisdom of the Self [jñāna-yajña]. Others worship Me in My non-dual form in oneness, in My infinite form as many, and in My Universal form.
Kṛṣṇa speaks about bhakti or devotion in these verses. You see, devotion can be one of the most powerful ways to reach God. Many saints showed the world the path of devotion. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was devoted to Kṛṣṇa. He sang songs and danced in ecstasy while singing Kṛṣṇa’s glory. Mīrā was another devotee of Kṛṣṇa who loved with Him. Mīrā’s devotional songs, Mīrā bhajans, are sung even today to show her devotion towards Kṛṣṇa. Devotion is one of the most powerful ways to reach God; however it depends on how we express devotion. Many people have a habit of going to a particular temple every week. If somebody asks, they say, ‘Oh, every Saturday I pray to Lord Venkaṭeśvara.
Every Tuesday I go to the Hanumān temple.’ Going to temples becomes a fashion statement. Making mechanical visits to the temple is not devotion. It is just a sort of ego. We mostly go to temples to ask for something. Our devotion is dependent on how much Venkaṭeśvara answers our prayers. If we ask for something and He gives it, then Venkaṭeśvara is great; otherwise we switch Gods! This is our devotion! We make business deals. We pray to God, but not with devotion. As long as God gives what we want, he is our God; otherwise He is no longer God. Prayer should express our devotion, gratitude, and love to God.
All great devotees of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma showed complete gratitude and love. When devotion reaches that state, they reach the Ultimate Consciousness. Devotion or Knowledge? Prayers are powerful; however, we should not get stuck at prayers. Prayers are powerful in the initial stages when we pray as we go towards God. Let the prayers express devotion rather than asking for boons. We should go beyond words. When we pray, we are stuck in words. Our devotion should enrich us to see the ultimate energy behind the idol of Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, or Śiva. Actually, complete devotion puts us in a completely different plane. When we show our devotion to someone, we surrender ourselves to him or her.
Have you heard the story of the great child devotee, Prahlād? He was a young boy less than ten years old. His father Hiraṇyakaśipu, a great devotee of Brahma (the creator), does intense penance and asks Brahma for a boon to be made immortal; however Brahma says that is impossible. Hiraṇyakaśipu then comes up with lots of conditions such as: he should not be killed by an animal, a bird, a human, or anything living or non-living, either during the day or the night. Brahma grants him that boon. Hiraṇyakaśipu thinks his boon covers all the ways in which he might be killed. So he declares himself to be God.
He asks all the people in his kingdom to worship him as God. So people worship his idol. However his son, Prahlād, turns out to be a great devotee of Lord Viṣṇu. Rājavidyā Rājaguhya Yogaḥ Secret Of All Secrets 677 Obviously his father is not happy about this. He tries to persuade Prahlād; but it is of no use. The more he talks to his son, the more intense Prahlad’s devotion becomes. He then tries to get Prahlād killed through various ways. Prahlād worships Viṣṇu with such great devotion that Viṣṇu saves Prahlād every time. Prahlād prays to Viṣṇu every second, with every breath. His devotion is deep. Even when he is about to be executed, he prays to Viṣṇu with gratitude and love.
His devotion is that of surrender rather than a prayer asking Viṣṇu to save his life. This is the story of Narasiṃha avatār, the Incarnation of Viṣṇu in which He is half-lion and half-human. Kṛṣṇa continues to explain to Arjuna the ways in which people worship Him. Here he talks about the path of jñāna, knowledge: Those following the path of knowledge try to worship Me by acquiring and propagating knowledge. Understand that mere accumulation of knowledge only increases ego. It does not give enlightenment. Internalize the knowledge by authentic listening, by meditation, and contemplation, and by enriching others and yourself with the experiential wisdom. Then the breeze of joy will flow into your life.
How can we internalize knowledge? Do meditation. When you are alone, think and contemplate upon great truths. Deeply immersing ourselves in contemplation is a meditation. Question those truths and try to find answers within yourself. Swami Vivekananda beautifully says, ‘Even if we sit day in and day out, and memorize all the books in all the libraries, nothing happens, except that our head becomes a little big, that is all! Just know one single dimension of the truth and imbibe that completely, that is more than enough. It can do wonders. Take any one teaching and internalize it fully.’ Meditation helps us internalize our experience and process it into wisdom.
It is an alchemy that happens internally, an alchemy that transforms our lives. Meditation helps us experience the truths. Please understand, acquiring knowledge can be done in another way. Many people read many books and scriptures. They have shelves filled with books. These people take great pride in showing off their knowledge. Many people discuss spiritality and have debates over this subject. Debates are not wrong; however the motive with which they discuss should be correct. If they discuss to show others how much they know, then they are debating purely out of ego. Please be very clear, if we use our knowledge just to show how much we know, there is no use of that knowledge.
The only way knowledge in the scriptures enriches us is through experience. Instead of debating and showing off knowledge, apply it in day-to-day activities. See the results on yourself first. Experience completion in your own life. Only when we experience it, we have the right to speak about it to others. Till then, they are mere words. Meditation enriches us here, especially in the path of jñana or knowledge. You see, the path of knowledge is not an easy path. In the path of devotion, all we have to do is pray to some form: either Kṛṣṇa or Rāma or someone, have complete devotion to that chosen God. We must completely surrender.
Actually, total surrender is difficult; however, in the path of devotion, at least we have someone to talk to, pray to and look up to. However in the path of knowledge, there is no reference point. No one is in front of us. In this path, there is nothing called you and He. In the path of devotion, there is a clear separation between Kṛṣṇa and us. In the path of knowledge, Kṛṣṇa says that everything is Kṛṣṇa. There is no duality. When we meditate, we experience the great truths. Through meditation we connect to our inner space and learn to create the space of completion. All the knowledge in the scriptures, the Upaniṣad, talks about microcosm and macrocosm.
If we talk about this knowledge Rājavidyā Rājaguhya Yogaḥ Secret Of All Secrets 679 without experience, all our knowledge is bookish knowledge, nothing else. The difference happens when we experience that truth. During meditation, we merge with the cosmic energy. Meditation helps us enter that space where our inner space merges with the outer space: microcosm merges with macrocosm. Actually, all paths are one and the same. Even if we meditate on the form, after a point we will see that there is nothing like a form. Everything is the same. So even in the path of devotion, we experience the same thing as in the path of knowledge. Be very clear, nothing is better than the other.
Everything is the same. The greatest enlightened master Śaṅkara who spoke the greatest truths on non-duality, advaita wrote poems on devotion also. Swāmi Vivekānanda was an intellectual being, yet he bowed down to the devotion of Rāmakṛṣṇa’s disciple, Gopale Ma, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. This is what Kṛṣṇa says in this verse. In the previous verse, He talked about the path of devotion. Here He talks about the path of knowledge. He says, ‘Some worship the form, some worship the formless. There are many ways to worship Me.’ There are many different ways people worship the Divine. We have customized paths for our personal growth. So naturally wherever one is, one can grow and reach the level we are supposed to reach.
There are all sizes of ladders, all kinds of steps. We are continuously given choices, options. So, naturally one tends to take up something or the other. He gives options among the different paths; satatam kīrtayanto mām (9.14)—worshipping through singing the glories of the Lord or jñāna-yajñena cāpy anye yajanto mām upāsate (9.15)—cultivation of knowledge and offering everything at the feet of God. I Am Immortality And Death!