The Most Confidential Knowledge
The ninth chapter of Bhagavad-gita is titled “The Most Confidential Knowledge” and in the first verse of this chapter Krishna says:
The Supreme Lord said: My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most secret wisdom, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence. (http://prabhupadabooks.com/bg/9/1)
As a devotee hears more and more about the Supreme Lord, he becomes enlightened. This hearing process is recommended in the Srimad-Bhagavatam: “The messages of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are full of potencies, and these potencies can be realized if topics regarding the Supreme Godhead are discussed amongst devotees. This cannot be achieved by the association of mental speculators or academic scholars, for it is realized knowledge.
”
The devotees are constantly engaged in the Supreme Lord’s service. The Lord understands the mentality and sincerity of a particular living entity who is engaged in Krishna consciousness and gives him the intelligence to understand the science of Krishna in the association of the devotees.
Discussion of Krishna is very potent, and if a fortunate person has such association and tries to assimilate the knowledge, then he will surely make advancement toward spiritual realization. Lord Krishna, in order to encourage Arjuna to higher and higher elevation in His potent service, describes in this Ninth Chapter matters more confidential than any He has already disclosed.
The very beginning of Bhagavad-gita, the First Chapter, is more or less an introduction to the rest of the book; and in the Second and Third Chapters, the spiritual knowledge described is called confidential. Topics discussed in the Seventh and Eighth Chapters are specifically related to devotional service, and because they bring enlightenment in Krishna consciousness, they are called more confidential. But the matters which are described in the Ninth Chapter deal with unalloyed, pure devotion. Therefore this is called the most confidential.
One who is situated in the most confidential knowledge of Krishna is naturally transcendental; he therefore has no material pangs, although he is in the material world. In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu it is said that although one who has a sincere desire to render loving service to the Supreme Lord is situated in the conditional state of material existence, he is to be considered liberated. Similarly, we shall find in the Bhagavad-gita, Tenth Chapter, that anyone who is engaged in that way is a liberated person.
Now this first verse has specific significance. Knowledge refers to pure devotional service, which consists of nine different activities: hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping, praying, obeying, maintaining friendship and surrendering everything. By the practice of these nine elements of devotional service one is elevated to spiritual consciousness, Krishna consciousness.
At the time when one’s heart is cleared of the material contamination, one can understand this science of Krishna. Simply to understand that a living entity is not material is not sufficient.
That may be the beginning of spiritual realization, but one should recognize the difference between activities of the body and spiritual activities by which one understands that he is not the body.
In the Seventh Chapter we have already discussed the opulent potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His different energies, the inferior and superior natures, and all this material manifestation. Now in Chapters Nine and Ten the glories of the Lord will be delineated.
Generally the commentators, even if they are highly scholarly, are all envious of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even the most erudite scholars write on Bhagavad-gita very inaccurately. Because they are envious of Krishna, their commentaries are useless. The commentaries given by devotees of the Lord are bona fide. No one can explain Bhagavad-gita, or give perfect knowledge of Krishna if he is envious. One who criticizes the character of Krishna without knowing Him is a fool. So such commentaries should be very carefully avoided. For one who understands that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the pure and transcendental Personality, these chapters will be very beneficial.
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
Related Posts
Arjuna’s Bewilderment →
Bhagavad-gita 7.4 MP3 Audio Class Vrndavana, August 10, 1974 →
Introduction To Bhagavad Gita Part Three →
Hare Krishna Prabhu.
If transcendental knowledge can develop by bhakti why we have so many books? Is it for theoretical knowledge so that we can do devotional service with less difficulties? And can one progress on the path of devotional service by chanting 16 rounds everyday even if he cannot read books? I’m asking this question for some of my family members who cannot understand English and I don’t want to give them Hindi books because they are not available on krishnastore.com
Hare Krishna Aman
Yes. Krishna consciousness can develop by chanting Hare Krishna. But one needs a bona fide spiritual master to guide him, that is the point realistically. So the point of reading Srila Prabhupada’s books is not for theoretical knowledge. Srila Prabhupada is living in his books. So when we read Srila Prabhupada’s books we are directly and personally associating with Srila Prabhupada. If we have any question we just have to pick up one of Srila Prabhupada’s books and mystically he will answer that question and many others for us.
So reading Srila Prabhupada’s books is how we associate with Srila Prabhupada.
As far as your family members, you concentrate on becoming a pure devotee of Krishna yourself. If you become a pure devotee of Krishna by the strength of your pure devotional service you will liberate all your family members, 12 generations into the past and 12 generations into the future. You can read about this in the Seventh Canto when Prahlada Maharaja is asking Lord Nrsimhadeva about that position of his father Hiranyakasipu.
So engage your family members as far as possible, whatever they do is very good, chanting Hare Krishna is very good, feed them with Krishna prasadam, that is very good, and you can read Srila Prabhupada’s books, and you can speak Hindi I presume, so you can explain it to them. And the more pure you are the more effective your explanations will be.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu.
This is what I’m trying to do. When I chant and read Srila Prabhupada’s books and listen to him regularly I get very enthusiastic about preaching and making people Krishna Conscious. When I preach I get a lot of happiness although while preachhing there is sometimes distress because of heated arguments or some fault on my part. Some of my family members are chanting Hare Krishna and appreciate my preaching very much, but some are suspicious of what I’m doing. And this is what is going to be the case throughout this material world. At this stage I lack the strength to speak to everyone about Krishna Consciousness but this is because I’m not pure enough. It is great to hear that a pure devotee can liberate so many generations of his family. I hope to become a loyal servent of Srila Prabhupada.
This has to be my favorite chapter. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this matter. Much appreciated.
Hare Krsna.
Hare Krishna Prji …. Thanks for articles. Undoubtedly K C is the most confidential knowledge. I hv 1 doubt …. Please clarify …. In Purport 3.40 Srila Prabhupada mentions that those who considers land of birth worshipable hv the mentality of ass. Is it wrong to consider land of birth worshipable ? Please clarify & please add some light on it. Hari bol.
Yes. It is wrong to consider the land of birth as worshipable, that is the mentality of an ass… It is because we are not the material body, we are the spirit soul. We have nothing to do with the material body or the land of the birth of the material body. The beginning of spiritual life is to realize we are not this body, we are not Indian, we are not Australian, we are not American, and we have nothing to do with this planet Earth even. We are all servants of Krishna and our home is in the spiritual world serving Krishna. So we have to know this. That I am Krishna’s, I belong to Krishna’s planet, and I am not this material body and I have nothing to do with the land of birth of this material body…
Namasthe Hare Krishna
Your most commendable service cannot be praised enough suffice to say please keep it up and that we all, that are and have become part of your karmic circle are blessed and so much more enriched for your efforts.
I would like to enquire if it is at possible to have all your emails on the Gita in a single document?
Thank you !
Namasthe
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Thank you for the encouragement.
No. Emails are for sending out by email one at a time. If you want the knowledge in books that you can study please get Srila Prabhupada’s books and read them. That is the idea of the emails actually. To encourage the people to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. In Prabhupada’s books you will find the subject matter described in much greater detail than in the emails. So please get Prabhupada’s books and read them:
https://krishnastore.com/books-srila-prabhupada-om-21_38.html
There are many mistakes at the moment. We will be fixing in the next few months.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Swamijii!
Kindly accept my humble Pranam!.
I have some doubt about Bhagavat Gita, Since its very difficult to understand many chapters even in our regional language, is it necessary for a devotee who is in lowest stage of spiritual life like me, to study and understand is must to qualify for spiritual advancement..?
I read Srimad Bhagwatam, even many chapters (2nd chapter conversation between Sri Brahma and his son Naradha Muni) , I could not understand, for example; expansion of Universe, Lord spiritual potencies, confidential knowledge about atma, paramatma etc.
For me Bhakti yoga I could follow that too some extent…..
My doubt is, we have parents, we love our parents our father, why? we love him because of him we are here in this material world..We don’t love him not because of his wealth, knowledge, post, any qualifications he has.. We love him simply because he feed us and take care of us, etc… Like this; devotee is not bothered, Krishna is controller of demi Gods, how he created this world , what is maya, how he is controlling universe and beyond etc.. etc… devotee worship Krishna, because he knows Krishna is Supreme Personality of Godhead, that’s all..
His only focus is how to go back to him .. nothing else.. either remembering him always, hearing his past times, chanting holy names etc…We have history of uneducated bhaktas, who can’t read or write… but they attained his lotus feet..
Kindly clear my doubt Swamiji
Your servant
Uma Sridhar!
Hare Krishna Uma
Yes. Of course you are correct. The point of becoming Krishna conscious is to develop love for Krishna and be engaged in the service of Krishna out of that love. That is all. That is the mood of the gopis in Vrindavan. They were the greatest devotees and Krishna loves them very much. But they are not philosophers. They do not even know that Krishna is God. They just think Krishna is a very beautiful boy in their village of Vrindavan and they love Him.
But really now, in Kali-yuga, in the middle of maya, we need some philosophical knowledge to keep our devotion to Krishna strong. And Bhagavad-gita actually is very simple. Yes. Of course in the beginning we can not understand it. But if you just keep reading Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is in English [because that is what Prabhupada wrote it in] over and over again, and of course read the Sanskrit slokas also, very soon everything will become more and more clear to you.
So for us reading is important because we have so much contamination of materilaism and impersonalism that needs to be washed away and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books is one of the best ways to wash away this contamination.
So please chant Hare Krishna and keep on trying to read Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is in the original English / Sanskrit and gradually you will find it more and more enjoyable to read Bhagavad-gita. That is a sign that we are making spiritual advancement, when we actually start enjoying reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. In the beginning we read them because Prabhupada says we should read them, but after some time we read them because we get great transcendental pleasure from reading them.
But in the beginning it is difficult to read, hard to understand. You have to undergo this austerity. Force yourself to read Prabhupada’s books, even though you really have no attraction for reading them. But then the attraction will develop.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
It is my humble presentation that the Lord does not mean that Arjuna envies the Lord by using the word ‘asuya’ . Leave alone the Lord , Arjuna is not envious of any person or power on this earth because the Lord Himself is his friend and philosopher . He says that Arjuna is not an envying person . Arjuna is not , never envious of any person or power. That is why the Lord says that He chose faultless Arjuna , the right person to divulge the divine secret to and depart the divine knowledge to . Perhaps it is a point for us to note that ‘envy’ destroys truth and devotion in a person . The point is envious persons cannot keep or respect secrets !
Hare Krishna Premakau
Yes. You are correct. Krishna is not saying that Arjuna is envious of Him at all in this verse. What Krishna is saying is He is speaking this great knowledge to His friend Arjuna because he is NOT envious of Him. So there is no question of Krishna suggesting that Arjuna is envious of Him, rather Krishna is saying the opposite, that it is because Arjuna is NOT envious of Him that He is speaking Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna.
Hare Krishna
First of all, i convey my obeissances unto you and unto the Lotus feet of Lord Krishna and his potency Maa Radhe. Recently, I had a hot debate with some of my friends where they raised two questions?
1. Why do we exclude onion and garlic from our veg regimen.? Is there any scriptural evidence?
2. We prohibit killing of living beings but those vegetables and fruit bearing plants do have souls.Then why do we kill them for our benefit?
Though I somehow or other managed to convince them, yet these questions are cropping up in my mind and i wish i could find suitable answers from your holiness so that,in future , i could glorify the holy name of Lord Hari with more confidence!!
Hare Krishna
Firstly we follow the disciplic succession. In particular we are following Srila Prabhupada and he has ordered no onions and garlic so for the sincere devotee he has absolute faith in the order of his spiritual master and that order of the spiritual master is enough. If spiritual master orders that one should not offer onions and garlic to Krishna then he does not do it.
The point is that devotees only accept Krishna Prasadam. Which means devotee can not accept anything that is not first offered to Krishna. And offerings to Krishna have to be made from things in the mode of goodness. And for foodstuffs that means vegetables, grains, milk products and fruit. These are all in the mode of goodness and are suitable for offering to Krishna. But things like garlic and onions are in the mode of passion and meat is in the mode of ignorance. So these things can not be offered to Krishna. That is the point. And because devotees do not accept anything except Krishna prasadam and onions and garlic can not be offered to Krishna, therefore devotees do not accept anything that is prepared with onions and garlic because it can not be offered to Krishna.
As far as the trees you can take the fruit of the tree without killing the tree. As far as the grains are concerned the grains are harvested after the plant has naturally died. So for getting fruits and grains there is no killing of the plant. Some vegetables may be killed, like cabbage, etc. But you have to understand that a devotee does not cook for himself. A devotee cooks for Krishna. So if a devotee is getting a cabbage to cook for Krishna there is no sin on his part. He is cooking for Krishna. So even if there is some so-called sin, there is no sin, because it is being done for the pleasure of Krishna.
Actually in every action we are committing some sin. Every time we breath in we are killing many small germs, when we walk on the ground we are crushing many small creatures, when we cook on a flame many creatures are being killed by the flame. So in the material world we can not avoid these unintentional sinful activities. So a devotee works in such a way that all his actions are performed for the pleasure of Krishna, in the service of Krishna, so because his every action is for Krishna, he is not responsible for any of these unintentional sinful activities and he is freed from all reactions to these because he is working for Krishna.
So these things really can only be understood by devotees. Nondevotees can not understand. So do not be upset if you can not convince others on all the points. But become convinced yourself and read Srila Prabhupada’s books and learn how to live your life in such a way that your every action is performed in service to Krishna, for the pleasure of Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna
thank you please mail daily
i will be thankful to you
hare krishna
HARI BOL Mudhudvisa Dasa.Thankyou for your email knowledge.I just wish to explain the problem I have with the invasion of presaka ghoasts that have invaded me because of the failure of my aura.I still chant every day and have for 30 years in the hope for eternal salvation.Regards and good will.Peter.
Ghosts can not stand the chanting of Hare Krishna. So chant Hare Krishna constantly. Also ghosts hang around in places that are in the mode of ignorance. So that means dirty places, places where intoxication and illicit sex is going on, etc. So you need to make your living quarters very clean and pure and stay away from the places where intoxication and illicit sex are going on and always chant Hare Krishna and the ghosts will not be able to hang around you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa