राजविद्याराजगुह्ययोगः
rājavidyārājaguhyayogaḥ
A leaf, a flower, a fruit, a little water, offered in love, and the Lord of all the worlds stretches out His hand to receive it.
- mām anusmara yudhya ca — the whole of life become a remembrance of the Divine
- matparāyaṇaḥ — the whole being turned to the Divine as its one supreme goal
With the ninth chapter the Teacher pauses, as if to gather the disciple’s whole attention, and announces that what he is about to tell is the most secret thing of all, the essential knowledge with all the comprehensive knowledge, by knowing which Arjuna shall be released from evil (9·1). It is the king-knowledge, the king-secret, a pure and supreme light which one can verify by direct spiritual experience, the very law of being, easy to practise and imperishable (9·2). The soul that has learned to remember the Divine in battle is now to learn why that remembrance is possible at all: because the Divine is not far, but is the very being of all that is and of the one who remembers.
Arjuna is to become aware of himself as existing only in God and as acting only by the power within him, his workings only an instrumentality of the divine action, his egoistic consciousness only a veil and to his ignorance a misrepresentation of the real being within him which is an immortal spark and portion of the supreme Godhead.
The secret is stated in a paradox. By Me all this universe has been extended in the ineffable mystery of My being; all existences are situated in Me, not I in them (9·4); and yet all existences are not situated in Me, behold My divine Yoga (9·5). He is the presiding control of his own Nature, by whom the world proceeds in cycles (9·10), and yet the works do not bind him, for he is seated as if indifferent above (9·9). The deluded despise him lodged in the human body, because they know not his supreme nature (9·11); but the great-souled, dwelling in the divine nature, know him as the Imperishable in the human form and turn to him with a sole and entire love (9·13). He is the rite and the sacrifice and the mantra; the Father and the Mother of the world; the path and goal, the witness, the house and country, the refuge, the benignant friend (9·18). To those who make him the whole object of their thought he brings every good of himself (9·22).
Then the king-secret becomes the most intimate of teachings. He who offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a cup of water, that offering of love from the striving soul is acceptable to Me (9·26); whatever thou doest, whatever thou enjoyest, whatever thou givest, make it an offering unto Me (9·27). The sacrifice of the third chapter, the fire of knowledge of the fourth, are gathered here into the simplest gesture of the heart, and the Lord of all the worlds is shown stooping to receive it.
Here the least, the slightest circumstance of life, the most insignificant gift out of oneself or what one has, the smallest action assumes a divine significance and it becomes an acceptable offering to the Godhead who makes it a means for his possession of the soul and life of the God-lover.
This intimacy does not break the divine equality. I am equal in all existences, none is dear to Me, none hated; yet those who turn to Me with love and devotion, they are in Me and I also in them (9·29). And from that equality the gate is flung open to all. If even a man of very evil conduct turns to Me with a sole and entire love, he must be regarded as a saint, for the settled will of endeavour in him is right (9·30); swiftly he becomes a soul of righteousness, and this is the Divine’s word of promise, that he who loves Him shall not perish (9·31). The outcaste, the woman, the Vaishya and the Shudra, all who take refuge with him, attain the highest goal (9·32). The Essays call this the mansion of the All-lover, where our mundane distinctions disappear and all may enter.
The chapter ends in a single call that gathers the whole of life into one movement. Thou who hast come to this transient and unhappy world, love and turn to Me (9·33): become My-minded, My lover and adorer, a sacrificer to Me, bow thyself to Me; thus united with Me, having Me as thy supreme goal, thou shalt come to Me (9·34). The disciple who began by asking for a rule of conduct is now asked for the whole self, and asked in love. He is ready to learn where, in the world and in himself, this Divine who is all is to be seen.
Essays on the Gita
Key verses
