Knower and the Known

Today, Swami discussed the ending part of Shankaracharya's commentary of the 13th chapter, 2nd shloka. This was the sixth class on this shloka so far, and we reached near the end of the commentary. As said before, this part is one of the most important parts of the Shankara Bhashya of the Gita. The shoka is 'Know Me to be the knower in all fields. That knowledge of the field and the knower is what I consider true knowledge.'

Again, the Purva Paksha asks, 'if God Himself is the individual soul, (kshetrajna), then that gives two defects; one is that God becomes subject to samsara, if God Himself is the jiva. The other is that if the jiva is really God, then that means that there is no such thing as samsara, the experiences of happiness and sorrow, etc.

To this Shankara says that this was already answered, by explaining the difference between Vidya and Avidya (knowledge and ignorance). If we mistake one object for something else, like mistaking a snake for a rope, that doesn't affect the substratum of the super-imposition, the snake. In the same way, we said that the experience of samsara and the jiva who appears to be subject to samsara are both due to the super-imposition of Avidya.

Then the Purva Paksha asks, 'but isn't that Avidya the defect of samsara? Therefore, doesn't that belong to the jiva, because we directly experience happiness and sorrow, etc.?
To that, Shankara says, 'no, because anything that is known (jneya) is a quality of the field (kshetram), and therefore, doesn't affect the knower of the field.' Because Avidya and its effects are something known to the knower, the jiva, these are qualities of the field, not of the knower. The 'field' means all that is known, particularly, the body, mind, and intellect. Because Avidya exists in these and is known, that is not a quality of the knower.

'Thus, the Knower is not affected by anything known, because these two cannot connect.' In other words, the nature of the Knower, or Atman, is knowledge itself. The nature of knowledge is self-luminous, and that illuminates all objects. Therefore, that knower can only be separate from the objects that are known, because they are illumined by knowledge. This separateness is like how light is never close to darkness. These two can never mix. That is why Shankara says that the Knower, which is the embodiment of Pure Knowledge, cannot be affected by anything known.

Swami said that many of us may be feeling that this part is very difficult. It is true that it takes a lot of concentration of mind to get a grasp on what is being said in this part. Part of this is because of the limitation of language. Words aren't able to fully express what is experienced when the mind is one-pointed and subtle. That is why we find this difficult to grasp.

Of course, words from a Realized Soul have great possibilities, but there is also a limitation. The words are able to transfer an experience from the speaker to the listener, but not merely in the limitation of words. One has to go beyond the words to the state where the speaker speaks from. Thus, many of us find this section difficult to grasp.

Piyush,
July 26, 2007