The Sovereign Knowledge

May 1979, Summer Course 1979, Brindavan

Published English.

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Embodiments of the Divine !

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Among all the branches of knowledge, spiritual knowledge is unique. It is also the most esoteric of all secrets. , who was a (one aware of the past, present, and future) was the first to codify spiritual knowledge and he was its foremost exponent. It was he who defined and delineated the discipline of spirituality.

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Spiritual knowledge has been designated in the ninth chapter of the as the (sovereign knowledge). This is the most invaluable treasure of our ancient heritage. It has been preserved and nurtured for millennia by our great .

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(perseverance) is an essential precondition to the acquisition of spiritual knowledge. Nothing can be accomplished without perseverance, patience and tenacity of purpose. Students of the present day forego food and sleep and cram guidebooks and notes for the mere passing of their examinations. This way, they do display a fair amount of in their secular studies. But alas, as regards their spiritual progress, they do not exhibit even an iota of .

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or the absence of envy, jealousy, and malice is a prerequisite for gaining an intimate, immediate and personal experience of the omnipresent reality of Divinity. Every spiritual aspirant must necessarily cultivate the quality of . It is a divine characteristic which makes a man’s personality pure and pellucid.

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or chronic jealousy is the source of all mental and physical ailments in this world. In order to acquire mental equipoise and inner tranquillity, man should make his heart pure by purging his mind of this psychological mania called jealousy. Man must first humanise himself before attempting to divinize himself. To feel jealous of others, even in trivial matters, suppresses the humanitarian instincts of a person. Men, today, waste all their time and energy in blaming others without realising that to search for and find faults in others is the most grievous and ghastly sin. was completely free from the deadly qualities of envy, jealousy, and malice. That is why he acquired the appellation of and deserved the nectarine message of the from .

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The ninth chapter of the is of paramount importance. It deals with the (sovereign knowledge) and (sovereign secret). It is concerned with occult experience and the esoteric mysteries of the human soul. This chapter is in the middle of the text and is like a beautiful bouquet that links the two halves of a gorgeous garland of fragrant flowers that the various other chapters in the are. And in this central chapter is contained the supreme knowledge of the .

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means the bearer, supporter and sustainer of the myriad of living creatures. implies that He dwells in all creatures. In other words, God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of all creatures and dwells in them all.

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The (supported) cannot exist without the (supporter). All mundane pleasures constitute the . The essential substance of the is the . That is to say, all experiences, both mundane and spiritual, are regulated by the .

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Laymen glibly talk about the mind without knowing what exactly the form and shape of mind is. People say that they are feeling happy. But what is the form of happiness? They also talk of or bliss. What is the perceptible evidence for bliss? Words like mind, happiness and bliss are abstractions which do not have existence in space and time. Nevertheless, they subsist in a special sense. Though they do not exist in form, none can deny the fact that they are real individual experiences. In a similar manner, all spiritual experiences are incommunicable, non-demonstrable and subjective.

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We may read in the newspaper that a certain king has died in a foreign country. As such, we have no personal knowledge of the king’s death. Neither have we seen his dead body. The news of his death has been telegraphically transmitted to us. Nonetheless, we believe in the news. But, at the same time, we doubt and deny the personal testimony of great , who gained the sublime experience of the Self through vigorous austerities and penance. A person with discrimination and an open mind should not deny or condemn the self-certifying validity of the profound and mystical experiences of the great .

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Spiritual knowledge can be acquired by every individual. “Where there is a will, there is a way.” The first step on the path of spirituality is the acquisition of or freedom from envy, jealousy, malice, and covetousness. or jealousy should be completely rooted out of the human heart and or perseverance should be cultivated instead. The should be visualised through meditation. The sincere and persistent will then certainly have spiritual experiences and mystical revelations.

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We may want to prepare delicious “”. For this purpose, we may make use of fresh vegetables, good and clean tamarind. Like or , the cook may be an expert. But if the brass vessel used for cooking is not properly silvered or coated with tin, all the “” cooked in it, is bound to be spoiled. Similarly, though there are nine modes of worship, unless the devotee has a pure heart, none of them will be effective. Of what use is all the counting and telling of beads if the heart is tainted with envy, jealousy and malice?

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“ without is futile”, said . (perseverance coupled with the capacity to take pains) is absolutely indispensable for (the science of the Self). Young men and women of the present day do have an abundance of . But, unfortunately, all their is diverted to dramas, novels, cinemas, radio, television, cricket and horse racing. This misplaced has resulted in their physical debilitation and mental corruption, with the result that they have not only lost faith in God but in themselves too.

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Spirituality is an activity. It is an activity of the . Just as a man cannot say that he will jump into the water only after he has learned swimming, he cannot say that he will plunge himself into the depths of spiritual experience only after he has fully comprehended spirituality.

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If a magnet is to attract a piece of iron, the latter should be free from impurities and rust. If a rusted piece of iron is not attracted by a magnet, the magnet is not to be found fault with. Similarly, if the is covered with the impurities of the mind, it will not be attracted to the .

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If you look at the world through coloured glasses, it will assume the colour of the glasses. The colour belongs to the glasses and not to the world. To a patient who is suffering from malaria even a sweet “” tastes bitter. The fault lies with the patient and not with the “”. Thus, a self-deluded individual cannot grasp the ultimate absolute and eternal Reality of the .

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There is electricity in matter. But it does not manifest itself everywhere. Its effect is seen when an electric bulb is connected in the circuit. So also, God is immanent and omnipresent. He is everywhere, but His presence is manifested only in a pure heart. The ninth chapter of the emphasises the need for purity of heart for the realisation of God.

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One night, had a dream in which he dreamt that he had lost his kingdom and become a beggar. He was going around the streets of his city and begging for alms. The pangs of hunger made him cry. Some kind-hearted person gave him a morsel of food, but to his great misfortune, even that morsel slipped down from his palm. Just then the horror-stricken king woke up from his dream. He found himself again in his royal palace. The king asked himself, “Which is real - dream world or the conscious world?” The queen who was observing him was also perplexed. They decided to consult the great sage, . The sage said, “O King! Both are real in one sense. But there is also another point of view. You became a beggar in the dream world and you are king in the conscious world. You exist in both the worlds. While they are both unreal, you alone are real. You are the absolute reality of the dreaming state as well as the conscious state.” - the One is Real. Truth is one and its manifestations are many. This is the central doctrine of the .