(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswami)

Faith Cannot Grow Without Knowledge, And Love Cannot Develop Without Faith

बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते |
वासुदेव: सर्वमिति स महात्मा सुदुर्लभ: || 7.19||

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ || 7.19||

Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 7- Ver. 19:

One who is endowed with knowledge surrenders to Me, knowing Me to be everything that is, after many births and spiritual practise. It is really rare to come across such a wonderful soul.

Explanation

Shree Krishna clears the frequent misconception among intellectually inclined individuals that bhakti (devotion) is inferior than jnana in this verse . They look down on persons who practise devotion. They look down on them and think of themselves as superior since they are engaged in the intellectual task of learning. Shree Krishna, on the other hand, claims that a jnanis spends several lifetimes accumulating knowledge and that it is only when his or her jnana matures that he surrenders to God. True knowledge, in fact, is what leads to devotion.

Faith can’t grow without knowledge, and love can’t thrive without faith. Jnanis spend many lives pursuing pure truth, and when they realise that the Supreme Lord is all there is, they surrender to Him. He does not mention this, however, for the jnanis, karmis, hatha-yogis, ascetics, and others. He makes this declaration for devotees or elevated souls who have realised “God is all that is” and surrendered to Him. Such noble souls, however, are quite rare.

Verse & what we can learn

The knowledgeable devotee is unique in that he does not employ Ishvara for anything other than Ishvara’s sake. He treats Ishvara the same way he treats himself. People who understand that Ishvara is the ultimate cause of everything are incredibly rare and elevated. To reach to this point, they’ve put in several lives’ worth of effort.
Examine the nature of the effort that resulted in the enlightened devotee’s vision. This effort can be divided into two categories: the realisation that everything has a single cause, and the surrender of one’s ego to that one cause, or Ishvara. There is no set order in which these events must occur, but both are required. The person who has put in so much effort to reach to this point is extremely unusual and privileged.

We must now be cautious in our interpretation of the second half of this shloka. “Vaasudev” is a Sanskrit word that means “one who resides in everything,” as well as “one who resides in everything and everyone.” To put it another way, “Vaasudev is everything” means “Ishvara is everything.”

To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.

There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There are also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.

In the Next verse, Shri Krishna tells Arjuna the subject of devotion for material gain.

Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…