The Ninth Chapter is the most confidential knowledge. Śrī bhagavān uvāca, (devotees repeat) . . . all right, you repeat. Idaṁ (devotees repeat each word of verse after Prabhupāda, who then recites verse with devotees chanting responsively)
- śrī bhagavān uvāca
- idaṁ tu te guhyatamaṁ
- pravakṣyāmy anasūyave
- jñānam vijñāna-sahitaṁ
- yaj jñātvā mokṣyase 'śubhāt
- (BG 9.1)
Śrī bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān, the Supreme Being, Bhagavān. In your English dictionary the word God is explained as "the Supreme Being." Supreme Being means who is great, greater, or the greatest, of all other beings. We are beings. We are individual persons. It is not very difficult to understand. Every one of us, individual. We think individually. We dress individually. We have got our egotism, individual. Everything. I don't agree with you; you don't agree with me. Voluntarily sometimes we agree. That means every one of us has individuality. This is called being. "I am."
Similarly, God is also being like us, but He is Supreme Being. That is the difference between God and me. I am also being, you are also being, but we are not Supreme Being. We are under some control. But God is not under control. He is the controller, but He is never controlled. (aside) Make it louder. That is explained in the Vedic literature, the definition of God. The definition of God is given there, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. The Supreme Being is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (BS 5.1). And He is . . . vigraha means He has form. He is person, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. But His person, His form, is different from our form, our present form. Our present form, as we have got the material tabernacle, that is temporary. Your form, my form, this is changing. We are not existing in the same form. Just like we have got this form, human form of life. It is not permanently I shall be able to enjoy. Just like you have got a particular dress now. It is not permanent. You can change your dress any moment. Similarly, this body, material body, is considered . . . actual fact: it will not endure. We'll have to change. Therefore it is not sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha.
But Kṛṣṇa's form is sac-cid-ānanda. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (BS 5.1). Vigraha means form. So everyone has got form. There are 8,400,000 forms of living entity. In the water there are 900,000 forms. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati (Padma Purāṇa). Amongst the trees, plants, there are 2,000,000 forms. So there are hundred and thousands of forms in the material world. But in the spiritual world the form is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Every form is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. That is the difference between material world and spiritual world. Material world means . . . although the varieties are there in the spiritual world . . . there are also trees, as well as we have got here trees. But there the forms are spiritual form, and here they are material form. Material form and spiritual form, what is the difference? The difference is that just like a living being . . . I can ask any of my disciple to do something, he'll do it. But this microphone, it has also a form, but if I want microphone, "Please do this," he cannot, it cannot be, because it is material. It can mechanical, give some mechanical service, one only, but it cannot do any other thing. A man can speak or he can dance or he can become a thief, he can become so many—because he's living. That is the difference between material form and spiritual form. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā the material forms, they have been described as inferior, and spiritual forms . . . there is spiritual world also. That is called parā-prakṛti. There is another nature.
So we have no information. But information means we have in the Vedic literature. In other literatures also there are slight information, but in the Vedic literature you'll find described information of the spiritual world. So Bhagavad-gītā is the nutshell, cream of all spiritual knowledge. Here, therefore, Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, He is speaking. He is giving spiritual knowledge directly. Now, śrī-bhagavān uvāca. So there cannot be any argument. The word used here . . . actually, this Bhagavad-gītā is described by Vyāsadeva. So Vyāsadeva recorded it, writing. Otherwise, it was being received through hearing. Before this Kali-yuga, Vyāsadeva, he kept all Vedic literature in writing. Before that, there was no book. The knowledge was received through the ear, aural reception, śruti. Therefore it is called śruti. Śruti means the knowledge which is received by hearing. And the memory was very sharp. In those days, five thousand years ago, any man . . . not any man, but the intelligent class of men; they were called brāhmaṇas. They used to receive knowledge from guru by hearing. They could memorize everything, once heard. In the Kali-yuga the memory is being reduced. The duration of life is being reduced. Peoples' mercifulness is being reduced. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. Bodily strength—reduced. Therefore Vyāsadeva preferred it that the Vedic knowledge should be kept recorded in writing.
So he first of all then wrote all this Vedic knowledge into writing, and the writings . . . there are the four original Vedas—Sāma, Yajur, Ṛk, Atharva—then the Upaniṣad, then the essence of Vedic knowledge, Vedānta-sūtra, then Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata . . . Mahābhārata is the greater history of this planet, Bhārata. In this way immense literatures are available. If we like, we can read them. We are presenting in English translation so many books. The purpose is people of the world may know the Vedic knowledge. So essence of Vedic knowledge is this Bhagavad-gītā. Not only that; it is being spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore it is said, śrī-bhagavān uvāca, so nobody could argue. Vedic knowledge means you cannot argue. You have to accept, authoritative. Just like the government literature, government regulation, when it is published, gazette, you cannot argue. Whatever the government has decided, you have to accept because government is the authority. Similarly, Vedic knowledge means you cannot argue. You can argue, but that argument is not to defeat. That argument is for understanding. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). If you cannot understand, then you have to put questions very humbly, praṇipātena, not by challenging. Praṇipāta. Praṇipāta means very humbly submitting oneself. Praṇipātena paripraśna. Otherwise there is no need of questioning. If you have no praṇipāta . . . praṇipāta means prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa nipātena, fully submissive. The answers . . . you should approach to a person, questioning, with praṇipāta, means you cannot challenge him. Whatever answer he gives, you must be prepared to accept it. Otherwise don't put question. That is the system, Vedic system. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena (BG 4.34).