Without knowing the supreme Reality, the study of the sastras is futile. Having known the supreme Reality, the study of the sastras is again futile. (59)
Here is an exquisite example of the use of a deliberate statement of contradiction, to hammer a point into a student while creating in him a sense of wonderment.
The verse, even in its tenth reading, leaves a staggering sense of amazement and confusion. Wonder is an emotion in which there is a dizzy pause in thinking and at such a moment of intellectual arrest, the verse filters through. When one realizes the meaning fully, it goes straight into the deepest vaults of one's heart cave.
The paradox is resolved when we give a little conscious application of purified intellect on the word 'knowing' in both the lines of the verse - 'without knowing' in the first and 'having known' in the second.
In both cases 'knowing' connotes a different meaning, the literal and the indicative. In the first line it means 'intellectually understanding' and in the second line it means 'realizing'.
if one goes on studying sastra, and the sastra does not make him independent of the need of Sastra, then such a study is of no use to him. It is nishphala.
And when one realizes Self, he gets independent of sastra, transcends all Sastras and transcends everything in creation, including creation itself.
This independence indicates the state of the sadhaka turned seer which is “Aham Brahmaasmi”.
Sastra study is futile under two conditions. First condition sastra study is futile if it keeps you permanently dependent on any one of the four factors; or all the four factors; second condition is: sastra study is futile after the discovery of the independence.
In the light of these interpretations, the verse becomes a clear statement of Truth. As long as we have no right intellectual appreciation of what the Vedanta texts indicate, all study of the scriptures is futile. Again, when we have realized the Truth, study of the scriptures is redundant.
Like Chinmaya wrote on His commentary on some other verse from the same text- “ When I reach there, I do not exist, When I come down, I do not exist”
If this beautiful expression is applied to today’s verse, it would read thus:
“When I have realized Self, then I the ego is no more, I the intellect is no more, All the sastras grasped hitherto with that intellect does not exist/ are not relevant as texts aiming to make me evolve in my path, as I have already reached the ultimate goal.
And, when I come down from that state and walk on earth, I cannot express my/ that state, i.e. that state is beyond all Sastras/ all intellectual grasping of all knowledge”
However, even after discovery of independence, one may enjoy the Sastra, but he does not depend on Sastra, but what we call leela; as a krida, He enjoys the sastra.
Long back, the author wrote an article on “ Worshipping form after realization”. Like one may continue to sing in praise of lord, one may undertake pilgrimage, one may stand in front of sanctum sanctorum and chant mantras even after realizing God/Self but all these acts are not arising out of dependence on God, for praying to God for relieving him of any suffering/ pain etc.
All such acts are like Krida in the sense that his boundless joy/ boundless Love/ Brahma Ananda gets manifested/ gets splashed in all such actions of prayer/singing/worship.
While a seeker prays for attaining fulfillment, any prayer/worship emerges from a seer, out of his fulfilled state. All such acts arise from a soul which has found its fulfillment.
Love
