165. The Science of Spirituality.

Krishna says, “O Arjuna, know Me to be the beginning, middle, and end of all creation. Amongst sciences I am the science of spirituality, I am logic in arguments” (10.32). Referring to the same spiritual knowledge, Krishna earlier said that when you realise this, nothing more here remains to be known (7.2).

The essence is to know the self. Krishna calls the knower of the self a yogi and says he is superior to the shastra jnani who has read numerous texts but is still not aware of self (6.46). In this context Krishna earlier said, “Know ‘That’ by prostration, questioning and service, the wise who have realised the Truth will teach you the knowledge” (4.34).

Essentially, any knowledge which dissolves our ahankaar (I am doer or I am knower) is spiritual knowledge. It could be history, physics or medicine where the more we know the more is left to be known. All of them can make us realise that we are just a nimitta-maatra (an instrument) in the hands of the Almighty. Spiritual knowledge can be any knowledge that helps us in the dissolution of ahankaar like how the salt doll dissolves in the ocean.

After spiritual knowledge, Krishna mentions logic which is nothing but questioning. It is not the logic we use in an argument to prove a point, but the logic used to discover ultimate truth or spiritual knowledge.

Krishna further says, “I am the first letter ‘A’ of the alphabets; I am the dual word in grammatical compounds. I am the everlasting Time, and amongst Creators I am Brahma” (10.33).

Earlier Krishna said that He is time among measurers, and now He says He is the eternal time. It is the time that creates everything and eventually destroys it. But time itself never changes and He is that eternal time.