After his initial exposition of the Self, already considered in previous essays, Krishna speaks of the four responses human beings have in relation to teaching about the Self:
“Someone perceives this [Self] as a wonder, another declares this as a wonder, still another hears of this as a wonder; but some, even having heard of It, yet comprehend nothing” (Bhagavad Gita 2:29).
Prabhavananda translates this: “There are some who have actually looked upon the Atman, and understood It, in all Its wonder. Others can only speak of It as wonderful beyond their understanding. Others know of Its wonder by hearsay. And there are others who are told about It and do not understand a word.”
The re-occurance of “four”
It is intriguing to see how the number four has significance in many ways in the scriptures of India. We usually think of seven as the mystic number (and it is), but four also comes into the picture many times, especially in considerations of the development of consciousness.
For example, there are four castes based on the level of the individual’s consciousness. (The present-day “caste system” is an unfortunate degeneration based on just about everything but the individual’s state of evolution.) The solar system is said to pass through four ages (yugas) in which the general consciousness of humanity ranges from only one-fourth to four-fourths of its potential. This numbering is the most important of all considerations, because it deals with the unfoldment of consciousness, consciousness itself being the nature of the Self.
Even in the life of Jesus we find this fourfold categorizing of spiritual consciousness. Toward the end of his public ministry, in response to his prayer God spoke in a great voice from the heavens. In the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of John we are told that those present reacted in four ways:
- some knew it was the voice of God,
- some thought it was the voice of an angel,
- some did not hear it as words or a voice, but thought it was thunder, and
- some did not hear a thing. If we analyze these responses will we find exactly the psychology of the four castes being expressed.
But let us return to Krishna. According to Krishna there are four states of awareness in relation to the Self:
- direct knowledge,
- deep faith and conviction–an intuition of the Self’s reality,
- intellectual comprehension of the “theory” of the Self, and
- complete non-comprehension.
Divine knowledge
“There are some who have actually looked upon the Atman, and understood It, in all Its wonder.”
In the ultimate sense, to know something is to be something. Although we are always our selves and incapable of being anything else, because we have fallen into the pit of delusion we are aware of and “know” just about everything but our selves. This is an awesomely horrible plight. But Krishna tells us that there are those who have actually regained their self-awareness, “seen” themselves in atmic vision and comprehended what they saw, coming to know the Self in the fullest sense.
Divine intuition
“Others can only speak of It as wonderful beyond their understanding.”
Since we are the Self, we obviously know all about it on the real level of our being. Evolution consists mainly of development/elaboration of our body vehicles, including the mind, but it also entails a refining of those vehicles, a transparency in which intuition comes more and more into play. It is this which is the real transcendence of the mind (intellect) and entry into true knowing. As a prelude to the direct knowing of the Self, the intuition of the Self arises and increases, leading the sadhaka onward to that knowing.
Divine understanding
“Others know of Its wonder by hearsay.”
Before intuition arises, the intellect is developed through evolution and becomes capable of grasping the concept of the Self–insofar as it can be intellectually grasped. No small degree of evolution is required before genuinely intelligent (buddhic) apprehension of the Self is possible. Therefore to simply have an intellectual comprehension of the incomprehension of the Self–to wonder at the truth of the Self–is itself a mark of significant spiritual development.
Uncomprehending ignorance
“And there are others who are told about It and do not understand a word.”
This is not a matter of intelligence only, but also a matter of evolution of consciousness. I have met highly intelligent people who just could not comprehend even the simplest of the principles set forth in the upanishads or the Gita. No matter how I tried to make them clear by restating them in different ways they remained incapable of even a glimmer of understanding.
For example, one very mentally active and intelligent man was thoroughly flummoxed by my statement that as long as we see life with the two eyes of duality we will wander in confusion and delusion, but as soon as we begin to see with the one eye of spiritual intuition we begin to understand our life and our selves. Again and again he asked me to explain, but he never got it in the least. He was very frustrated, at least realizing that I was making sense and the lack was on his part, but he never managed.
On another occasion one of the sadhus of our ashram was speaking to a Fundamentalist Protestant minister. The sadhu told him that we believed everyone could become exactly what Jesus was. Over and over he asked the sadhu to explain–not that he was rejecting the idea; he just could not grasp it. And he never did. It was a matter of evolution in both cases, for non-comprehension is even lower than a mistaken understanding.
Of course sometimes incomprehension is a matter of negativity. The Tibetan Buddhists say that stupidity is “daughter of hell.” Evolution of intelligence is a requisite, but it is certainly true that without purification of the intellect, however evolved, no understanding of higher spiritual realities is possible.
The four castes
Returning to the subject of caste, we can now realize in the light of Krishna’s exposition, that Shudras are those who are servants to materiality and ignorance, Vaishyas are those who have an intellectual understanding of the possibility of their betterment, Kshatriyas are those who, being close to apprehension of the Self, are able to intuit the truth of the Self while aware of their limitation, and Brahmins are those who see and know the Self. This is the sum of the entire matter.
Further Reading:
- Caste and Karma: for a further understanding of what determines our “caste.”
- The Brahmin: What Buddha says are the characteristics of a true “Brahmin.”
- You Know More Than You Think You Do
Grow Your Spiritual Library
- Read The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening, available as a paperback and ebook from Amazon and other online bookstores.