Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7, Verse 2

Chapter 7 – Jnana Vijnana Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

ज्ञानं तेऽहं सविज्ञानमिदं वक्ष्याम्यशेषतः ।
यज्ज्ञात्वा नेह भूयोऽन्यज्ज्ञातव्यमवशिष्यते ॥

Transliteration

jñānaṃ te.ahaṃ savijñānamidaṃ vakṣyāmyaśeṣataḥ .
yajjñātvā neha bhūyo.anyajjñātavyamavaśiṣyate ॥

Meaning

I shall teach you in full this knowledge together with realisation, knowing which nothing further remains to be known here.

Word meanings

ज्ञानम् – knowledge
ते – to you
अहम् – I
सविज्ञानम् – together with realisation
इदम् – this
वक्ष्यामि – shall declare
अशेषतः – in full
यत् – which
ज्ञात्वा – having known
न – not
इह – here, in this world
भूयः – further
अन्यत् – anything else
ज्ञातव्यम् – to be known
अवशिष्यते – remains

Anvaya (word order)

अहं ते इदं सविज्ञानं ज्ञानम् अशेषतः वक्ष्यामि, यत् ज्ञात्वा इह भूयः अन्यत् ज्ञातव्यं न अवशिष्यते ।

Explanation

In the first verse Krishna spoke of knowing Him completely; now he describes the kind of knowledge it will be. It is savijnana jnana — knowledge together with realisation. This is the basis of the chapter's title, Jnana-Vijnana Yoga.

The commentators illuminate the meaning of jnana and vijnana. For Shankara, jnana is the understanding of the Lord's nature gained from scripture and the teacher's instruction, and vijnana is its personal experience — direct realisation. In another view, jnana is the awareness of the Lord's attributeless, formless nature, and vijnana the special knowledge of His manifestations and His expression in creation. Ramanuja takes jnana as knowledge of the Lord's essential nature and vijnana as the special knowledge of how He is distinct from everything else.

Krishna makes a great promise: yaj jnatva neha bhuyo 'nyaj jnatavyam avashishyate — knowing which nothing else remains to be known. This recalls the famous question of the Mundaka Upanishad: what is that by knowing which everything becomes known? Just as knowing clay one knows the essence of all clay vessels, so knowing the Supreme, the root cause of all, one knows the essence of all.

Worldly knowledge is endless; no one can know every subject. But the root of all knowledge is one, and knowing it, the thirst for knowledge is completely satisfied.

Context

In 7.1 Krishna promised to impart knowledge of His complete nature; here he says it will be full and accompanied by realisation. In the next verse (7.3) he speaks of its rarity — scarcely one in thousands knows Him in truth.

Life lesson

The accumulation of information and facts is endless, but the core truth of life is one. Seek to know not only by reading but by experiencing — that is the knowledge which quenches the mind's thirst.

Key terms

Jnana: understanding of truth from scripture and teacher
Vijnana: direct realisation; specialised knowledge
Jnatavya: that which is to be known
Asheshatah: in full