Verse 2.29 The Praise of Self Knowledge
आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन
माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्य: |
आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः शृणोति
श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित् || 29||
āśhcharya-vat paśhyati kaśhchid enan
āśhcharya-vad vadati tathaiva chānyaḥ
āśhcharya-vach chainam anyaḥ śhṛiṇoti
śhrutvāpyenaṁ veda na chaiva kaśhchit
āśhcharya-vat—as a wonder; paśhyati—see; kaśhchit—someone; enam—this soul; āśhcharya-vat—as amazing; vadati—speak of; tathā—thus; eva—indeed; cha—and; anyaḥ—other; āśhcharya-vat—similarly amazing; cha—also; enam—this soul; anyaḥ—others; śhṛiṇoti—hear; śhrutvā—having heard; api—even; enam—this soul; veda—understand; na—not; cha—and; eva—even; kaśhchit—some
Some see atma as a wonder, some describe it as a wonder, and some hear of atma as a wonder, while others, even on hearing, cannot understand it at all.
Krishna explains a point mentioned in one of the mantras from Kathopanishad. He wants to establish two things here. Atmana: durbodhatvam - It is not easy to absorb the reality of atma. Guru shishya durlabathvam - It is also rare to come across a qualified guru and a disciple.
The word ascharyam can mean wonder, abnormal, rare and difficult to achieve.
In any cognition, there will be a distinct difference between the knower and the knowable objects. But atma is not an object to be known; it is the knower himself. One knows atma as himself and not as an object apart from himself. That is why self knowledge is ascharyam, wonder.
After the thorough enquiry with the shastra, one gains the knowledge that nothing needs to be known. Whosoever has claimed so far that he knows things, is the same person, the person that is the meaning of the word I is also the meaning of the word atma. Hence it is a wonder that one has not attained any new knowledge in obtaining self knowledge. The knower of the self, atma janani is ascharyam.
The nature of only those things which have any quality, basis for action or a relation to something else can be explained with use of meaningful words. But atma has no quality nor does it engage in any action. It does not have any relation to anything else. But still our teaching tradition has a way of explaining the nature of atma and is able to transfer the self knowledge to the qualified student. Hence the teaching of the self also is ascharyam.
Atma is a wonder in all aspects. The atma that is sat-chit-ananda, existence, consciousness and limitlessness has created this entire universe of names and forms without itself undergoing any transformation. All names and forms are nothing but brahman. The teacher tells the student that the atma that is you is nothing but the brahman. But a qualified teacher is also ascharyam, rare.
By nature, all living beings in this world are born with self ignorance and a bondage due to duality. They also have a desire for freedom from this bondage by nature. But not many know that the only way to attain complete freedom is to listen to shastras, that is to attain self knowledge. Hence people who would listen (shravanam) are ascharyam, rare.
Krishna starts off by saying only some see this atma as a wonder and then lists out in how many ways atma is a wonder or a rare phenomenon. Here the word seeing must be taken as knowing. We can understand his statement in two ways. We can say people look upon knowing atma as a wonder or we can say people only rarely know atma. In the same manner teachers who are qualified to teach this self knowledge, students who are qualified to listen to the teaching and teaching of atma itself are wonders and are rare to find. Also, very rarely there are people who do not know atma even after going through traditional teaching. He means to say that if one subjects himself to the traditional teaching, there is no way that he will not know the nature of atma.
