Your mood determines how truth reveals itself to you - Bhagavad Gita ch4:3

The perennial mystery throughout the ages, in both Eastern and Western traditions, had been the pursuit of self-realization. And indeed this truth of the nature of self is such a mystery that it cannot be comprehended by theoretical knowledge alone.

It's not enough to know what the ancient texts reveal about our true identity. Many may have already heard this information but it was so far outside of their frame of reference that they could not identify with it.

So it remained an abstract idea.

However, those who have engaged in deep meditation practice, as taught in the ancient yoga texts, may get an experiential glimpse of what is meant by the self as separate from the body and mind. Yet those yogis are one in a million.

Therefore, the aspiring transcendentalist prays for the insight to be able to comprehend the concept of being the eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original supreme consciousness.

And by cultivating the mood of being the servant of the servant of the servant of the Supreme, one can enter into the mystery of this relationship between us as individual consciousness and that original source of all consciousness.

The ego may foolishly identify the self as non-different to the original source, like the fool who sneaks a moment to sit on the throne of the king, yet the true wise student retains a humble attitude when in relation to the source of all power.

With this respectful and humble attitude of service one can more easily attract the friendly favor and mercy of the reservoir of all pleasure, the original consciousness, who is known by many names and reveals himself or herself in many guises, according the the mood of the individual.

To the sincere seeker it is as a friend and guide, but to the envious it is as time or death. The choice is ours.

Bhagavad Gita ch4:3

sa evāyaṁ mayā te 'dya
yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ
bhakto 'si me sakhā ceti
rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam

SYNONYMS
saḥ—the same ancient; eva—certainly; ayam—this; mayā—by Me; te—unto you; adya—today; yogaḥ—the science of yoga; proktaḥ—spoken; purātanaḥ—very old; bhaktaḥ—devotee; asi—you are; me—My; sakhā—friend; ca—also; iti—therefore; rahasyam—mystery; hi—certainly; etat—this; uttamam—transcendental

TRANSLATION
That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.

PURPORT
There are two classes of men, namely the devotee and the demon. The Lord selected Arjuna as the recipient of this great science owing to his becoming the devotee of the Lord, but for the demon it is not possible to understand this great mysterious science. There are a number of editions of this great book of knowledge, and some of them have commentaries by the devotees, and some of them have commentaries by the demons. Commentation by the devotees is real, whereas that of the demons is useless. Arjuna accepts Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and any commentary on the Gītā following in the footsteps of Arjuna is real devotional service to the cause of this great science. The demonic, however, concoct something about Kṛṣṇa and mislead the public and general readers from the path of Kṛṣṇa's instructions. One should try to follow the disciplic succession from Arjuna, and thus be benefitted.

Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A C Bhaktivedanta, original MacMillan 1972 edition, freely available at prabhupadabooks.com.

Image: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/war-fight-fiction-arjuna-krishna-9252317/

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