The idea that Vedantic realisation and knowledge can come into the experience of only a rare few has been repeatedly emphasised in different portions of spiritual literature in India, by different Masters, in different expressions. We were told previously (II-29) how the very theoretical side of Vedanta is heard and understood as marvel. In the Upanishads also, the same idea has been very clearly expressed by the Rishis.
Here, however, Krishna shifts the entire responsibility for not realising the Self upon the individual seeker himself and attributes it entirely to the sadhaka’s lack of self-application. Vedanta being a subjective science, it is not sufficient that we know how to eradicate our weaknesses and cultivate our inward strength, but we must also live up to those ideals and try to bring about the necessary re-adjustments in ourselves. Very few can discover in themselves this necessary urge to evolve.
Of the thousands that hear intelligently, and perhaps understand all the theory and text of Vedanta, only a few sincerely apply themselves to live fully the Vedantic way-of-life. Even among a thousand such sincere seekers, only a rare-few “COME TO KNOW ME AND MY REAL NATURE.”
The chances are that when this Vedantic way of life is perfectly explained by a Sad-Guru to a student, who is seemingly attending with all enthusiasm, with sincerity and concentration, he may raise himself up to, perhaps, the very gates of Truth, but there, he himself may come to bar his own entry into the sanctum ‘within.’ There, some imperceptible vanity, or unsuspected desire, is sufficient to exile him from himself. In this sense, there is a wealth of meaning in Lord Christ’s declaration that a camel can pass through the eye-of-a-needle more easily then a “rich” man through the gates of heaven — the RICHES here are not the ‘worldly wealth,’ but the individual’s mental vasana-wealth. Unless the mind is perfectly naked, it has no entry into the Bliss of Truth.
Viewing the stanza in the light of the Krishna-spirit, it only means that rare indeed are people who come to study sincerely and get a true glimpse of the Vedanta-literature, and only a low percentage of these again can discover in themselves the necessary mental stamina, the intellectual vision and the physical forbearance to live that life of truth and purity in the world. Since Arjuna and all the students of the Geeta are such rare souls, they represent the community of evolvers. To them Krishna promises that He can, through His Divine Song, not only deliver the speculative part of the philosophy of Vedanta but also practically hand over chances to live subjectively the vital moments of vivid inner experience of the Self.
HAVING PREPARED THE HEARER FOR THE TEACHING, BY INDUCING IN HIM A TASTE FOR IT, THE LORD PROCEEDS THUS:
