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Chapter 18 · Verse 21
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 18, Verse 21

पृथक्त्वेन तु यज्ज्ञानं नानाभावान्पृथग्विधान्। वेत्ति सर्वेषु भूतेषु तज्ज्ञानं विद्धि राजसम्॥

pṛthaktvena tu yajjñānaṁ nānābhāvānpṛthagvidhān | vetti sarveṣu bhūteṣu tajjñānaṁ viddhi rājasam ||

Word by Word 12 words
पृथक्त्वेन
pṛthak separate, apart tva the state of being

by way of separateness, seeing things as cut off from one another

तु
tu but, however

but, however

यत्
yad which

which, that

ज्ञानम्
jñā to know jñāna knowledge

knowledge

नानाभावान्
nānā many, various bhū to be bhāva being, existence

many different existences, lots of separate beings

पृथग्विधान्
pṛthak separate vidha kind, sort

of separate kinds, of distinct sorts

वेत्ति
vid to know

knows, perceives

सर्वेषु
sarva all

in all

भूतेषु
bhū to be, to become bhūta being, creature

beings, creatures

तत्
tad that

that

विद्धि
vid to know

know it to be, understand

राजसम्
rajas restlessness, passion, fieriness a belonging to

rajasic, of the restless and fiery kind

Now the second kind of knowledge, the kind. This is the way of seeing that looks at all the creatures of the world and sees only "many": countless separate beings, each one cut off from the rest, each its own little island with no thread joining them. It is not wrong about the differences; the differences are real. But it stops there, at the surface, and never notices the one light underneath. It is restless seeing, busy counting how everyone is different instead of resting in how everyone is the same.

कथा

Indra and the Endless Ants

From the mythological

In the old tale, King Indra, ruler of the gods, grew very proud. He had built himself a palace of gold and jewels, and he believed there had never been, and never would be, anyone as great and as separate and as special as himself. He saw the worlds spread below him as a great crowd of small, scattered beings, and high above them all, alone and shining, stood Indra.

To cure his pride, Lord came to him disguised as a curious boy. As they spoke, a long line of ants came marching across the marble floor of the palace.

The boy began to laugh.

"Why do you laugh?" demanded Indra.

"At the ants," said the boy gently. "For each of those ants, O King, was once an Indra, just like you. Each sat on a golden throne and thought, 'I am the one, separate and grand, above all the rest.' Each saw the world as a crowd of little strangers and himself alone at the top. And one by one, age after age, they fell and were born again — as ants in the long, long line you see marching now."

Indra went cold. He looked at the ants, then at his golden hands, then at the endless ants again.

"I thought I was so separate," he whispered. "I saw only the differences: me up here, everyone else down there, all of us cut apart. I never once saw what joins us."

"That seeing," said the boy, his form beginning to shimmer into the great blue shape of , "is restless seeing. It counts and ranks and divides, 'this one and that one and that one,' and never rests, because separateness is a lonely place. It is true that the ants are many. But you missed the one light shining in every ant, and in you. That light has no high or low."

The proud king bowed his head, his golden palace suddenly small around him. And from that day Indra looked at the marching line of creatures and, instead of feeling above them, felt quietly among them — a little less grand, a great deal less lonely.

चिन्तनम्

It is easy to notice how people are different — who is fastest, tallest, best at something. What might you miss if you only ever count the differences?