Chapter 9, Verse 1
श्रीभगवानुवाच | इदं तु ते गुह्यतमं प्रवक्ष्याम्यनसूयवे | ज्ञानं विज्ञानसहितं यज्ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् ||९-१||
śrībhagavānuvāca . idaṃ tu te guhyatamaṃ pravakṣyāmyanasūyave . jñānaṃ vijñānasahitaṃ yajjñātvā mokṣyase.aśubhāt ||9-1||
Meaning
9.1 The Blessed Lord said I shall now declare to thee who does not cavil, the greatest secret, the knowledge combined with experience (Self-realisation). Having known this thou shalt be free evil.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna opens the ninth chapter by promising Arjuna the guhyatama — the 'most secret' of all teachings. This is the heart of the Gita, the king of knowledge soon to be named in the next verse. Crucially, he addresses Arjuna as anasuyave, 'one who does not cavil.' Sacred wisdom is poured only into a vessel free of envy and cynicism; a doubting, mocking mind cannot receive it.
Notice too that Krishna joins jnana (intellectual knowledge) with vijnana (direct, lived realisation). Truth that remains merely conceptual cannot liberate. Only when understanding ripens into experience does it free us from ashubha — the inauspicious cycle of bondage and sorrow. The deepest truths are not hidden by secrecy but by our own unreadiness to hear them.
💡 Key Takeaway
The highest wisdom reveals itself only to a mind that is open and free of cynicism, and it must be lived, not merely understood.
Related Verses
राजविद्या राजगुह्यं पवित्रमिदमुत्तमम् | प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यं सुसुखं कर्तुमव्ययम् ||९-२||
rājavidyā rājaguhyaṃ pavitramidamuttamam . pratyakṣāvagamaṃ dharmyaṃ susukhaṃ kartumavyayam ||9-2||
9.2 This is the kingl science, the kingly secret, the supreme purifier, realisable by direct intuitional knowledge, according to righteousness, very easy to perform and imperishable.
महात्मानस्तु मां पार्थ दैवीं प्रकृतिमाश्रिताः | भजन्त्यनन्यमनसो ज्ञात्वा भूतादिमव्ययम् ||९-१३||
mahātmānastu māṃ pārtha daivīṃ prakṛtimāśritāḥ . bhajantyananyamanaso jñātvā bhūtādimavyayam ||9-13||
9.13 But the great souls, O Arjuna, partaking of My divine nature, worship Me with a single mind (with the mind devoted to nothing else), knowing Me as the imperishable source of beings.
ज्ञानयज्ञेन चाप्यन्ये यजन्तो मामुपासते | एकत्वेन पृथक्त्वेन बहुधा विश्वतोमुखम् ||९-१५||
jñānayajñena cāpyanye yajanto māmupāsate . ekatvena pṛthaktvena bahudhā viśvatomukham ||9-15||
9.15 Others also sacrificing with the wisdom-sacrifice worship Me, the All-faced, as one, as distinct, and as manifold.