Raja-vidya: The King of Knowledge 5)

of one who is actually in knowledge is that he has
surrendered unto Krsna. As long as we go on specu-
lating about God but do not surrender, it is under-
stood that we have not attained the perfection of
knowledge. The perfection of knowledge is:

bahunam janmanam ante |
jiianavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam itt
sa mahatma sudurlabhah

“After many births and deaths, he who is actually
in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be
the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great
soul is very rare.” (Bg. 7.19)

As long as we do not surrender, we cannot under-
stand God. Surrender to God may take many births,
but if we accept that God is great, it is possible to
surrender unto Him immediately. But generally this
is not our position in the material world. We are
characteristically envious and consequently think,
“Oh, why should I surrender unto God? I am inde-
pendent. I shall work independently.” Therefore in
order to rectify this misgiving, we have to work
for many births. In this regard, the name of Krsna is
especially significant. Krs means “repetition of
birth,” and na means “one who checks.” Our
repetition of birth can be checked only by God. No
one can check his repetition of birth and death with-
out the causeless mercy of God.

The subject matter of the Ninth Chapter is raja-
vidya. Raja means “king,” and vidya means “‘knowl-
edge.” In ordinary life we find one person king in
