Knowledge is higher than all worldly things. Among various types of knowledge, the knowledge of the absolute truth is the highest. Therefore, all through our history and in all our Puranas, we find kings and rulers who renounced the world in their quest for truth. Renunciation is always greater than indulgence. Never have we seen a self-indulgent person become the ideal of a nation. It is only a person of sacrifice who gains such respect. If Ram had by force hung on to his kingdom and refused to go to the forest, he would not have become Ram, the purushottama, the ideal man who was worshipped and revered through the ages. Bharata got the kingdom, but in sacrificing it, became great. So greater than bhoga (enjoyment) is tyäga (renunciation). In renunciation, you gain the highest truth and in this gain there is no loss at all.
Everyone is interested in gain. The only thing one does not want to gain is weight! It is the only loss that is considered a gain. In the Bhagavad Gita, there is a beautiful verse that states that “Self-knowledge is that having gained which, a person does not consider any other gain greater”. Here the words “having gained” are very significant. Often, when we do not possess a thing, we tend to think there can be no gain greater than that. But once we get the object of our desire, we wish for other things.
When a child asks for a toy, the mother says, “I will get you the toy, if you promise you will not ask for anything more.” The child promises, but once he gets it and plays with it for some time or breaks it, he wants something else. The Gita points out that having gained the highest, one does not seek anything greater than that. In the world, our gains are often subject to loss. Sometimes, in the process of getting something we lose something else. When a poor man becomes wealthy, he loses the simple joys that he had when he was poor. The greatest joy was that no one came to him for donations!
The gain of spiritual knowledge of our own self, which is infinite and blissful, is such that it will never get lost. I can lose something other than myself, but I cannot lose myself. That is always with me once I know it. In that gain, I will not lose any-thing else. Shri Krishna tells Arjun that the uniqueness of this knowledge is that having gained it, nothing more remains to be known or gained. We gain total fulfilment and happiness. Is this not wonderful?
