Gita, lesson 16: belief isn't knowledge, and the Veda as a mirror of the Self

Believing something and knowing something are not the same thing, and confusing the two can be costly. That is the opening of the sixteenth chapter in Swami Dayananda Saraswati's series, which sets out to show why Vedānta, the Indian school of reflection on Being, considers itself a field of knowledge rather than faith.

Believing isn't knowing

Dayananda calls belief whatever does not go through any valid means of knowledge, such as perception, inference, or logic. He does not condemn belief, but asks that one know when one is believing. He is especially critical of ideas that only hold up if reason is switched off at that point, as though it had been given a local anesthetic.

A means of knowledge with limits

In the tradition, a pramāṇa is a legitimate means of obtaining knowledge. There is perception, inference, analogy, perception of absence, and verbal testimony, which includes the Veda, India's oldest body of texts. For Dayananda, the Veda only applies where the other means fall short, such as questions about liberation, duty, or the nature of the Self. He recalls the position attributed to Śaṅkara, the medieval Vedānta thinker: if a text claimed that fire is cold, it would have to be rejected.

The mirror

The chapter also criticizes instructions according to which one must stare at a fixed point, follow a light, or meditate until one "sees" the Self. The Self is said to be the subject of all experience, and so it cannot be an object that is seen. Just as eyes can only see themselves in a mirror, Vedic teaching is said to work as a mirror that reflects the Self. Whoever uses a mirror first checks that it is accurate, then forgets about it to look at themselves.

Hence the conclusion that self-knowledge is not an experience but a recognition. And that, since the destination is the seeker themselves, it makes no sense to ask "what do I get out of this" in terms of ordinary usefulness.

The complete study is in the book A Essência do Bhagavad Gītā (The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita), by Swami Dayananda Saraswati.