Gita as Intuitional Knowledge

  'Knowledge' (jnyan) is obtained at two levels. Knowledge of higher level is( paravidya, and it is obtained in a state of transcendental meditation (atindriya dhyana) while contemplating on a particular subject. All other knowledge concerning the material world including the Veda and Upanishads are apara vidya that can be obtained from reading books, hearing lectures and experimenting with the objects of the world. The apara vidya is of no avail if one wants salvation, mukti or moksha. There is no other way, but to take to samadhi yogaif one wants to get over metempsychosis, repeated births and deaths in this mrutyu lok where all that is born has to suffer and die. Higher knowledge is like cataract operation that opens up our vision to the futility of mortal existence, eating, sleeping and recreation finally leading to old age and death. 
      यतन्तो योगिनश्चैनं पश्यंत्यात्मन्यवस्थितम्।

     yataMto yoginashcainaMpashyaMtyAtmanyavasthitam |

     These are the revelations of an enlightened Mind, a ruShi, who inquires into the nature of ‘Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss’ and then realizes brahmn. He is a realized soul, a druShTAra, who gets revelations and it is he who gives us these above details of creation and dissolution, structure and composition and nature of this universe in the gItA.

    There is none else but the Self, the Atman, as the ‘Knower of brahmn’. This Atman or the Self is called bhagavAn Shree Krishna here. He only asserts that “He is the Self of all”.

  ahamAtmA guDAkeshasarvabhutAshayasthitaH | (10. 20).

  ममैवंशो जीवलोके जीवभुत सनतनः।

  मन:षष्टानि इंद्रियाणि प्रक्रुतिस्थानि  कर्षति। (१५.  ७)  

       mamaivaMsho jIvaloke jIvabhuta sanatanaH |

        manaH ShaShTAni iMdriyANi prakrutisthAni karShati || (15. 7)

     “He is the Self of all” and He only becomes the jIvatman, as an aMshatmika entity. He further clarifies that the same unmanifest brahmn is called the puruSha, nArAyaNa, or Shree Krishna and He replicates in all forms- as a ganapti, a vedavysa, or you and I, she, it, and they, or/and this and that. He, the Lord is the puruSha called the ‘kShara purusha’, the jIvAtma, as well as, the ‘akShara brahmn’ in the aShTaprakruti; also, He is the ‘parama puruSha’,-ekAkakShara brahmn.

    It all depends on one’s mind and its focused attention to know this all-pervasive Consciousness and understand the Lord’s lila. Everything depends on one’s mind and moods. If there is no mood ‘to know’, or there is no focused mind, there is no cognition of the objective world. Cognition and Self-contemplation hold the secret. The gItA is all about this only.

  [Note: In fact, gaNeSa does not appear in Indian epic literature that is dated back to the vedic period. A later interpolation to the epic poem Mahabharata says that the sage vyāsa asked gaNeSa to serve as his scribe to write down the poem as dictated by him. Lord gaNeSa agreed but on condition that vyasa dictate the poem uninterrupted, without a pause. The sage agreed, but found that to get any rest he needed to dictate composing very complex passages so that gaNeSa would have to ask for clarifications. This story is not accepted as part of the original text by the editors of the critical edition* of the Mahabharata, in which the twenty-line story is relegated to a footnote in an appendix.*].

     It is stated that the story of gaNeSa acting as the scribe occurs in 37 of the 59 ms. consulted during preparation of the critical edition.** gaNeSa's is associated with mental agility and learning; this is one reason why he is shown as the scribe for Vyāsa's dictation of the mahAbhArat.***

   Richard L. Brown* dates the story to the 8th century, and Moriz Winternitz concludes that it was known as early as c. 900, but it was not added to the Mahabharata some 150 years later. Winternitz**** also notes that a distinctive feature in South Indian ms. of the Mahabharata is their omission of this Ganesha legend**** Mahābhārata Vol. 1 Part 2. Critical edition, p. 884.

** For statement that "Fifty-nine manuscripts of the Ādiparvan were consulted for the reconstruction of the critical edition. The story of Gaṇeśa acting as the scribe for writing the Mahābhārata occurs in 37 manuscripts", see: Krishan 1999, p. 31, 4.*** Brown, p.4.; **** Winternitz, Moriz. "Gaṇeśa in the Mahābhārata". JRAS (1898:382). Citation provided by Rocher, Ludo. "Gaņeśa's Rise to Prominence in Sanskrit Literature". Brown, p. 80. [Courtsey: Wikepedia].