Chapter XII

'Vid' is the root from which, by adding 'ya' the term 'Vidya' is derived. 'Ya' means 'what' and 'Vid' means 'Light'. So, 'that which gives Light' is Vidya. This is the basic meaning of the word. Therefore, it is evident that Brahma Vidya alone deserves to be known as Vidya. Knowledge was considered Light and Ignorance as Darkness by the ancients. Just as light and darkness cannot co-exist in the same place at the same time, Vidya and Avidya cannot be together. So, all who journey along the path of progress have to purify their consciousness and illumine their selves through Brahma Vidya.

In the section on Vibhuthi Yoga, the Gita informs us: "Adhyaatma Vidya Vidyaanaam" "I am," the Lord declares, "Adhyaatma Vidya (the Brahma Vidya) among all Vidyas!" All other Vidyas or knowledge systems are like rivers; Adhyaatma Vidya is as the ocean. As all rivers find their fulfillment when they merge in the ocean, even so all Vidyas join the ocean of Adhyaatma Vidya as their ultimate goal. This is not all. When the rivers meet and mix with the ocean they lose their separate names and forms and assume the name and form of the ocean itself. So too, the varied Vidyas concerned with the objective external world renounce their individual names and forms when they arrive at the confluence with the vast Ocean of Brahma Vidya.