Quiz · 9.1–9.10
The king of knowings
Cover the answer. Read the Devanagari of the verse before you open it.
1
In 9.2, what is the rāja- (राज-) at the front of rāja-vidyā (राज-विद्या) and of rāja-guhyam (राज-गुह्यम्) doing?
Answer
It makes each word the king of its kind. rāja-vidyā (राज-विद्या) is the king of knowings. rāja-guhyam (राज-गुह्यम्) is the king of secrets. rāja-vidyā (राज-विद्या) is feminine. The neuter words after it agree with rāja-guhyam (राज-गुह्यम्) and with idam (इदम्).
2
In 9.5, bhūta-bhṛt (भूत-भृत्) stands in front of na (न). What is recited, and which sandhi makes it?
Answer
bhūtabhṛnna (भूतभृन्न). bhūta-bhṛt (भूत-भृत्) is a nominative with no visarga, because the stem ends in a consonant. त् + न t + n becomes nna (न्न).
3
Say what 9.4 says, in one sentence.
Answer
By him, in a form that is not manifest, this whole world is spread; all beings stand in him, and he is not standing in them.
4
What is 9.1–9.10 doing in the talk between Arjuna (अर्जुन) and Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण)?
Answer
Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) declares a knowledge he calls the most secret: the king of knowings and the king of secrets. He pervades this world in a form that is not manifest. Beings rest in him, and he is not in them the way a thing sits in a place. The wind stands in the sky, and the sky is not used up by the wind. He sends beings forth again at the beginning of a kalpa (कल्प). The actions do not bind him. prakṛti (प्रकृति) brings forth the moving and the unmoving with him as overseer.
5
Cover the English of 9.6 and say the image back. Which pairing fails the sitting if the beings trade places with the wind?
Answer
The great wind, going everywhere, stands always in the sky; so all beings stand in him. ākāśa-sthitaḥ (आकाश-स्थितः) belongs to the wind. mat-sthāni (मत्-स्थानि) belongs to the beings. If those two places are swapped, stay.