In the next few verses, Sri Krishna says that there is no happiness for those who always have self-doubts and who have no knowledge and authenticity. He uses the word ‘always.’ He does not say that from the beginning itself you should not have any doubts. Having doubts is natural; as long as you have the mind, you will have doubts. But you can go beyond it by completing with your self-doubts. Sri Krishna warns, ‘The one without the wisdom and without authenticity, who always has doubts, is destroyed. There is no happiness for the one who doubts the self, either in this world or the next.’ Self-doubt destroys you—saṁśayātmā vinaśyati and the one who has the self-doubt is never happy anywhere—na sukhaṁ śaṁsayātmanaḥ (4.40).

First, we need to understand what self-doubt is! What is the root of this self-doubt?

In your life, when the first root incident happens, you make your inner image, you project the outer image, and you create the life image to protect yourself for survival reason. For example, at the age of three or four, you run around and play in the rain. Your mother sees you and strongly pulls you into the house and gives you a slap saying, ‘Don’t go out in the rain! You will catch a cold! Your health will be spoiled!’ She screams at you. For a child, getting slapped, being pulled inside the house and locked up is too much. The child will not understand that it is only a slap. The child will literally feel he is going to die!

At that moment, the child will create the inner mage, mamakāra: ‘I am helpless.’ He will create the outer image, ahaṁkāra: ‘I am powerful,’ because he cannot survive with the idea, ‘I am helpless in the society. I am helpless in life.’ So, naturally, he will create a compensating outer image, ‘I am powerful,’ and he will create the life’s image or svānyakāra, the image about his mother and life, that life is cruel.

So, when this root pattern is formed, you start living and you naturally project your pseudo-outer image: ‘I am powerful.’ If you are not able to convince others with the pseudo-outer image, it is good for you. But if you convince them with the pseudo-outer image, when you come back to your private space like your bedroom, you will start thinking, ‘Oh God! I made everyone believe my outer image as the truth, but my inner image is different from my outer image!’ So, this clash is self-doubt. This clash is what Sri Krishna calls as saṁśayātmā.

Please listen! I am giving you the example of a tree. If root pattern is the root of a tree, lust patterns are the parasites of the tree, everyday suffering and powerlessness are the leaves of the tree, self-doubt is the fragrance of the tree.

So, please understand, when you convince others with your strong outer image, and your inner image starts questioning you; your inner image questioning you is self-doubt. That is where the self-doubt starts. This is where your root of unhappiness grows—na sukhaṁ śaṁsayātmanaḥ (4.40).

In any field if you carry self-doubt, you will continue to be powerless. In any field if you complete with your self-doubt, you are educated. For example, look into the first time you started doubting your ability to memorize poetry or mathematics tables. Complete with that incident and pattern. Suddenly, you will awaken your ability to memorize in an unimaginable way. That component in your brain, which is now non-mechanical, will be awakened. Similarly, if you complete with self-doubt in any field, suddenly that non-mechanical part of the brain will immediately be awakened.

Awakening all the non-mechanical parts of the brain is what I call Inner Awakening. In any field in your life if you complete with your self-doubt, you become educated in that field. Please understand, education is nothing but completing with self-doubt. If you complete with all your self-doubts in the field of dentistry, you are a dentist now. If you complete with all your self-doubts in the field of law, you are educated as a lawyer. If you complete with all your self-doubts in the field of transformation, you are a master of transformation Listen!

Education is nothing but completing with self-doubts. Education is nothing but completing with self-doubts. I can keep repeating just this one line.

I tell you, this is the precise, concise definition I have ever given about education: Completing with your self-doubt in any field is education. In any field, whether it is self-transformation, cooking, medicine, law, or construction, in any field, complete with your self-doubt. Your kuṇḍalini energy, your innate potential energy will flow in that direction and you will excel in that field.

_{source: Bhagavadgita Decoded}