Krishna's three Secrets of Secrets in the gItA

Krishna's three Secrets of Secrets in the gItA Beach 8: One's Nature vis-à-vis one's Duty
Wave 2: The Secret of Secrets from the bhagavad-gItA

Drop 3 : Krishna mentions 'Secret of Secrets' thrice

In dispensing His five arguments to convince Arjuna not to be apolegetic about his duty at the battlefield Krishna builds them up along with a really elaborate discourse on five major commandments to all humanity and thus the gItA, - with 18 chapters, wherein Krishna's discourse begins in the second - the most comprehensive of all divine sermons, is born. In this discourse, there are exactly three occasions, however, when Krishna caps His teaching as a 'secret of secrets' (= guhya-tamam).

The first time He does so is at the beginning of the ninth chapter. It is in the seventh chapter that he changes the subject of discussion towards bhakti-yoga by saying: Now I will tell you how you can know Me as I am. He talks about the two prakRti's of His, one of which becomes the Universe and the other is the Life of all lives and about the four different ways of reaching Him. In the eighth chapter He elaborates the technicalities of remembering Him at the time of laying down this body. And now at the beginning of the ninth chapter he says: I will now tell you the Secret of Secrets. It is Knowledge both Theory and Application , the knowing of which will take you across the Ocean of Misery of samsAra:

idam to te guhya-tamam pravkshyAmy-anasUyave /

jnAnam vijnAna-sahitam yaj-jnAtvA mokshyase aSubhAt // ( 9 - 1)

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The second time Krishna mentions something as the secret of secrets is at the end of the fifteenth chapter when he concludes the chapter by saying: I have just given out the greatest secret to you; understand this, Arjuna, intelligently, and attain fulfillment:

iti guhyatamam Sastram idam-uktam mayA-nagha /

etad-buddhvA buddhimAn-syAt kRta-kRtyaSca bhArata // (15 - 20)

The secret referred to here is the theory of the three purushas, kshara-purusha, akshara-purusha and purushottama - the explanation of which is one of the distinguishing features of the gItA among all the scriptures of Hinduism.

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The third and last time something is called the secret of secrets by Krishna is at the very end of the eighteenth chapter when he is just about to give the famous carama Sloka of the gItA where he tops his entire teaching by the concept of SaraNAgati. He has almost finished all that he has to say and he has concluded by saying: Thus have I told you what is more secretive (guhyAd-guhya-taram) than all the secrets of Knowledge; Analyse it carefully and in toto and do what you think is best.:

iti te jnAnam AkhyAtam guhyAd-guhyataram mayA /
vimRSyaitadaSesheNa yathecchasi tathA kuru // (18 - 63)

And then, as a final thought, almost as a postscript, He says: Now listen to My words. It is the innermost Secret of all. Because you are my favourite I am telling this to you as my confirmation of the Best that is good for you:

sarva-guhyatamam bhUyaH SRNu me paramam vacaH /

ishTo'si me dRDham-iti tato vakshyAmi te hitam // (18 -64)

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