Gnyaana Vignyaana Yoga – The 7th Chapter of the Gita

A study of the 7th Chapter of the Srimad  Bhagavad Gita.

Knowing and realising oneself and Knowledge of the ultimate truth

The following are words of Bhagavan Shree Krishna

1. Bhagavan Krishna said, “ Hear about how you with your consciousness deeply attached to me and your taking total shelter under me constantly trying to unite your individual consciousness with the ultimate consciousness, will be able to know Me completely and free of doubt.

2. I will now clearly explain to you this phenomenal knowledge and also its realisation after which there will be nothing further remaining to be known in the world.

3. Out of thousands of men, hardly one tries to achieve perfection in self-realisation and among those trying so hard to do so, there is hardly one who achieves perfection in self-realisation and among those who do achieve self-realisation, hardly one knows Me in truth.

4. Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and certainly false ego together are My eight external energies.

5. Apart from this lower energy of Mine, you should know My Jiva Shakti which is another energy of Mine. It is superior to this, is the principle of life and sustains all living beings in the material world.

6. You must know that all living things are manifested in these two energies of Mine. I am the source of its manifestation, I sustain, and I am also the Destroyer.

7. Beyond Me, there is nothing superior. Everything is connected to me like pearls on a thread.

8. I am the sweet flavour in water, the radiant light of the moon and the sun, the primordial root syllable OM in the Vedas, the subsonic element of the sound of the ether and the manhood in man.

9. I am also the fragrance of the earth as well as the heat of the fire and the vitality of all living beings, and also the tolerance in people who practise austerities.

10.  Arjuna, you need to try to understand that I am the origin of all living beings, the intelligence of the intelligent and the power of the powerful.

11. I am the strength of the strong who are devoid of desire and attachment, and I am the energy of procreation in all living beings, which is not against righteousness.

12. And try to understand that of all which is surely in the state of goodness, passion and ignorance and all that is manifested by Me alone, you should not know Me as being in them, but that they are in Me.

13. The entire universe is deluded by the three Gunas of Prakriti, not knowing Me as being situated above them and as the immutable Supreme.

14. My Divine Maya with the three Gunas of Prakriti, is definitely very difficult to overcome without knowing Me as being situated above them as the immutable Supreme. But only those who take refuge in Me will be able to overcome this illusory energy or Maya.

15. Those who are depraved commit evil, are foolish and are not devoted to Me. Their minds are controlled by this illusory energy Maya and their discrimination is degraded by this.

16. Among the pious, there are four kinds who are devoted to me. They are the distressed, those seeking knowledge, people desiring material gain and people of wisdom.

17. Of these the one who is engaged in devotional service is superior to the one who seeks knowledge, I am dear and he or she is dear to me.

18. All these are certainly noble, but in my opinion, the one of wisdom whose soul is connected to Me is with Me because he or she is solely engaged in realising Me as the highest attainment.

19. Therefore, after innumerable births, the one who has perfected his or her wisdom, understanding fully My universal reality, surrenders to Me and such a soul is very rare.

20. Due to various desires, those deprived of knowledge, driven by their own particular natures, surrender themselves to the deities, and they adapt themselves to their corresponding rites and rituals.

21. Whoever is faithfully devoted to whatever form of a deity in worship as desired, I surely sustain that faith in him or her.

22. Endowed with firm faith of that deity and sanctioned only by Me, a devotee obtains all that he desires from that deity.

23. The results of insufficient understanding are always temporary. A devotee of a deity obtains the deity, but my devotee obtains Me.

24. Foolish people who do not know My formless, exalted, imperishable, and supreme nature think I assume a manifest human form.

25. I am not manifest to everyone, being veiled by My illusory potency in the external energy. The foolish and ignorant cannot understand Me – the unborn and imperishable.

26. O Arjuna, I know all the past, the present and the future and all living beings, but nobody really knows me.

27. By the illusion of duality that arose from desire and aversion, all forms of life from the beginning are in delusion.

28. But those whose sins are completely eradicated by performing virtuous deeds are free from the delusion of duality, and they dedicatedly engage in devotional service unto Me.

29. Those who strive to be freed from old age and death, take shelter in Me. Such people learn the ultimate truth, the embodied self and the law of action or reaction.

30. Those who know Me the ultimate principle of phenomenal existence, as the underlying foundation of all deities and sustainer of the performance of all sacrifices, with their minds absorbed in Me can know Me even at the moment of death.