Bhagavad Gita · 7.1 · Self-Knowledge and Enlightenment·1 of 30
श्री भगवानुवाच मय्यासक्तमनाः पार्थ योगं युञ्जन्मदाश्रयः।असंशयं समग्रं मां यथा ज्ञास्यसि तच्छृणु ॥
śhrī bhagavān uvācha mayyāsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan
mad-āśhrayaḥ asanśhayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tach chhṛiṇu
Sanskrit recitation
The divine inside ordinary nature · 7.1–7.14 · Teaching
Translation
The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, hear how you shall, without doubt, know Me fully, with your mind intent on Me, practicing Yoga and taking refuge in Me."
Meaning
He who wishes to attain some result or reward performs the ritual known as Agnihotra or does charity, sinks wells, builds hospitals, resting places, etc., with Sakama Bhavana (with an inner profit motive) and attains them. But the Yogi on the contrary practises Yoga with a steadfast mind and takes refuge in the Lord alone, with the mind wholly fixed on Him, on His lofty attributes such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, infinite love, beauty, grace, strength, mercy, inexhaustible wealth, ineffable splendour, pristine glory and purity.The servant of a king, though he constantly serves the king, has not got his mind fixed on him. The mind is ever fixed on his wife and children. Unlike the servant, fix your mind on Me, (the allpervading One), and take refuge in Me alone. Practise control of the mind in accordance with the instructions given in chapter VI. Then you will know Me and My infinite attributes in full.If you sing the glory and the attributes of the Lord, you will develop love for Him and then your mind will be fixed on Him. Intense love for the Lord is real devotion. You must get full knowledge of the Self without any doubt.He who has taken refuge in the Lord, and he who is trying to fix or has fixed his mind on the Lord cannot bear the separation from the Lord even for a second.
After Swami Sivananda
The divine inside ordinary nature· 7.1–7.14→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
7.1The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, hear how you shall, without doubt, know Me fully, with your mind intent on Me, practicing Yoga and taking refuge in Me."
- 7.2I will declare to you in full this knowledge combined with realization, after knowing which nothing else remains to be known here.
- 7.3Among thousands of men, one may perchance strive for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only one may perchance know Me in essence.
- 7.4Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and egoism—thus is My Nature divided eightfold.
- 7.5O mighty-armed Arjuna, this is the inferior Prakriti; know it as distinct from My higher Prakriti, the very life-element, by which this world is upheld.
- 7.6Know that these two are the womb of all beings; thus, I am the source and dissolution of the whole universe.
- 7.7There is nothing higher than Me, O Arjuna. All this is strung on Me, like clusters of gems on a string.
- 7.8I am the flavor in water, O Arjuna; I am the light in the moon and the sun; I am the syllable Om in all the Vedas, sound in the ether and virility in men.
- 7.9I am the sweet fragrance in the earth and the brilliance in the fire, the life in all beings, and I am the austerity of ascetics.
- 7.10Know Me, O Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the intelligence of the intelligent, and the splendour of the splendid objects.
- 7.11Of the strong, I am the strength devoid of desire and attachment, and in all beings, I am the desire in accordance with Dharma, O Arjuna.
- 7.12Whatever beings (and objects) that are pure, active, and inert, know that they proceed from Me. They are in Me, yet I am not in them.
- 7.13Deluded by these Natures, composed of the three qualities of Nature, all this world does not know Me as distinct from them and immutable.
- 7.14Verily, this divine illusion of Mine, composed of the three qualities, is difficult to cross over; those who take refuge in Me alone, can cross over this illusion.
Word-by-word→
- tat
- that
- mayi
- to me
- mām
- me
- yogam
- bhakti yog
- yathā
- how
- pārtha
- Arjun, the son of Pritha
- yuñjan
- practicing
- samagram
- completely
- jñāsyasi
- you shall know
- asanśhayam
- free from doubt
- śhṛiṇu
- listen
- mat-āśhrayaḥ
- surrendering to me
- āsakta-manāḥ
- with the mind attached
- śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
- the Supreme Lord said
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