Bhagavad Gita · 7.4 · Self-Knowledge and Enlightenment·4 of 30
भूमिरापोऽनलो वायुः खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च।अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा ॥
bhūmir-āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva
cha ahankāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛitir aṣhṭadhā
Sanskrit recitation
The divine inside ordinary nature · 7.1–7.14 · Teaching
Translation
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and egoism—thus is My Nature divided eightfold.
Meaning
This eightfold Nature constitutes the inferior Nature or Apara Prakriti. The five gross elements are formed out of the Tanmatras or rootelements through the process of Pancikarana or fivefold mixing. Tanmatras are the subtle rootelements. In this verse, earth, water, etc., represent the subtle or rudimentary elements out of which the five gross elements are formed.Mind stands here for its cause Ahamkara intellect for its cause the Mahat Ahamkara for the Avyaktam or the unmanifested (MulaPrakriti) united with Avidya which is conjoined with all kinds of Vasanas or latent tendencies. As Ahamkara (Iness) is the cause for all the actions of every individual and as Ahamkara is the most vital principle in man on which all the other Tattvas or principles depend, the Avyaktam combined with the Ahamkara is itself called here Ahamkara, just as food which is mixed with poison is itself called poison.
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→
- me
- my
- cha
- and
- eva
- certainly
- iti
- thus
- iyam
- all these
- kham
- space
- bhinnā
- divisions
- manaḥ
- mind
- āpaḥ
- water
- analaḥ
- fire
- vāyuḥ
- air
- bhūmiḥ
- earth
- buddhiḥ
- intellect
- ahankāraḥ
- ego
- aṣhṭadhā
- eightfold
- prakṛitiḥ
- material energy
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