Bhagavad Gita · 7.7 · Self-Knowledge and Enlightenment·7 of 30
मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय।मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव ॥
mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñchid asti
dhanañjaya mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
Sanskrit recitation
The divine inside ordinary nature · 7.1–7.14 · Teaching
Translation
There is nothing higher than Me, O Arjuna. All this is strung on Me, like clusters of gems on a string.
Meaning
There is no other cause of the universe but Me. I alone am the the cause of the universe. This illustration of gems and thread illustrates only the idea that all beings and the whole world are threaded on the Lord. The thread is not the cause of the gems. As Brahman is all in all there is nothing whatever higher than It.
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→
- na
- not
- iva
- like
- asti
- there is
- idam
- which we see
- mayi
- in me
- protam
- is strung
- sarvam
- all
- sūtre
- on a thread
- mattaḥ
- than me
- para-taram
- superior
- dhanañjaya
- Arjun, conqueror of wealth
- anyat kiñchit
- anything else
- maṇi-gaṇāḥ
- beads
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