Bhagavad Gita · 7.16 · Self-Knowledge and Enlightenment·16 of 30
चतुर्विधा भजन्ते मां जनाः सुकृतिनोऽर्जुन।आर्तो जिज्ञासुरर्थार्थी ज्ञानी च भरतर्षभ ॥
chatur-vidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛitino ’rjuna
ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī cha bharatarṣhabha
Sanskrit recitation
Why people seek · 7.15–7.19 · Teaching
Translation
Four kinds of virtuous men worship Me, O Arjuna, and they are the distressed, the seekers of knowledge, the seekers of wealth, and the wise, O Lord of the Bharatas.
Meaning
The distressed is he who is suffering from a chronic and incurable disease, he whose life is in jeopardy on account of earthake, volcanic eruption, thunder, attack by a dacoit or enemy or tiger, etc. When Draupadi and Gajendra were in great distress they worshipped the Lord. These are the instances of Aarta Bhakti.Jijnasu is the enquirer. He is dissatisfied with this world. There is a void in his life. He always feels that sensual pleasure is not the highest form of happiness and there is yet pure eternal bliss unmixed with grief and pain, which is to be found within. Janaka and Uddhava were devotees of this type.Seeker of wealth is he who craves for money, wife, children, position, name and fame. Sugriva, Vibhishana, Upamanyu and Dhruva were all devotees of this type.The wise are the men of knowledge who have attained to Selfillumination. Sukadeva was a JnaniBhakta.Kamsa, Sishupala and Ravana thought of the Lord constantly on account of fear and hatred (VairaBhakti). Hence they are also regarded as devotees.Be devoted to God, whatever be your motive. Devotion will purify the motive in due course.
After Swami Sivananda
Why people seek· 7.15–7.19→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 7.15The evil-doers and the deluded, who are the lowest of men, do not seek Me; those whose knowledge is destroyed by illusion follow the ways of demons.
7.16Four kinds of virtuous men worship Me, O Arjuna, and they are the distressed, the seekers of knowledge, the seekers of wealth, and the wise, O Lord of the Bharatas.
- 7.17Of them, the wise who are ever steadfast and devoted to the One, excel; for I am exceedingly dear to the wise, and they are dear to Me.
- 7.18Indeed, all these are noble; however, I consider the wise man as My very Self; for, he is steadfast in mind and established in Me alone as the supreme goal.
- 7.19At the end of many births, the wise man comes to Me, realizing that all this is Vaasudeva (the innermost Self); such a great soul (Mahatma) is very hard to find.
Word-by-word→
- cha
- and
- mām
- me
- arjuna
- Arjun
- bhajante
- worship
- janāḥ
- people
- jñānī
- those who are situated in knowledge
- ārtaḥ
- the distressed
- artha-arthī
- the seekers of material gain
- jijñāsuḥ
- the seekers of knowledge
- su-kṛitinaḥ
- those who are pious
- chatuḥ-vidhāḥ
- four kinds
- bharata-ṛiṣhabha
- The best amongst the Bharatas, Arjun
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