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Bhagavad Gita · 18.55 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·55 of 78

भक्त्या मामभिजानाति यावान्यश्चास्मि तत्त्वतःततो मां तत्त्वतो ज्ञात्वा विशते तदनन्तरम्

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaśh chāsmi

tattvataḥ tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśhate tad-anantaram

Sanskrit recitation

Toward inner perfection · 18.49–18.55 · Teaching

Translation

By devotion, he knows Me in truth, who and what I am; then, having known Me in truth, he immediately enters into the Supreme.

Meaning

My devotee, O Arjuna, who has attained to union with Me through singleminded and unflinching devotion is verily My very Self. Devotion culminates in knowledge. Devotion begins with two and ends in one. ParaBhakti (supreme devotion) and Jnana are one. Devotion is the mother. Knowledge is the son. By devotion he knows that I am allpervading pure,consciousness he knows that I am nondual, unborn, decayless, causeless, selfluminous, indivisible, unchanging he knows that I am destitute of all the differences caused by the limiting adjuncts he knows that I am the support, source, womb, basis, and substratum of everything he knows that I am the ruler of all beings he knows that I am the Supreme Purusha, the controller of Maya, and that this world is a mere appearance. Thus knowing Me in truth or in essence, he enters into Me soon after attaining Selfknowledge.The act of knowing and the act of entering are not two distinct acts. Knowing is becoming. Knowing is attaining Selfknowledge. To know That is to become That. Entering is knowing or beoming That. Entering is the attainment of Selfknowledge or Selfrealisation. These are all jugglery of words only. Knowing and entering are synonymous terms. It is very difficult to understand or comprehend transcendental spiritual matters. The teachers use various terms or expressions, analogies, similes, parables, stories, etc

After Swami Sivananda

Toward inner perfection· 18.49–18.55

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

Word-by-word
mām
me
tataḥ
then
yāvān
as much as
bhaktyā
by loving devotion
viśhate
enters
jñātvā
having known
tattvataḥ
in truth
abhijānāti
one comes to know
tat-anantaram
thereafter
yaḥ cha asmi
as I am

Related verses

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