Chapter 7 · opening

The Yoga of Knowledge and Wisdom

Jnana Vijnana Yoga

  1. 7.1 ☆ With mind attached, practising yoga, taking refuge in Me — hear how you shall know Me fully, without doubt.
  2. 7.2 ☆ I shall declare knowledge and experiential wisdom — knowing which, nothing more remains to be known in this world.
  3. 7.3 ★ Among thousands, one strives for perfection — and among the perfected, perhaps one knows Me in truth.
  4. 7.4 ☆ Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, ego — these eight are the divisions of My lower nature.
  5. 7.5 ☆ Know My higher nature — the life-element (jīva-bhūtā) distinct from the lower — by which this world is sustained.
  6. 7.6 ☆ All beings arise from these two natures as their womb — and I am the origin and dissolution of the entire universe.
  7. 7.7 ★ Beyond Me there is nothing whatsoever — all this is strung in Me, as gems upon a thread.
  8. 7.8 ☆ I am the taste in water, the radiance in sun and moon, OM in the Vedas, sound in ether, and vital power in beings.
  9. 7.9 I am the sacred fragrance in earth, the brilliance in fire, the life-force in all beings, and the austerity in ascetics.
  10. 7.10 ☆ Know Me as the eternal seed of all beings — I am the intelligence of the intelligent, the splendour of the splendid.
  11. 7.11 I am the strength of the strong, free from craving — and the desire in beings that does not conflict with dharma.
  12. 7.12 ☆ All sāttvic, rājasic, and tāmasic states proceed from Me — yet I am not in them; they are in Me.
  13. 7.13 ☆ Deluded by the three guṇa-constituted states, all this world does not recognize Me — beyond them, imperishable.
  14. 7.14 ★ This divine māyā of Mine, made of the guṇas, is hard to cross — but those who take refuge in Me alone do cross it.
  15. 7.15 The evildoer, the deluded, the lowest of men, those whose knowledge māyā has stolen — these do not take refuge in Me.
  16. 7.16 ☆ Four kinds of virtuous persons worship Me: the distressed, the seeker, the ends-seeker, and the wise.
  17. 7.17 ☆ Of the four, the jñānī excels — ever steadfast, one-pointed: I am supremely dear to the wise; the wise is dear to Me.
  18. 7.18 ☆ Noble are all — but the jñānī I regard as My very Self; with united mind, resting in Me alone as the supreme goal.
  19. 7.19 ★ At the end of many births, the wise takes refuge in Me — 'Vāsudeva is all.' That great soul is exceedingly rare.
  20. 7.20 Wisdom stolen by desire: they worship other deities, following various rites, driven by their own nature.
  21. 7.21 ☆ Whatever form a devotee seeks to worship with śraddhā — that very faith I make unwavering.
  22. 7.22 With that faith, the devotee worships that deity and gains the desired objects — these being dispensed by Me alone.
  23. 7.23 ☆ The fruit of those of little understanding is finite — god-worshippers go to the gods; My devotees come to Me.
  24. 7.24 The unwise regard Me — the unmanifest — as manifest, not knowing My supreme, imperishable, and unsurpassed state.
  25. 7.25 Veiled by yoga-māyā, I am not manifest to all — this deluded world does not recognize Me, the Unborn, the Imperishable.
  26. 7.26 I know all beings — past, present, and future, O Arjuna — but Me, none knows.
  27. 7.27 All beings fall into complete delusion at birth — through the dvandva-moha arising from desire and aversion.
  28. 7.28 ☆ Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
  29. 7.29 ☆ Taking refuge in Me for liberation from old age and death — they know Brahman, Adhyātma, and all of Karma.
  30. 7.30 ☆ Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.