Skip to content
Reading size
Bhagavad Geeta · Krishna

Chapter 7

ज्ञानविज्ञानयोग

Self-Knowledge and Enlightenment

Verses

  1. Verse 1

    śrī bhagavān uvāca mayyāsaktamanāḥ pārtha yogaṃ yuñjan madāśrayaḥ| asaṃśayaṃ samagraṃ māṃ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu||7.1||

    Meaning

    Lord Shri Krishna said: Listen, O Arjuna! I will tell you how you can know Me in my full perfection. Practise meditation with your mind devoted to Me and take Me as your refuge.

  2. Verse 2

    jñānaṃ te 'haṃ savijñānam idaṃ vakṣyāmyaśeṣataḥ| yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo 'nyaj jñātavyamavaśiṣyate||7.2||

    Meaning

    I will reveal this knowledge to you and how it can be realized; once accomplished, there is nothing else worth having in this life.

  3. Verse 3

    manuṣyāṇāṃ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye| yatatām api siddhānāṃ kaścin māṃ vetti tattvataḥ||7.3||

    Meaning

    Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection, and even among those who gain occult powers, perhaps only one knows me in truth.

  4. Verse 4

    bhūmirāpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṃ mano buddhir eva ca| ahaṅkāra itīyaṃ me bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā||7.4||

    Meaning

    Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and personality—this is the eightfold division of My manifested nature.

  5. Verse 5

    apareyam itas tvanyāṃ prakṛtiṃ viddhi me parām| jīvabhūtāṃ mahābāho yayedaṃ dhāryate jagat||7.5||

    Meaning

    This is My inferior nature; however, O valiant one, know that distinct from this is My superior nature, which is the very life that sustains the universe.

  6. Verse 6

    etadyonīni bhūtāni sarvāṇītyupadhāraya| ahaṃ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā||7.6||

    Meaning

    It is the womb of all beings; for I am He by Whom the worlds were created and shall be dissolved.

  7. Verse 7

    mattaḥ parataraṃ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya| mayi sarvam idaṃ protaṃ sūtre maṇigaṇā iva||7.7||

    Meaning

    O Arjuna! There is nothing higher than Me; all is strung on Me like rows of pearls on a thread.

  8. Verse 8

    raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśisūryayoḥ| praṇavaḥ sarvavedeṣu śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṃ nṛṣu||7.8||

    Meaning

    O Arjuna! I am the fluidity in water, the light in the sun and moon, the mystic syllable Om in the Vedic scriptures, the sound in ether, and the virility in man.

  9. Verse 9

    puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṃ ca tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau| jīvanaṃ sarvabhūteṣu tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu||7.9||

    Meaning

    I am the fragrance of the earth, the brilliance of fire, the life force in all beings, and the austerity of ascetics.

  10. Verse 10

    bījaṃ māṃ sarvabhūtānāṃ viddhi pārtha sanātanam| buddhir buddhimatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham||7.10||

    Meaning

    Know, O Arjuna, that I am the eternal seed of being; I am the intelligence of the intelligent, the splendour of the resplendent.

  11. Verse 11

    balaṃ balavatāṃ cāhaṃ kāmarāgavivarjitam| dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo 'smi bharatarṣabha||7.11||

    Meaning

    I am the strength of the strong, those who are free from attachment and desire; and, O Arjuna, I am the desire for righteousness.

  12. Verse 12

    ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasās tāmasāś ca ye| matta eveti tān viddhi na tvahaṃ teṣu te mayi||7.12||

    Meaning

    Whatever be the nature of their life, whether it be pure, passionate, or ignorant, they are all derived from Me. They are in Me, but I am not in them.

  13. Verse 13

    tribhir guṇamayair bhāvair ebhiḥ sarvam idaṃ jagat| mohitaṃ nābhijānāti māmebhyaḥ param avyayam||7.13||

    Meaning

    The inhabitants of the world, misled by the natures engendered by the Qualities, do not know that I am higher than them all and that I do not change.

  14. Verse 14

    daivī hyeṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā| mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṃ taranti te||7.14||

    Meaning

    Verily, this divine illusion of phenomenon manifesting itself in the qualities is difficult to surmount. Only they who devote themselves exclusively to Me can accomplish it.

  15. Verse 15

    na māṃ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ| māyayāpahṛtajñānā āsuraṃ bhāvam āśritāḥ||7.15||

    Meaning

    The sinner, the ignorant, the vile, deprived of spiritual perception by the glamour of illusion, and he who leads a godless life—none of them shall find me.

  16. Verse 16

    caturvidhā bhajante māṃ janāḥ sukṛtino 'rjuna| ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha||7.16||

    Meaning

    O Arjuna! The righteous who worship Me are grouped in stages: first, those who suffer, next those who desire knowledge, then those who thirst after truth, and lastly those who attain wisdom.

  17. Verse 17

    teṣāṃ jñānī nityayukta ekabhaktir viśiṣyate| priyo hi jñānino 'tyartham ahaṃ sa ca mama priyaḥ||7.17||

    Meaning

    Of all these, he who has gained wisdom, who meditates on Me without ceasing, devoting himself solely to Me, is the best; for I am exceedingly beloved by the wise man, and the wise man is also beloved by Me.

  18. Verse 18

    udārāḥ sarva evaite jñānī tvātmaiva me matam| āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā mām evānuttamāṃ gatim||7.18||

    Meaning

    Noble-minded are they all, but the wise man I hold as my own self; for he, remaining always at peace with me, makes me his ultimate goal.

  19. Verse 19

    bahūnāṃ janmanām ante jñānavān māṃ prapadyate| vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ||7.19||

    Meaning

    After many lives, at last the wise one realizes Me as I am. It is very difficult to find a man so enlightened that he sees God everywhere.

  20. Verse 20

    kāmais tais tair hṛtajñānāḥ prapadyante 'nyadevatāḥ| taṃ taṃ niyamam āsthāya prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā||7.20||

    Meaning

    They in whom wisdom is obscured by one desire or another, worship the lesser powers, practising many rites that vary according to their temperaments.

  21. Verse 21

    yo yo yāṃ yāṃ tanuṃ bhaktaḥ śraddhayārcitum icchati| tasya tasyācalāṃ śraddhāṃ tām eva vidadhāmyaham||7.21||

    Meaning

    But whatever form of worship, if the devotee has faith, then I set My own seal upon their faith in that worship.

  22. Verse 22

    sa tayā śraddhayā yuktas tasyārādhanam īhate| labhate ca tataḥ kāmān mayaiva vihitān hi tān||7.22||

    Meaning

    If he worships one form alone with real faith, then his desires shall be fulfilled through that alone; for thus I have ordained.

  23. Verse 23

    antavat tu phalaṃ teṣāṃ tad bhavatyalpamedhasām| devān devayajo yānti madbhaktā yānti mām api||7.23||

    Meaning

    The fruit that comes to people of limited insight is, after all, finite. Those who worship the Lower Powers attain them; but those who worship Me come to Me alone.

  24. Verse 24

    avyaktaṃ vyaktim āpannaṃ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ| paraṃ bhāvam ajānanto mamāvyayam anuttamam||7.24||

    Meaning

    The ignorant think of Me, who am the Unmanifested Spirit, as if I were in human form. They do not understand that My Superior Nature is unchanging and most excellent.

  25. Verse 25

    nāhaṃ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ| mūḍho 'yaṃ nābhijānāti loko mām ajam avyayam||7.25||

    Meaning

    I am not visible to all, for I am enveloped by the illusion of the Phenomenon. This deluded world does not know Me as the Unborn and Imperishable.

  26. Verse 26

    vedāhaṃ samatītāni vartamānāni cārjuna| bhaviṣyāṇi ca bhūtāni māṃ tu veda na kaścana||7.26||

    Meaning

    I know, O Arjuna, all beings in the past, the present, and the future; but they do not know Me.

  27. Verse 27

    icchādveṣasamutthena dvandvamohena bhārata| sarvabhūtāni saṃmohaṃ sarge yānti parantapa||7.27||

    Meaning

    O brave Arjuna! Man lives in a fantastical world, deceived by the glamour of opposing sensations, infatuated by desire and aversion.

  28. Verse 28

    yeṣāṃ tvantagataṃ pāpaṃ janānāṃ puṇyakarmaṇām| te dvandvamohanirmuktā bhajante māṃ dṛḍhavratāḥ||7.28||

    Meaning

    But those who act righteously, in whom sin has been destroyed, who are free from the infatuation of conflicting emotions, they worship Me with a firm resolve.

  29. Verse 29

    jarāmaraṇamokṣāya mām āśritya yatanti ye| te brahma tadviduḥ kṛtsnam adhyātmaṃ karma cākhilam||7.29||

    Meaning

    Those who make Me their refuge, striving for liberation from decay and death, realize the Supreme Spirit, which is their own real Self, and in which all action finds its consummation.

  30. Verse 30

    sādhibhūtādhidaivaṃ māṃ sādhiyajñaṃ ca ye viduḥ| prayāṇakāle 'pi ca māṃ te vidur yuktacetasaḥ||7.30||

    Meaning

    Those who see Me in the life of the world, in the universal sacrifice, and as pure Divinity, keeping their minds steady, they live in Me even in the hour of death's approach.

Chapters