Gita Inside Pages

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SHRIMAT BHAGWAT GITA – Aruneshwar Gupta | 1

ARUNESHWAR GUPTA

ShrimatBhagwat Gita

The song celestial…



2 | SHRIMAT BHAGWAT GITA – Aruneshwar Gupta




Contents

1. Preface .................................................................................................................................................................................3

2. It – A Chart .................................................................................................................................................................4

3. Words as they mean ...........................................................................................................................................5

4. Chapter 1 – Arjuna Vishada Yoga ..................................................................................................8

5. Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga .................................................................................................................... 12

6. Chapter 3 – Karma Yoga ........................................................................................................................14

7. Chapter 4 – Gyana Karma Yoga ................................................................................................... 17

8. Chapter 5 – Karma Sanyasa Yoga .............................................................................................. 20

9. Chapter 6 – Atman Sanyam Yoga ............................................................................................... 22

10. Chapter 7 – Gyana Vigyana Yoga ................................................................................................ 25

11. Chapter 8 – Akshra Brahma Yoga ............................................................................................... 27

12. Chapter 9 – Raj Vidya Rajaguhya Yoga ............................................................................... 29

13. Chapter 10 – Vibhuti Yoga .................................................................................................................... 31

14. Chapter 11 – Vishwa-rupa Darshana Yoga ..................................................................... 33

15. Chapter 12 – Bhakti Yoga ...................................................................................................................... 36

16. Chapter 13 – Kshetra Khetragya Vibhaga Yoga .......................................................... 38

17. Chapter 14 – Guna - Triya Vibhaga Yoga ......................................................................... 40

18. Chapter 15 – Purushotama Yoga .................................................................................................. 42

19. Chapter 16 – Daiva-sura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga ..................................................... 44

20. Chapter 17 – Shradha - triya Vibhaga Yoga ................................................................... 46

21. Chapter 18 – Moksha Sanyasa Yoga ........................................................................................ 48




Preface

Bhagwat Gita has a basic thought underlying it, which many may call

presumptions. Every reader of logic may say that, “You have presumed the

existence of certain facts and what is sought to be established are the

presumptions themselves.” Believe me, these basic underlying principles of life

are not presumptions, but fundamentals reached after deep inquiry by persons

of highest integrity. The endeavour is merely to restate them in a simpler form,

to enable clearer and better reflection.

Every individual is in a constant struggle to achieve total harmony and

perpetual happiness. Every person continues to make serious and sincere

efforts to resolve the conflicts within ones’ self and those existing in the worldaround. In the process, every person at every moment tries to appreciate,

understand and express himself to his very best. The expressions are, however,

circumscribed and limited by the extent of one’s own exposure, experience,

analysis, knowledge and understanding of the conflicts and realisation of the

Truth.

Reading and understanding Bhagwat Gita is yet another step to help the

perception of the conflicts and resolve them or help the perception of absence

of such conflicts and negate them. In the absence of correct appreciation,

understanding and realization of the Truth, every human being not only

thwarts own development and progress towards the Ultimate, but also gets

involved in social reactions and interactions which defeat the very purpose of

existence. The inability of human being to perceive the Whole or Its true naturebrings about thoughts and feelings like disapproval, disappointment, displea-

sure, annoyance, anger, dissatisfaction, depression, frustration, guilt, fear,

jealousy, hatred, melancholy etc. leading to social expressions and social

phenomena like lack of sympathy, unfriendliness, hostility, aggression, enmity,

abuse, violence, exploitation, brutality, terrorism, poverty, corruption, divorce

etc. which religion and law endeavour to minimise and control.

This book is neither intended to unsettle the minds of those who are

attached to pleasure and power or to invite their opinion. This is meant merely

to induce and reinforce in the wise the stimulus and vitality to persistently and

precisely carry on their activities, leading to a perfectly harmonised social

order and help every other individual to reach Self-realisation…

January 10, 2007 Author







Word meanings

01. Self Atman, Conscience, Consciousness, Cosmic Reality,

Cosmic Energy, God, Life Element, Living Spark,

Purusha, Soul, Spirit, Truth, Will, Prana etc… (IV

phase).

02. Liberation A state when after the dissolution of the body, Self

becomes Self-existing.

03. Nature Prakriti or every thing other than the Self.

04. Being The co-existence of the Self and the body, mind andintellect.

05. Life A process for being, with liberation/ realisation as its

purpose.

06. Death The de-linking of the Self from the body, mind and

intellect.

07. Ego The bond between the Self and the body, mind and

intellect.

08. Emotions The bond between beings.

09. Art The expression of Self in nature.

10. Body The part of the being, which perceive the objects (I

Phase).

11. Mind The part of the being, which feel the emotions (II

Phase).

12. Intellect The part of the being, which thinks, reasons, analyses

and memorises the thoughts, feelings and actions (III

Phase).

13. Realisation A state of the being when complete/ total expression/

manifestation of Self takes place through the body,

mind and intellect – a state of Satt – Chitt - Anand




14. Attachment The bond between the beings and nature

15. Wisdom The power/ capacity to express/ apply the Truth in

nature.

16. Integrity The extent of harmony between the body, mind and

intellect.

17. Corruption The extent of disharmony between the body, mind

and intellect.

18. Intelligence The power of discriminating Self and nature and their

manifestations.

19. Knowledge a. With respect to Self - The extent / capacity of thebeing to understand the Self and its manifesta-

tions and leading to abhaya, asangh and ahimsa.

b. With respect to nature - The extent/ capacity of

the being to deal with/control the nature.

20. Experience a. With respect to Self - The extent of awareness/

knowledge of the being about expressions/ mani-

festations of the Self.

b. With respect to nature - The extent of aware-

ness/ knowledge of the being of the various

interactions and effects of nature.

21. Education a. With respect to Self- The training that enables

the being to further express the Self and progres-

sively achieve the purpose of life.

b. With respect to nature - The training which

enables the being to deal with/ control the nature

and progressively achieve complete/ total integ-

rity/ harmony between the body, mind and

intellect so as to develop a perfect social order.

22. Religion Rules to regulate/ keep the body, mind and intellectin harmony/ integrity to enable/ lead the being to

realisation/ liberation.




23. Law Rules that regulate/ keep the society in harmony by

regulating the interactions/ effects of being(s) and

being(s) and being(s) and nature.

24. Power The extent of control of a being on Self, other being(s)

or nature.

25. Politics The manipulation of being(s) by being(s) to attain

power.

26. Basic Elements Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space

27. Gyanendriyan Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue and Skin

28. Karmendriyan Arms (including legs), Eyelids, Mouth, Genital Or-gans and Anus

29. Temple A place where prana prathishtha of a Hindu deity has

been undertaken and Its powers are regularly in-

voked by undertaking puja according to rituals.

30. Puja A phonetic combination to invoke the powers of a

Devi, Devta, Avatar or any other Hindu deity.

31. Mantra A phonetic combination to bring about harmony in

nature.

32. Parikrama A process of going round a deity (except Shiva) tocircumscribe its powers / gunas and inculcate within

ones own self to achieve the purpose of life.






In order to embolden Duryodhana, Bhishma the mighty

grandsire, the oldest of the Kurus, now raised a lion’s roar and

blew his conch. Then suddenly blared forth conches, kettle-

drums, tabors, trumpets and cow-horns; and tremendous was

that noise.

Then seated as Madhva and Pandva were in their magnifi-

cent chariot yoked to white steads, gracefully blew their divine

conchs. Panchjanya was blown by Hrishikesha and Devadatta

by Dhananjaya. Vrikodara of terrible exploits blew his great

conch, Paundra. The king Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, blew

Anantavijaya, Nakula and Sahadeva blew Sughosha and Manipushpaka, and the ruler of Kasi, the adept archer and

Shikhandi the great chariot-warrior Dheshtdyumna and Virata

and Satyaki, the invincible. O ruler of the earth, Drupada and

the sons of Draupadi and the mighty armed son of Subhadra

all these as well blew their several conchs. Filling the earth and

the sky with reverberation and tumultuous uproar that rent the

hearts of the sons of Dhritarashtra. Then, O ruler of the earth,

seeing Dhritrashtra sons being positioned and the fight about

to commence, Pandva, whose ensign badge is Hanuman, lifting

his bow and spoke the following words to Krishna.

Arjuna said: Place my chariot, O Achyuta, between the two

armies so that I may behold the war indeed that stands here

and with whom I must wage this war. I desire to discern those

that throng here to fight, intent on pleasing in battle the evil-

minded son of Dhritrashtra.

Sanjaya said: Thus requested by Gudakesha, Hrishikesha,

having placed the best of chariots in between the two armies;

facing Bhishma and Drona and all the rulers of the earth, spoke,

“O, Partha, behold all the Kurus gathered together.”Standing there Partha then beheld in both the armies,

paternal uncles, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, cous-




ins, sons, grandsons, comrades, fathers-in-law and benefactors.

He, the son of Kunti, gazing at those kinsmen posted in

positions spoke this in sadness, filed as he was with choking

compassion.

Arjuna said: Seeing these my kinsmen, collected here

prompted by war, my limbs fail me, O Krishna, and my mouth

is parched up. My body quivers and my hair stand on end. The

bow Gandiva slips from my hand and my skin burns all over.

I am unable to stand; my mind whirls as it guise, and Kesava,

I see adverse omens. I do not foresee any good ensuing from

the slaughter of kinsmen in battle. O Krishna, I hanker not for victory or empire or pleasure even. Of what avail to us is

kingdom or enjoyment or even life. O Govinda, those for

whose sake we seek kingdom, enjoyments and pleasures, they

stand here in battle, staking life and property. Teachers, fathers,

sons as well as grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law,

grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives.

Though myself be slain by them, I would not, O Madhusudan

seek to slay them even for the sake of domination over the three

worlds, how then for the earth? What delight can we derive,

O Janardana, by doing away with these sons of Dhritrashtra?

Sin only will accrue to us by slaying these desperadoes. We

should not, therefore, slay the sons of Dhritrashtra, our

kinsmen. How can we, O Madhava killing our own kinsmen,

be happy? Although these, with understanding clouded by

greed, see no guilt in the in termination of a family, no crime

in hostility to friends, why should we not learn to recoil from

such a sin? O Janardana, we who see evil in the destruction of

a family? In the decline of a family, its time-honoured

usages perish, with the perishing of sacred rites impiety overtakes the entire family. With the growth of impiety, O

Krishna, the family women become unchaste, and women




getting corrupted, O Varshneya caste admixture ensues.

Hell is verily the lot of the family and family destroyers

through caste admixture, for, their ancestors fall deprived of

manes-cakes and liberation.

The everlasting caste virtues and the family merits get

ruined because of the caste confusion created by the bad deeds

of the family-destroyers. We have heard. O, Janardana, that

hell is verily the long lasting abode of the men whose family

religious practices have been broken. Goaded by the greed of

the pleasures of a kingdom, we are alas, bent on perpetrating

the great sin of killing our kinsmen. Should the sons of Dhritarashtra with weapons in hand slay me, unresisting and

unarmed in the battle that would indeed the better for me.

Sanjay said: So saying, overwhelmed with sorrow in the

battlefield, Arjuna sat on the seat of his chariot, abandoning his

bow and arrows.




S anjay said: Madhusudana spoke these words to him who

was thus overwhelmed with compassion and drowned in

distress and whose eyes were drenched in tears of despon-

dency.

The Blessed Lord said: Whence has this unmanly, heaven

barring and shameful dejection come upon you, at this

juncture, O Arjuna? yield not, O Partha to feebleness. It does

not befit you. Cast off this petty faint-heartedness; wake up, O

vanquisher of foes.

Arjuna said: O slayer of Madhusudhan, O slayer of foes,

how shall I with arrows counterattack Bishma and Drona, who

are worthy of worship? Even to eat the beggar’s bread, is far

better in this world than to slay these great souled masters. Butif I kill them, my enjoyment of wealth and desires in this world

itself will be stained with blood. Whether we should conquer

them or they conquer us, I do not know which would be better.

These very sons of Dhritarashtra stand before us, after slaying

whom we should not care to live. My nature is weighed down

with the taint of feeble mindedness; my understanding is

confused as to duty. I entreat you; say definitely what is good

for me. I am your disciple. Do instruct me who have taken

refuge in you. I do not find any remedy to the grief that parches

my senses. Though I was to gain unrivalled and prosperous

monarchy on earth or even sovereignty over the celestials.

CHAPTER - II

Sankhya Yoga




Sanjay said: After addressing the Lord of the senses thus,

Gudakesha, the terror of the foes, submitted to Govinda, I shall

not fright and held silence. Then smiling, as it were, Hrishikesha

spoke these words to the desponding one placed between the

two armies.

The Blessed Lord said: O Bharata, you grieve for those who

should not be grieved for, yet you spell words of wisdom. The

wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. Nor I, nor

you, nor any of these ruling princes were ever non-existent

before nor is it that we shall not cease to be in the future. As

the indweller in the body experiences childhood, youth and oldage in the body, He also passes on to another body. The serene

one is not affected thereby. The contacts of the senses with

their objects create, O son of Kunti, feelings of heat and

cold, of pain and pleasure. They come and go and are

impermanent. Bear them patiently, O Bharata.

That man, O the best of men, is fitted for immortality, whom

these do not torment, who is balanced in pain and pleasure and

steadfast. The unreal has no existence, the real never ceases

to be. The truth about both has been realized by the seers.

Know that to be verily indestructible by which all this is

pervaded. None can effect the destruction of the immutable.

These bodies of the indweller, who is eternal, indestructible

and immeasurable are said to have an end. Fight, therefore, O

Bharata. He who hold Atman as slayer and he who considers

it as slain, both of them are ignorant. It slays not, nor is it slain.

The Atman is neither born nor does it die. Coming into being

and ceasing to be, do not take place in It. It is unborn, eternal,

constant and ancient.

It is not killed when the body is slain. He who cognizes the Atman as indestructible, eternal, unborn and changeless, how

can he slay, O Partha, or cause another to slay? As a man casting




off worn out garments puts on new ones, so the embodied,

casting off worn out bodies, enters into others. Weapons do

not cleave the Atman, fire burns it not, water wets it not, and

wind dries it not. This self is uncleavable, incombustible and

neither wetted nor dried. It is eternal, all pervading, stable

immovable and everlasting. This Atman is said to be

unmenifested, unthinkable and immutable. Therefore, know-

ing it as such, you should not grieve. Or if you conceive of

Atman as given to constant births and deaths, even then, O

mighty armed, you should not sorrow. Death is certain for

that which is born, birth is certain for that which is dead.You should not therefore, lament over the inevitable.

Beings are all, O Bharata, unmanifested in their origin,

manifested in their mid-state and unmanifested again in their

end. What is the point then for anguish? One beholds the self

as wonderful, another mentions of it as marvelous, another

again hears of it as strange, though hearing yet another knows

it not at all. This indweller in the bodies of all is ever

invulnerable, O Bharata.

Therefore, you should not grieve for any thing. Again

looking at your own, duty as well, you should not waiver for

there is nothing more welcome to a Kshatriya than righteous

war. Happy are the Kshatriya, O Partha, who obtain such a

warfare that comes unsought as an open gateway to heaven.

But if you will not wage this righteous warfare, then forfeiting

your own duty and honor, you will incur sin. The great chariot

warriors will view you as one f led from the war out of fear, you

that were highly esteemed by them will be lightly held. Your

enemies will also slander your strength and speak many

unseemly words. What can be more painful than that.Slain you will gain heaven, victories you will enjoy the earth.

Therefore, rouse up O son of Kunti, resolved to fight. Treating




alike pain and pleasure, gain and loss, victory and defeat,

engage yourself in the battle. Thus you will incur no sin. The

ideal of self-knowledge has been presented to you. Hearken

now the practice thereof. Endowed with it, O Partha, you will

break through the bonds of karma. In this there is no loss of

attempt, nor is there any adverse effect. The practices of

even a little of this dharma protects one from great fear. To the

firm-in-mind, O joy of the Kurus, there is in this but one

decision, many branching and endless are the decisions of the

infirm-in-mind.

The unwise who delight in the flowery words, disputingabout the Vedas, say that there is nothing other than this, they

are desire-ridden, they hold the attainment of heaven as the

goal of birth and its activities, their words are laden with

specific rites bringing in pleasure and lordship. There is no

fixity of mind for them who cling to pleasure and power

and whose discrimination is stolen away . The Vedas enu-

merate the three gunas. You transcend the three gunas, O

Arjuna. Be free from the pair of opposites, ever-balanced,

unconcerned with getting and keeping and centered in the

Self. To an enlightened Brahma all the Vedas are as useful

as a tank when there is a flood everywhere. Seek to perform

your duty, but lay not claim to its fruits. Be you not the

producer of the fruits of karma, neither shall you lean

towards inaction. Perform action, O Dhananjaya, being fixed

in yoga, renouncing attachment and even-minded in success

and failure; equilibrium is verily yoga.

Motivated karma is, O Dhananjaya, far inferior to that

performed in the equanimity of mind, take refuge in the

evenness of the mind, wretched are the result seekers. The onefixed in equanimity of mind frees oneself in this life from vice

and virtues alike, therefore, devote yourself to yoga, work done




to perfection is verily yoga. The wise, imbued with evenness

of mind, renouncing the fruits of their actions, freed from the

fetters of births, verily go to the stainless state. When your

understanding transcend the taint of delusion, then shall

you gain indifference to things heard and those yet to be

heard. When your intellect, tossed about by the conflict of

opinions, has become poised and firmly fixed in equilib-

rium, then you shall get into yoga.

Arjuna said: What, O Kesava, is the mark of the man of

steadfast wisdom, steeped in Samadhi? How does the man

firm in wisdom speak, how sit, how walk?The Blessed Lord said: When a man abandons, O Partha,

all the desires of the heart and is satisfied in the self by the self,

then is he said to be one stable in wisdom. His mind is not

perturbed by adversity. He who does not crave for happiness,

who is free from fondness, fear and anger, is the Muni of

constant wisdom. He who is unattached everywhere, who is

not delighted at receiving good or dejected at coming of evil,

is poised in wisdom. When also, like a tortoise its limbs, he can

withdraw the senses from sense objects, his wisdom is then set

firm. Sense objects drop out of the abstinent man, though not

the longing for them. His longing also ceases when he intuits

the Supreme.

The excited senses, O son of Kunti, impetuously carry

away the mind of even a wise man, striving for perfection.

The yogi having controlled them all, sits focused on Me as the

Supreme goal His wisdom is constant whose senses are under

subjugation. Brooding on the objects of senses, man devel-

ops attachment to them, from attachment comes desire,

from desire anger sprouts forth. From anger proceedsdelusion, from delusion confused memory, from confused

memory the ruin of reason, due to the ruin of reason he




perishes. But the disciplined yogi, moving among objects with

the sense under control and free from attraction and aversion

gains in tranquility. In tranquility all his sorrows are destroyed.

For the intellect of the tranquil-minded is soon anchored in

equilibrium. There is no wisdom in the fickle minded nor is

there meditation in him. To the unmeditative, there is no

peace. And how can the peace-less enjoy happiness? Just as

a gale pushes away a ship on the waters, the mind that yields

to the rowing senses carries away his discrimination. There-

fore, O mighty-armed, his cognition is well poised, whose

senses are completely restrained from their objects. Thatwhich is night to all beings, in that the disciplined man wakes.

That in which all beings wake, is night to the Atman-cognizing

Muni. Not the desire of desires, but that man attains peace, in

whom all desires merge as rivers flow into the ocean, which is

full and unmoving. That man attains peace who lives devoid

of longing, freed from all desires and without the feeling of

‘I’ and ‘Mine’. This O Partha, is the Brahma state. Attaining

this, none is bewildered. Being established in It, even at the

death-hour, a man gets into oneness with Brahman.




Arjuna said: If it is held by you, O Janardana, that

knowledge is superior to action, why then do you, O

Keshava enjoin on me this terrible action. With these perplex-

ing words, you are, as it were, confusing my comprehension.

Tell me with certainity the path by pursuing which, I may reach

the supreme.

The Blessed Lord said: The twofold path was given by me,

O sinless one, to the world in the beginning, the path of

knowledge to the discerning, the path of work to the active.

Man gains not actionlessness by abstaining from activity, nor

does he rise to perfection by mere renunciation. None can

even remain really actionless even for a moment, for everyone

is helplessly driven to action by the gunas, born of Prakriti,That deluded man is called a hypocrite who sits controlling

the organs of action, but dwelling in his mind on the objects

of senses. But he excels, O Arjuna, who, restraining the senses

by the mind unattached directs his organs of action at the path

of work.

Engage yourself in obligatory work, for action is superior to

inaction and if you are inactive, even the mere maintenance of

your body would not be possible. The world is bound by

actions, other than those performed for the sake of yagya. Do

therefore, O son of Kunti, earnestly perform action for y agya

alone, free from attachment. Having created mankind in the

CHAPTER - III

Karma Yoga




beginning together with yagya, the Prajapati said “By this shall

you propagate, this shall be the milch of your desires. Cherish

the Devas with this and may those Devas cherish you. Thus

cherishing one another, you shall reap the supreme good.

Cherished by yagya, the Devas shall bestow on you the

enjoyments you desire.”

A thief verily is he, who enjoys what is given by them

without returning them anything. Those who eat the remains

of y agya are freed from all sins, but the sinful ones, who cook

food only for themselves, they verily eat sin. From food beings

become, from rain is food produced, from yagya rain proceeds, yagya is born of karma. Know karma to have risen from the

Veda and the Veda from the imperishable. The all pervading

Veda is therefore, ever centered in yagya. He who does not

follow on earth the wheel thus revolving, sinful of life and

rejoicing in the senses, he O Partha, lives in vain. But the man

who rejoices in the self, is satisfied with the self and is centered

in the self, for him verily there is no obligatory duty. For him

there is in this world no object to acquire by doing an

action, nor is there any loss by not doing an action, nor has

he to depend on anybody for anything.

Therefore, constantly perform your obligatory duty without

attachment, for by doing duty without attachment, man verily

obtains the supreme as Janaka and others. Having an eye to

the guidance of men also you should perform action.

Whatever a great man does is followed by others, people

go by the example he sets up. There is naught in the three

worlds, O Partha that has not been done by Me or anything

unattained that might be attained still I engage in action. If ever

I did not engage in work relentlessly, O Partha, men would inevery respect follow My path. These worlds would perish if I

did not do action, I should be the cause of confusion of species




and I should destroy these beings. As the unenlightened act

from attachment to action, O Bharata, so should the enlight-

ened act without attachment, desirous of the guidance of the

multitude.

Let not the wise man unsettle the mind of ignorant people

attached to karma. By doing persistently and precisely, let the

wise induce the others in all activities. The gunas of Prakriti

perform all karma, with the understanding clouded by

egoism, man thinks – I am the doer. But, O mighty armed

the one intuitive into the nature of guna and karma knows that

gunas as senses abide with gunas as objects and does notbecome entangled. Those deluded by gunas of Prakriti get

attached to the functions of the gunas. The man of perfect

knowledge should not unsettle the mediocre whose knowl-

edge is imperfect. Surrendering all actions to Me. with your

thoughts resting in self, freed from hope and selfishness and

cured of mental fever, engage in battle.

Those who ever abide in this teaching of mine, full of

shradha and free from caviling, they too are released from

actions. But those who carp at my teachings and act not

thereon, deluded in all knowledge and devoid of discrimina-

tion, know them to be ruined. Even a wise man behaves in

conformity with his own nature, what shall restraint avail?

Attachment and aversion of the senses for their respective

objects are natural, but none comes under their domina-

tion, they are verily his enemies. One’s own dharma, though

imperfect, is better than the dharma of another well dis-

charged. Better death in one’s own dharma, the dharma of

another is full of fear.

Arjuna said – But dragged on by what a man commits sin,unwillingly though, O Varshneya constrained as it were by

force.




The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is wrath begotten by

the rajo guna, all consuming, all sinful, know this as the foe here

on earth. As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as

an embryo by the womb, so is this covered by that. Knowledge

is covered, O son of Kunti, by this insatiable fire of desire, the

constant foe of the wise. The senses, the mind and the intellect

are said to be its seat, by these it deludes man by veiling his

wisdom. Therefore, O eminent of the Bharatas, mastering first

the senses, slay it – the sinful the destroyer of knowledge and

realization. The senses are said to be superior to the body; the

mind is superior to the senses, the intellect is superior to themind, and what is superior to the intellect is Atman. Thus

knowledge is superior to the intellect. Restraining the self by

the self slay, O mighty armed, the enemy in the form of

desire, difficult to overcome.




The Blessed Lord said: This imperishable yoga, I declared

to Vivasvat ; Vivasvat taught it to Manu, Manu told it to

Ikshvaku, thus transmitted in regular succession the royal sages

know it. This yoga, by long efflux of time decayed in this world,

O scorcher of foes. The same ancient yoga has been today told

to you by Me, for you are my devotee and friend and this secret

is supreme indeed.

Arjuna said: Later was your birth, earlier the birth of

Vivasvat , how then I to understand that you told it in

beginning?

The Blessed Lord said: Many are the births taken by Me

and you, O Arjuna, I know them all while you know not

Prantapa. Though I am unborn, imperishable and the lord of beings, yet subjugating My Prakriti, I come into being by My

own maya. Whenever there is decay of dharma and rise of

adharma, I embody Myself O Bharata. For the protection of

the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the

establishment of dharma, I am born age after age. He who

thus knows my divine birth and action in true light,

having dropped the body, comes not to birth again, but comes

into Me.

O Arjuna, freed from passion, fear and anger, filled with Me,

taking refuge in Me, purified by penance in the fire of

knowledge, many have entered into My Being. In whatever way

CHAPTER - IV

Gyana Karma Sanyasa Yoga




men identify with Me, in the same way do I carry out their

desires, men pursue My path, O Partha, in all ways. Longing

for success in action on earth, they worship the Devas, for

quickly is success born of action in this world of man. The

fourfold caste system was created by me by the different

distribution of guna and karma. Though I be the author

thereof, know me to be actionless and changeless. Neither do

actions taint Me nor is the fruits of action desired by Me. He

who thus knows Me, is not bound by actions. Having known

thus even the ancient seekers after freedom preformed

action, therefore, do you perform action, as did the ancient inthe olden times.

Sages too are perplexed as to what is action, what is inaction.

Therefore, I shall tell you what is action, by knowing which you

shall be freed from evil. It is needful to discriminate action, to

discriminate forbidden action and to discriminate inaction,

inscrutable is the way of karma. He who sees inaction in action

and action in inaction, he is wise among men, he is a yogi and

accomplisher of every thing. Whose doings are all devoid of

design and desire for results and whose actions are all burnt

by the fire of knowledge, him the sages call wise. Having

abandoned attachment to the fruits of action, ever content,

depending on nothing, though engaged in karma, verily he

does not do anything. Hoping for naught, his mind and self

controlled, having abandoned all possessions, performing

karma by the body alone, he incurs no sin. Content with what

he obtains without effort, free from pair of opposites, without

envy, balanced in success and failure, though acting he is not

bound. Of one unattached, liberated, with mind absorbed in

knowledge, performing work for yagya alone, his entire karmamelts away. The oblation is Brahma, the clarified butter is

Brahma, offered by Brahma in the fire of Brahma, unto




Brahma verily he goes who cognizes Brahma alone in his

action.

Some yogis perform sacrifices to Devas alone, while others

offer the self as sacrifice by the self verily in the fire of Brahma.

Some offer hearing and other senses as sacrifice in the fire of

restraint, while others offer sound and other sense objects as

sacrifice in the fire of the senses. Others again offer all the

actions of the senses and the functions of the life-energy, as a

sacrifice in the fire of self-control, kindled by knowledge. Yet

others offer wealth, austerity and yoga as sacrifice, while still

others of self-denial and extreme vows, offer sacred study andknowledge as sacrifice. Yet others offer as sacrifice the outgoing

breath in the incoming and the incoming in the outgoing,

restraining the flow of the outgoing and incoming breaths,

solely absorbed in the regulation of the life-energy. Still others

of regulated food habits offer in the Pranas the functions

thereof. All these knowers of yagya have their sins destroyed

by yagya.

The eaters of the nectar, the remnants of yagya go to the

eternal Brahma. This world is not for the non-sacrificer, O best

of the Kurus. Various yagyas such as these are spread out in the

storehouse of Vedas. Know them all to be born of karma and

thus knowing you shall be free. Knowledge-sacrifice, O scorcher

of foes, is superior to wealth sacrifice. All karma in its

entirety, O Partha, culminates in knowledge. Seek that

enlighten by prostrating, by questioning and by service, the

wise, the seers into the Truth will instruct you in that

knowledge. Knowing this Partha, you will not again fall into

this confusion; by this you will see the whole of the creation in

yourself and in Me.Even if you be the most sinful of all sinners, yet shall you

cross over all sin by the raft of knowledge. As the blazing fire




reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of

knowledge reduce all karma to ashes. Verily there is no

purifier in this world like knowledge. He that is perfected in

yoga, realizes it in this own heart in due time. The man of

shradha, the devoted, the master of his senses obtains knowl-

edge. Having obtained knowledge he goes promptly to the

peace supreme. The ignorant, the man devoid of shradha,

the doubting self, goes to destruction. The doubting self

has neither this world, nor the next, nor happiness. With

work absolved in yoga and doubts rent asunder by knowledge,

O Dhananjaya, actions do not bind him, who is poised in theself. Therefore, severing with the sword of knowledge this

ignorance born doubt about the self, dwelling in your heart, be

established in yoga. Stand up, O Bharata.




Arjuna said: Renunciation of action, O Krishna, you

commend and again its performance. Of the two, which

one is the better? Tell me that conclusively.

The Blessed Lord said: Renunciation and performance of

action both lead to freedom. Of the two, performance of action

is superior to the renunciation of action. He should be known

a constant sanyasi, who neither hates nor desires, free from the

pair of opposites, O mighty armed, he is easily set free from

bondage. Children, not the wise, speak of knowledge and

performance of action as different. He who is truly established

in one obtains the fruit of both. The stage reached by the karma

yogis. He sees who sees gyana and karma yoga as one. Sanyas,

O mighty armed, is hard to attain to without karma yoga. Theman of meditation, purified by karma yoga quickly goes to

Brahma. With the mind purified by karma yoga, the self

disciplined and the senses subdued, one who realizes one’s self

as the self in all beings, though acting, is not affected.

The sage centered in the self should think, “I do nothing at

all”. Though seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going,

sleeping, breathing, speaking, emptying, holding, opening and

closing the eyes, firm in the thought that the senses move

among sense objects. He who acts, abandoning, attachment,

dedicating his deeds to Brahman, is untainted by sin as a lotus

leaf by water. The yogi, abandoning attachment, performs

CHAPTER - V

Karma Sanyasa Yoga




work with the body, the mind, the intellect and the senses

only, for self-purification. Abandoning the fruits of action,

the yogi attains peace born of steadfastness. Impelled by desire,

the non- yogi is bound, attached to fruit. Having mentally

renounced all actions, the self disciplined indweller rests

happily in the city of nine gates, neither acting nor causing to

act.

The Lord does not create agency or actions for the world.

The Omnipresent does not take note of the merit or demerit

of any. Knowledge is veiled by ignorance; mortals are thereby

deluded. Shining like the Sun, knowledge reveals the Supremein them, in whom ignorance is destroyed by self-knowledge.

Those who think of That merge in That, get fixed in That, have

That as the God, they attain to non-return, their taints being

dispelled by knowledge. Man of self-knowledge is same sighted

on a Brahma imbibed with learning and humility, a cow, an

elephant, a dog and an outcaste. Transitory existence is

overcome even here by them whose mind rests on equality.

Brahma is flawless and the same in all, therefore, be

established in Brahma. Established in Brahma with firm

understanding and with no delusion, the knower of Brahma

rejoices not, getting what is pleasant and grieves not, getting

what is unpleasant. With the self-detached from the external

contacts he realizes the bliss in the self. Devoted as he is to the

meditation of Brahma, he enjoys imperishable Bliss. The

delights that are contact born are verily the wombs of pain,

they have, O son of Kunti, a beginning and an end, no wise man

rejoices in them. He who is able to resists the impulse of desire

and anger even here before he quits the body, he is a yogi, he

is a happy man.He whose happiness is within, whose delight is within,

whose illumination is within only, that yogi becomes Brahma




and gains the beatitude of Brahma with sins destroyed, doubts

/dualities removed, mind disciplined, being delighted in the

welfare of all beings, the rishis attain the beatitude of Brahma.

The beatitude of Brahma is both here and hereafter for those

sanyasies who have shed lust and anger, subdued their desire

and realized the self. Shutting out external objects, fixing the

gaze between the eyebrows, equalizing the outward and

inward breaths moving in the nostrils, the sage who has

controlled the senses, mind and intellect, who is solely pursu-

ing liberation, who has cast away desire, fear and anger, he is

verily liberated. Having Me known as the Lord of yogas andasceticisms, as the ruler of all the worlds, as the friends of all

beings, he attains peace.




The Blessed Lord said: He who discharges his duty

without desiring for its fruits, he is the sanyasi and he is

the yogi not he who is without sacred fire and without rites.

Know that as yoga, O Pandava, which is called sanyasa, for

none becomes a yogi without renouncing sankalpa. Karma

is said to be the means of the muni who seeks to attain the yoga;

serenity is said to be the means when he has attained to yoga.

Then alone is one said to have attained to yoga when, having

renounced all sankalpas, one does not get attached to sense

objects and actions. Let a man raise himself by his own self; let

him not debase himself. For he is himself his friend and himself

his foe.

To him who has conquered his base self by the divine self,his own self is the friend, but to him who has not subdued the

self, his own self acts as the foe. The self disciplined and serene

man’s supreme self is constant in cold and heat, pleasure and

pain, also in honour and dishonour. That yogi is steadfast who

is satisfied with knowledge and wisdom, who remains un-

shaken, who has conquered the senses, to whom a clod, a stone

and a piece of gold are the same. He stands supreme who has

equal regard for friends, companions, enemies, neutrals, arbi-

ters, the hateful, the relatives, saints and sinners.

A yogi should always try to concentrate his mind living alone

in solitude, having subdued his mind and body and got rid of

CHAPTER - VI

Atman Sanyam Yoga




desires and possessions. Having firmly fixed in a clear place, his

seat neither too nigh nor too low, and having spread over it the

kusha - grass, a deer skin and a cloth, one over the other, sitting

thereon his seat, making the mind one-pointed and restraining

the thinking faculty and the senses, he should practice yoga for

self purification. Let him hold the body, head and neck erect

and still, gazing at the tip of his nose, without looking around.

Firm and fearless, firm in the vow of a brahmachari, subdued

in mind, he should sit in yoga thinking on Me and intent on Me

alone. Keeping himself ever steadfast in this manner, the yogi

of subdued mind attains the peace abiding in Me and culmi-nating in Nirvana.

Yoga is not possible for him who eats too much or for him

who abstains too much from eating. It is not for him, O Arjuna,

who sleeps too much or too little. For him who is moderate in

eating and recreation, temperate in his actions, who is regu-

lated in sleep and wakefulness, yoga becomes the destroyer of

pain. When the disciplined mind rests in the self-alone, free

from desire for objects, then is one said to be established in

yoga. ‘As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker’ – this

is the simile used for the disciplined mind of yoga practicing

concentration on the self. When the mind, disciplined by the

practice of yoga, attains quietude and when beholding the self

by the self, he is satisfied in the self, when he feels that supreme

bliss which is perceived by the intelligence and which tran-

scends the senses and wherein established he never moves

from the Reality and having gained which, he thinks that there

is no greater gain than that, wherein established he is not

shaken even by the heaviest affliction. Let this disconnection

from union with pain be known by the name of yoga.This yoga should be practiced with determination and with

undistracted mind. Abandoning without reserve all desires




born of sankalpa and curbing in, by the mind, all the senses

from all sides, with his intellect set in firmness let him attain

quietude little by little. With the mind fixed on the self let him

not think of anything. By whatever cause the wavering and

unsteady mind wanders away, let him curb it from that and

subjugate it solely to the self. Supreme bliss verily comes to that.

yogi whose mind is calm, whose passions are pacified, who has

become one with Brahma and who is sinless. Constantly

engaging the mind this way, the yogi who has put it away, attains

with ease the infinite bliss of contact with Brahma. His mind

being harmonized by yoga, he sees himself in all beings and allbeings in himself, he sees the same in all. He who sees Me

everywhere and sees all in Me, he never becomes lost to Me,

nor do I become lost to him. He, who established in oneness,

worships Me abiding in all beings, that yogi lives in Me,

whatever may be his mode of living. That yogi, O Arjuna, is

regarded as the Supreme, who judges pleasure or pain

everywhere by the same standard as he applies to himself .

Arjuna said: This yoga of equanimity taught by you, O

Madhusudana, I do not see any stability in it, because of

restlessness. The mind verily is O Krishna, is restless, turbulent,

strong and obstinate. It deems it as hard to control as the wind.

The Blessed Lord said: Doubtless, O mighty armed the

mind is restless and hard to control but by practice and non-

attachment, O son of Kunti, it can be controlled. Yoga is hard

to attain, I concede, by a man who cannot control himself, but

it can be attained by him who has controlled himself and who

strives by right means.

Arjuna said: He who is unable to control himself, though

possessed of faith, whose mind deviates from yoga, what enddoes he meet with, O Krishna. Having failed to attain perfec-

tion in yoga, fallen from both, does he not perish like a rent




cloud, without any hold, O mighty armed, deluded in the path

of Brahma. Design, to dispel completely this doubt of mine, O

Krishna, for there is none but yourself who can destroy this

doubt.

The Blessed Lord said: O Partha, neither in this world nor

in the next is there destruction for him, for the doer of good.

O my son never comes to grief. Having attained to the worlds

of the righteous and having lived for countless years, he who

falls from yoga is reborn in the house of the pure and

prosperous or he is born in a family of wise yogis only; a

birth like this is verily very difficult to obtain in this world.There he regains the knowledge acquired in his former body

and he strives more than before for perfection, O joy of the

Kurus. By that very former practice, he is led on inspite of

himself. Even he who merely wishes to know of yoga rises

superior to the performer of Vedic rites. The yogi who strives

with assiduity, purified from sins and perfected through many

births reaches then the supreme good. The yogi is deemed

superior to ascetics, superior to men of knowledge even, he is

also superior to ritualists. Therefore, be you a yogi, O Arjuna

and of all yogis, he who worships Me with faith, his in-most self

merges in Me, him I hold to be the most devout.




The Blessed Lord said: Listen, O Partha, how, with your

mind clinging to Me and taking refuge in Me and

practicing yoga, you will without any doubt know Me in full.

I shall teach you in full this knowledge combined with

realization, which being known, nothing more here remains to

be known. Among thousands of men scarcely one strives for

perfection, and of those who strives and succeed, scarcely

one knows Me in truth. Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind,

intellect and egoism, thus is My Prakriti divided eight fold. This

is My lower Prakriti but different from it, know O mighty

armed, My higher Prakriti - the life element, by which this

universe is upheld. Know that these two are the womb of all

beings.I am the origin and desolation of the universe. There is

nothing whatsoever higher than Me. O Dhananjaya. These are

strung on Me, as rows of gems on a string. I am the sapidity in

water, O sun of Kunti, I am the radiance in moon and sun; I am

the syllable Om in all the Vedas, sound in ether and manliness

in man. I am the sweet fragrance in earth and the brilliance in

fire. I am the life in all beings and the ascetism in ascetics. Know

Me, O Partha, as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the

intelligence of the intelligent, the splendor of the splendid. I am

the strength of the strong devoid of desire and passion. In

beings I am desire, not contrary to dharma, O chief of the

CHAPTER - VII

Gyana Vigyana Yoga




Bharatas and whatever being are the sattvika, of rajas or of

tamas, know them to proceed from Me; still I am not in them,

they are in Me.

Deluded by these three fold dispositions of Prakriti – the

gunas, this world does not know Me, who on above them and

immutable. Verily this divine illusion of Mine, made up of the

gunas, is hard to surmount. But those who take refuge in Me

alone, they cross over this illusion. The evildoers, the deluded,

the lowest of men, deprived of discrimination by maya and

following the way of the asuras, do not seek refuge in Me. Four

type of virtuous men worship Me. O Arjuna, the man indistress, the man seeking knowledge, the man seeking

wealth and the man imbued with wisdom, O the best of the

Bharatas.

Of these, the wise man, ever steadfast and devoted to Me,

excels, for supremely dear am I to the wise and he is dear to Me.

Noble indeed are all these but the wise man, I deem, to the My

very self. For steadfast in mind, he is established in Me alone,

as the supreme goal. At the end of many births, the man of

wisdom takes refuge in Me, realizing that Vasudeva is all that

is. Rare indeed is that great soul. But those whose discrimina-

tion has been led astray by this or that desire to go to other

Gods, following this or that rite, constrained by their own

nature. Whatever form any devotee with faith wishes to

worship, I make that faith of his steady. Endowed with that

faith, he engages in the worship of that form, and from it he

obtains his desires, which are being actually ordained by Me.

But the fruit that accrues to those men of small intellect is

finite.

The worshipers of the Gods go to the Gods, My devoteescome to Me. Men of poor understanding think of me, the

unmanifest as having manifestation, not knowing my supreme




state, immutable and unsurpassed. I am not revealed at all, as

I am veiled by yoga maya. This deluded world knows Me not,

the unborn, the unchanging. I know, O Arjuna, the beings of

the past, the present and the future, but no one knows Me. By

the delusion of the pair of opposites arising from desire and

aversion, all beings O Bharatas, are subject to illusion at birth.

O harasser of foes, but those men of virtuous deeds whose sins

have come to an end, who are freed from the delusion of the

pairs of opposites, worship Me, remaining steadfast in their

vows. Those who take refuge in Me and strive for deliverance

from decay and death, they realize in full that Brahma, theindividual self and all karma. Those who realize me in the

Adhibuta, in the Adhidaiva and in the Adhiyagya, they of

steadfast mind realize Me even in the hour of death.




Arjuna said: What is that Brahma? What is Adhyatma?

What is karma? O best among man. What is said to be

Adhibhuta and what is called Adhidaiva? Who and how is

Adhiyagya here in this body. O Madhusudana? And how at the

time of death, art thou to be known by the self-controlled?

The Blessed Lord said: I the imperishable Brahma. The

supreme dwelling in the individual body is called Adhyatama.

The offering which causes the origin of beings is called karma.

Adhybhuta pertains to the perishable nature and Purusha is the

Adhidaivata. I alone am the Adhiyagya here in this body. O best

of the embodied and whoever at the time of death, leaving the

body, goes forth remembering Me alone, he attains My being.

There is no doubt about this. Whatever being a man thinks of at the last moment when he leaves his body, that alone does he

obtain. O Kaunteya, be ever absorbed in the thought thereof.

Therefore, at all times think upon Me only and fight with mind

and understanding set on Me, you will surely come to Me.

With the mind not wandering after any thing else, made

steadfast in yoga of constant practice, he who meditates on the

supreme resplendent Purusha reaches Him. O Partha, the

Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler, Minuter than an atom, the

supporter of all, of form inconceivable, effulgent like the sun

and beyond all darkness, he who meditates on this resplendent,

supreme Purusha, at the time of death, with a steady mind,

CHAPTER - VIII

Akshra Brahma Yoga




devotion and strength of yoga, by fixing the entire Prana in the

middle of the eye brows, he reaches Me. That which the

knower of Veda call the imperishable and into which enters the

sanyasies, self controlled and freed from attachment and

desiring which they lead a life of continence, that I shall disclose

to you, in brevity. All the gates of the body closed, the mind

confined within the heart, having fixed his life energy in the

head, engaged in firm yoga, uttering the one syllabled ‘Om

Brahma’ , thinking of Me, he who departs, leaving the body,

attains the supreme Goal.

I am easily attainable, O Partha, by that ever-steadfast yogi,who constantly remembers Me daily and thinks of none else.

All worlds including that of Brahma are subject to return, O

Arjuna, but on reaching me, O son of Kunti, there is no rebirth.

Those who know that the day of Brahma lasts a thousand yugas

and that his night last a thousand yugas, they are the knower

of day and night. At the coming of day all manifest beings

proceed from the unmanifested and at the coming of night

they merge again in the same, which is called the unmanifested.

This multitude of beings, coming forth again and again,

merge O Partha, inspite of themselves, at the approach of

night, and remanifest themselves at the approach of day. But

beyond this unmanifested, there is yet another unmanifested

eternal existence, which does not perish even when all exist-

ences perish. This unmanifested is called the Imperishable. It

is said to be the ultimate goal. Those who attain to it, return not.

That is My Supreme abode. That supreme Purusha, O Partha

is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone within

whom all beings dwell, by whom all this is pervaded.

Now I shall tell you, O the best of the Bharatas, the time inwhich the yogis depart never to return and also the time in

which they depart to return. Fire, light, day, the bright half of




the moon and the six months of the northern path of the sun,

then going forth, the knower of Brahma go to Brahma. The

bright and the dark, these paths are deemed to be the world’s

eternal paths by the one man, who goes, not to return, by the

other he returns again. Knowing these two paths, O Partha, no

yogi is deluded. Therefore, O Arjuna, be steadfast in yoga, at all

times. The yogi who knows this transcends the fruits of

meritorious deeds attached to the study of the Vedas, sacrifices

and gifts and attains to the supreme primeval abode.




The Blessed Lord said: To you who do not cavil, I shall

surely declare this, the most profound knowledge com-

bined with realization by knowing which you will be released

from evil. The sovereign science, the sovereign secret, the

supreme purifier is this, directly realizable in accord with

dharma, very easy to practice and imperishable. Men devoid

of shradha for this dharma do not attain Me, O Oppressor of

the foes, but return to the path of the mortal world. All this

universe is pervaded by Me, in My unmanifested form, all

beings exist in Me, but I do not abide in them. Nor do the

beings dwell in Me, behold My divine yoga. Bringing forth and

supporting the beings, My self does not dwell in them. As the

mighty wind moving everywhere rest in the akasha, know thatso do all beings rest in Me.

All beings, O Kaunteya, go into My Prakriti, at the end of a

kalpa. I generate them again at the beginning of the next kalpa.

Animating My Prakriti I send forth again and again all this

multitude of beings helpless under the regime of Prakriti. Nor

do these acts, O Dhananjaya, bind Me who remain like one

unconcerned, unattached to these acts. Because of My prox-

imity. Prakriti produces all this, the moving and the unmoving,

the world, therefore, resolves. O son of Kunti fools disregard

Me as one clad in human form, not knowing My higher

nature as the Great Lord of beings. Of vain hopes, of vain

CHAPTER - IX

Rajavidya RajaguhyaYoga




actions, of vain knowledge, devoid of discrimination, partaking

verily of the delusive nature of Rakshasas and Asuras. But the

Mahatmas, O Partha, partaking of the divine nature, worship

Me with a single mind, knowing Me as the immutable and the

source of all beings. Glorifying Me always, striving, firm in

vows, prostrating before Me, they worship Me with devotion,

steadfast.

Yet others sacrifice with the Yajna of knowledge and

worship Me in various ways as the one, as the distinct and as

the all faced. I am Kratu, I am Yajna, I am swadha, I am the

medicinal hub, I am mantra, I am also the clarified butter, I amfire, I am oblation, I am the Father of this world, the mother,

the dispenser and the Grandfather; I am the knowable, the

purifier, the syllable Om and also the Rick, the saman and the

Yojus. I am the Goad, the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the

Abode, the shelter, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the

foundation, the treasure house and the seed imperishable. I

give heat, I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality

and death; I am being as well as non-being, O Arjuna.

The knower of the three Vedas, the drinkers of soma,

purified of sin, worshipping Me by sacrifices, pray for the way

of heaven. They reach the holy world of the Lord of the Devas

and enjoy in the heaven the celestial pleasures of Devas. Having

enjoyed the vast world of heaven, they return to the world of

mortals of the exhaustion of their merits; thus abiding by the

injunctions of the three Vedas desiring objects of desires they

go and come. To those men who worship Me alone, thinking

of no other, who is ever devout, I provide gain and security.

Even those devotees who endowed with Sraddha, worship

other gods, worship Me alone, O son of Kunti, by the wrongmethod. I am verily the Enjoyer and the Lord of all Yojnas. But

these men do not know Me in reality hence they fall.




Votaries of the Devas go to Devas; the votaries of the Pitrus

go to Pitrus, to the Bhutas go to Bhutas worshippers; My

votaries come to Me. Whoever offer Me with devotion, a leaf,

a flower, a fruit or water, I accept that, the pious offerings of the

pure in heart whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you

offer in sacrifices, whatever you gift away, whatever austerity

you practice, O Kauntiya, do it as an offering to Me. This shall

you be free from the bondage of actions yielding good and bad

results.

With the mind firmly set in the yoga of renunciation and

liberated, you shall come to Me. I am the same to all beings; toMe there is none hateful, none dear. But those who worship Me

with devotion, they are in Me and I also am in them. Even if

man of the most sinful conduct worships Me with undeviating

devotion, he must be reckoned as righteous, for he has rightly

resolved. Soon does he become a man of righteousness and

obtains lasting peace. O Kauntiya, know for certain that My

devotee never perishes. For those who take refuge in Me, O

Partha, though they be of inferior birth-women, vaisyas and

sudras- when they attain the supreme Goal. How much more

then the holy Brahmanas and devoted royal saints. Having

cone into this transient joyless world, do worship Me. Fix your

mind on Me, be devoted to Me; sacrifice unto Me, bow down

to Me, taking Me as the Supreme Goal, you will come to me.




The Blessed Lord said: Once again, O mighty-armed,

listen to My supreme word. Out of a desire to do you good

I wish of it to your absorbing delight. Neither the hosts of devas

nor the great rishis know My origin, for in every respect I am

the source of the devas and the great rishis. He who knows Me

as unborn and beginningless, as the Great Lord of the world,

he among mortals is undeluded and freed from all sins.

Intellect, wisdoms, non-delusion, patience, truth, self-restraint,

calmness, pleasure, pain, birth, death, fear and fearlessness,

non-injury, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame

and obloquy these different qualities of beings arise from Me

alone.

The seven great rishis and the ancient Manus, endowed withMy power were born of My mind and from them have come

forth all the creatures in the world. He who knows in truth this

glory and power of Mine is endowed with unfaltering yoga, of

this there is no doubt. I am the origin of all, from Me all things

evolve. The wise know this and adore Me with all their heart.

With their minds fixed on Me., with their life absorbed in Me,

enlightening each other and ever speaking of Me, they are

contented and delighted. To them, ever devout, worshipping

Me with love, I give the yoga of discrimination by which they

come to Me. Out of pure compassion for them dwelling in their

CHAPTER - X

Vibhuti Yoga




hearts, I destroy the ignorance born darkness by the luminous

lamp of wisdom.

Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahma, the Supreme

Abode, the Supreme Purifier, the Eternal, Divine Purusha, the

Primeval Deity, the born, the Omnipresent. All the rishis have

thus acclaimed you, as also the Deva rishi Narada, so also Asita,

Devala and Vyasas and now you yourself say it to Me. I hold

as true, all that you say to me, O Kesava. Neither the devas nor

the danavas, O Lord, know your manifestation. Verily you

alone know yourself by yourself, O Purushottama, O source of

beings, O Lord of being, O God of gods, O Ruler of the world.Condescend to tell without reserve of your divine glories by

which glories you remain pervading in all these worlds. How

may I know you, O Yogi, by constant meditation? In what

various aspects are you, O Lord, to be thought of by me? Tell

me again in detail, O Janaradana, of your yoga powers and

attrtributes for I am not satisfied with hearing your life infusing

words.

The Blessed Lord said: Very well. I shall now tell you My

divine glories according to their prominence. O best of the

Kurus, there is no end to the details of My manifestation. I am

the Self, O Gudakesa, seated in the hearts of all beings. I am the

beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings. Of the

adityas I am Vishnu, of the luminaries the radiant sun; I am

Marichi of the Maruts, of the asterisms I am the Moon. Of the

vedas I am the sama, I am Vasava among the Devas; of the

senses I am the mind and among living beings I am conscious-

ness. Of the Rudras I am Shankara, of the Yakshas and

Rakshasas I am Kubera of the Vasus I am Pavaka and of

mountains I am Meru. Of priests, O Partha, know Me to be thechief Brihaspati; of generals I am Skanda and of bodies of water

I am the ocean. Of the great rishis I am Bhrigu.




Of utterances I am the monosyllable ‘Om’. Of yagyas I am

japayagya and of unmoving things the Himalaya. Of all trees

I am Ashvatha, of Deva Rishis I am Narada; of the Gandharvas

I am Chitraratha and of the Siddhas I am the Muni Kapila. Of

horses, know Me to be the mentor-born Ucchaisravas, of lordly

elephants Airavata and of men the monarch. O weapons I am

thunderbolt; of cows I am kamadhenu. I am Kandarpa of the

progenitors of serpents I am Vasuki. Of the Nagas I am Ananta;

of the water deities I am Varuna; of the Pitrus I am Aryans; of

controllers I am Yama.

Of the Daivtas I am Prahlada and of beckoners I am Prime;of beasts I am the lord of beasts and Vainatiya of birds. Of

purifiers I am the wind, of the wielders of weapon I am Rama,

of fishes, I am then Shark and of rivers I am the Ganges. Of

created things I am the beginning and the end and also the

middle, O Arjuna of the sciences I am the science of the self,

of those who debate I am the reason. Of letters I am the letter

A and of word compounds I am the dual ( Dvandva). I am verily

the inexhaustible time, I am the dispenser facing everywhere

and I am the all-devouring death. I am the prosperity of those

who are to be prosperous and of female qualities I am fame,

fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, constancy and forbear-

ance. Of the Saman hymns I am the Brihat- saman, of the

mantra I am Gayatri.

Of months I am Margasirsha and of seasons I am the

flooring spring. I am the gambling of the fraudulent; I am the

splendor of the splendid; I am the victory, I am the effort, I am

the goodness of the good. Of the Vrishnis I am Vasudeva; of the

Pandavas, Dhananjaya, of the sages I am Vyasa and of the seers

I am Usara the seer. Of punishers I am the scepter; of those thatseek victory I am statesmanship and of secrets I am also silence

and I am the wisdom of the wise, and whatever is the seed of




all beings, that am I. O Arjuna, there is no being whether

moving or unmoving that can exist without Me. There is no

end of My divine manifestations, O harasser of foes, this is only

a brief exposition by Me of the extent of My glories. Whatever

being there is glorious, prosperous or powerful, know that to

have sprung but from a spark of My splendor. But what need

is there, O Arjuna, for this detailed knowledge, I stand

supporting the whole universe with a single fragment of

Myself.




Arjuna said: By the profound discourse concerning the

self, which you have delivered out of compassion for me,

my delusion has been dispelled. From you, O Lotus eyed, have

been hard by me in detail of the origin and dissolution of beings

and also of your inexhaustible greatness. As you have declared

yourself to be, so it is. O Lord Supreme, yet I desire to see your

Ishwara from O Purushottama. If you O Lord think it possible

for me to see it, then does O Lord of Yoga show me your Eternal

Self?

The Blessed Lord said: Behold My forms, O Partha by

hundreds and thousands, manifold and divine and of

multicolours and shapes. Behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the

Rudras, the two Ashwins and also the Maruts. Behold, O Bharata many marvels never seen before. Behold here today,

O Gudakesa, the whole universe of the moving and the

unmoving, and whatever else you desire to see, all integral of

My body. But you cannot see Me with these eyes of yours, I give

you divine sight, behold My Supreme Yoga.

Sanjaya said: Having thus spoken, O king, the great Lord of

Yoga, Hari showed to Partha. His supreme Ishwara form, with

many mouths and eyes, with many marvelous sights, with

many divine ornaments, with many uplifted divine weapons;

wearing heavenly garlands and raiment’s, anointed with celes-

tial perfumes all wonderful, resplendent, boundless with faces

CHAPTER - XI

Vishvarupa DarshanaYoga




on all sides. If the splendour of a thousand suns were to

blaze forth all at once in the sky, that would be like the

splendour of that Mahatman. There in the body of the God

of Gods, Pandava then saw the whole universe with its

many divisions drawn together into one. Then Dhananjaya,

struck with amazement, his hair standing on end, bowing

down his head to the Lord in adoration, spoke with joined

palms.

Arjuna said: I see all the Gods, O God, in your body and

hosts of all grades of beings. Brahma the Lord, seated on the

lotus and all the rishis and celestial serpents. I behold you,infinite in forms on all sides, with countless arms, stomachs,

mouths and eyes, neither your end nor the middle for the

beginning do I see, O Lord of the Universe, O universal form.

I see you with diadem, club and discus; a mass of radiance

blazing everywhere, hard to look at, all round dazzling like a

glowing fire and sun and immeasurable. You are the imperish-

able, the Supreme Being to be realized. You are the great

treasure house of this universe; you are the imperishable

Guardian of the Eternal Dharma.

You are the ancient Pursha, I deem, I see you without

beginning, middle or end infinite in power, of infinite arms, the

sun and the moon being your eyes, the burning fire your

Mouth, heating the whole universe with your radiance. This

space between heaven and earth and all the quarters are filled

by you alone. Having seen this, your Marvelous and terrible for,

the three worlds are trembling; with fear, O Mahatman. These

hosts of Devas indeed enter into you, some in awe extol you

with joined palms, bands of great Rishis and Siddhas pro-

nounce, “May it be well” and praise you with sublime hymns.The Rudras, Adityas, Vasus, Sadhyas Vishvas, Asvins, Maruts,




Ushmapas, hosts of Gandharvas, Yakshas, Aswas and Sidddhas

- they are all gazing at you and they are amazed. Seeing your

immeasurable form with myriad mouths and eyes, O mighty-

armed, with myriad arms, thighs and feet, with myriad

stomachs and terrible with myriad tusks – the worlds is terror

struck and so am I. When I see you touching the sky blazing

with many colours, with mouths wide open, with large fiery

eyes, my heart trembles in fear and I find neither courage nor

peace.

O Vishnu, when I see your mouths terrible with tusks

resembling Pralaya-fires, I know not the four quarters nor doI find peace. Be gracious, O Lord of the gods, O Abode of the

universe. All the sons of Dhritarashtra, with hosts of kings of

the earth, Bhishma, Drona and Sutaputra, with the warrior

chiefs of ours, enter hurrying into your mouth, terrible with

tusks and fearful to look at. Some are found sticking in the gaps

between the teeth with their heads crushed to powder. Truly

as the many torrents of river rush towards the ocean, so do

these heroes in the world of men fling themselves into your

fiercely flaming, mouths? As moths rush headlong into a

blazing fire for destruction, so do these creatures hurriedly

speed into your mouths for their destruction? Devouring all

the worlds an every side with your flaming mouths. You lick

your lips. Your fiery rays, filling the whole world with radiance,

are burning, O Vishnu. Tell me who you are, so fierce in form.

I bow down to you, O God Supreme; have merry. I desire to

know you, the Primal one. I know not yoiur purpose.

The Blessed Lord said: I am the mighty world-destroying

time now engaged in wiping out the world. Even without

you the warriors arrayed in hostile armies shall not survive.You therefore, arise and obtain fame. Conquer the enemies and




enjoy the unrivalled kingdom. By Me have they been verily

slain already? You be merely an external cause. O Sauyasachin,

Slay Drona, Bhishma, Jayadratha, Karna and other brave

warriors who are already doomed by Me. Be not distressed

with fear. Fight and you will conquer your enemies in battle.

Sanjaya said: Having heard that speech of Kesava, the

crowned one ( Arjuna) with joined palms, trembling, prostrat-

ing himself, again addressed Krishna in a chocked voice,

bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.

Arjuna said: It is meet, O Hrishikesa that the world is

delighted and rejoices in your praise, Rakshasas fly in fear inall directions and all the hosts of siddhas bow to you. And why

should they not, O Great souled One, bow to you, greater than

all, the Primal cause, even of Brahma, O infinite Being, O Lord

of Gods, O abode of the universe; you are the Imperishable, the

being and the non-being, that which is the Supreme. You are

the Primal God, the ancient Purusha; You are the Supreme

Abode. Of all this, you are the knower and the knowable and

the Supreme Abode, this universe is pervaded by You. O Being

of infinite form, you are Vayu, Yama, Agini, Varuna, the Moon,

Prajapati and the great grandfather. Salutation, salutation to

you, a thousand times, and again and again salutation to you.

Salutation to you before, salutation to you behind, salutation to

you on every side.

O all infinite in might and immeasurable in strength, You

pervade all and therefore, You are all. Whatever I have rashly

said from carelessness or love, addressing you as ‘O Krishna, O

Yadava, O Sakheti’, looking on you merely as a friend, ignorant

of this your greatness, in whatever way I may have insulted you

for jest while at play, reposing, sitting or at meals, when alone,O Achyuta, or in company, that I implore you, immeasurable




one, to forgive. You are the father of this world, moving and

unmoving. You are to be adored by this world, You the Greatest

Guru; none there exists, who is equal to You in the three

worlds; who then can excel you, O Being of unequalled power.

Therefore, bowing down, prostrating my body, I implore You,

adorable Lord to forgive me. Bear with me, O Lord, as a father

with a son, as a friend with a friend, as a lover with his beloved.

I rejoice that I have seen what was never been seen before, but

my mind is confounded with fear. Show me that form only, O

God, have mercy, O God of Gods, O Abode of the universe,

I desire to see you as before, crowned bearing a mace and adiscus in the hand, in your former form only, having four arms.

O thousand armed, O universal form.

The Blessed Lord said: Graciously have I shown you, O

Arjuna, this supreme form, by My yoga power. This resplen-

dent, universal infinite, primeval, which none but you have

ever seen. Neither by the study of the Vedas, nor by yagyas, nor

by gifts, nor by rituals, nor by severe penances, can this form

of Mine be seen in the world of men by any one else but you,

O hero of the Kurus. Be not afraid nor bewildered on seeing

this terrible form of Mine, free from fear and delighted at heart,

do you again see this My former form.

Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Arjuna, Vasudeva

showed again His own form, and the great souled one assumed

his gentle form and consoled him who was terrified.

Arjuna said: Having seen this your gentle human form, O

Janaradana, I am now composed and am restored to my own

nature.

The Blessed Lord said: Very hard it is, indeed, to see this

form of Mine, which you have seen. Even the devas are very eager to see this form. Neither by the Vedas, nor by austerity,




nor by gift, nor by sacrifice can I be seen in this form as you

have seen Me. But by unswerving devotion can I, of this form,

be known and seen in reality and also entered into, O scorcher

of foes. He who does work for Me, who is devoted to Me,

who is free from attachment, who is without hatred for any

being, he comes to me, O Pandava.




Arjuna said: Those devotees who, ever steadfast, worship

you thus and those again who worship the imperishable,

the unmanifest – which of these are better versed in yoga?

The Blessed Lord said: Those who have fixed their minds

on Me and who, ever steadfast and endowed with supreme

shraddha, worship Me – them do I consider perfect in yoga.

But those who worship the imperishable, the indefinable, the

unmanifest, the omnipresent, the unthinkable, the unchange-

able, the immovable, the eternal - having restrained all the

senses, even-minded everywhere, engaged in the welfare of all

beings-verily they also come into Me. Greater is their difficult

whose minds are set on the unmanifested, for the goal of

the unmanifested is very hard for the embodied to reach.But those who worship Me, renouncing all actions in Me,

regarding Me a the supreme goal, meditating on Me with single

minded yoga – for them whose thought is set on Me, I become

very soon, O Partha, the deliverer from the ocean of the mortal

Sansara.

Fix your mind on me alone, let your thoughts dwell in Me.

You will hereafter live in Me alone. Of this there is no doubt.

If you are not able to fix your mind steadily on Me, O

Dhananjaya, then seek to reach Me by abhyasa yoga. If you are

unable even to practice abhyasa yoga, be you intent on doing

actions for My sake. Even by performing actions for My sake

CHAPTER - XII

Bhakti Yoga




you will attain perfection. If you are not able to do even this,

then taking refuge in Me, abandon the fruits of all actions with

the self-subdued. Better indeed is knowledge than formal

abhyasa, better than knowledge is meditation, better than

meditation is the renunciation of the fruit of action; peace

immediately follows renunciation.

He who hates no being, who is friendly and compassionate

to all, who is free from the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’, even minded

in pain and pleasure and forbearing, ever content, steady in

meditation, self controlled and possessed of firm conviction,

with mind and intellect fixed on Me, he My devotee is dear toMe. He by whom the world is not afflicted and whom the world

cannot afflict, he who is free from joy, anger, fear and anxiety-

he is dear to Me. He who has no wants, who is pure and

prompt, unconcerned, untroubled and who is selfless in all his

undertakings, he who is thus devoted to Me, is dear to Me. He

who neither rejoices nor hates nor grieves nor desires, re-

nouncing good and evil, full of devotion, he is dear to Me. He

who is the same to foe and friend and also in honour and

dishonour, who is the same in cold and heat, in pleasure and

pain, who is free from attachment, to whom censure and praise

are equal, who is silent, content with every thing, homeless,

steady minded, full of devotion - that man is dear to Me. They

verily who follow this immortal dharma described above

endued with Shradha, looking upon Me as the supreme goal,

and devoted-they are exceedingly dear to Me.




CHAPTER - XIII

Kshetra KshetragyaVibhaga Yoga

Arjuna said: Prakriti and Purusha, also the Kshetra and

Kshetrajna, knowledge and that which ought to be

known, these O, Kehsava, I desire to learn.

The Blessed Lord said: This body, O Kaunteya, is called

kshetra, the field. He who knows it is called kshetrajna by the

sages. And know Me as the kshetrajna in all Kshetras, O

Bharata. The knowledge of kshetra and kshetrajna is deemed

by Me as true knowledge. Hear briefly from Me, what the

kshetra is, what its properties are, what its modifications are,

whence is what, and who He is and what His powers are. This

has been sung by rishis in many ways, in various distinctive

chants, in passages indicative of Brahma, full of reasoning and

convincing.The great elements, egoism, intellect, as also the unmenifested

the ten senses and the one mind, and the five objects of the

senses, desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, the aggregate intelligence,

firmness - the kshetra has been thus briefly described with its

modifications. Humility, modesty, non injury, forbearance,

uprightness, service of the teacher, purity, steadfastness, self

control, dispassion towards the objects of the senses and also

absence of egoism, perception of evil in birth, death, old age,

sickness and pain; unattachment, non identification of self with

son, wife, home and the like and constant equanimity in the

occurrence of the desirable and the undesirable, unswerving




devotion to Me in yoga of non separation, resort to sequestered

places, distaste for the society of men, constancy in self

knowledge, perception of Truth as the end of the knowledge.

This is declared to be knowledge and what is opposed to it is

ignorance. I shall describe that which has to be known,

knowing which one attains to immortality.

Beginning-less is the supreme Brahma. It is not said to be ‘ sat ’

or ‘asat ’, with hands and feet everywhere, with eyes and mouths

everywhere, with ears everywhere. He exists enveloping all.

Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the

senses. Absolute, yet sustaining all, devoid of gunas, yet, Heexperiences them, without and within all beings, the unmoving

and also the moving, because of this subtlety, He is incompre-

hensible, he is far and near. He is undivided and yet he seems

to be divided in beings. He is to be known as the supporter of

beings. He devours and He generates the light of all lights, He

is said to be beyond darkness, knowledge the knowable, the

goal of knowledge, seated in the hearts of all. Thus the kshetra,

knowledge and that which has to be known has been briefly

described. My devotee on knowing this, is fitted for My state.

Know that Prakriti and Purusha are both without beginning

and know also that all modifications and gunas are born of

Prakriti. In the production of the body and the senses, Prakriti

is said to be the cause, in the experience of pleasure and pain,

Purusha is said to be the cause. Purusha seated in Prakriti,

experiences the gunas born of Prakriti. Attachment to the

gunas is the cause of his birth in good and evil wombs. The

supreme Purusha in this body is also called the spectator, the

one who permits, the supporter, the one who experiences, the

great lord and the supreme self. He who thus knows the Purusha and Prakriti together with the gunas, is never

born again, in whatever way he may live.




By meditation some behold the self in the self, others by the

yoga of knowledge and yet others by karma yoga. Still others,

not knowing thus, worship as they have heard from others,

they too go beyond death by their devotion to what they have

heard. Whatever being is born, the unmoving or the moving,

O best of the Bharatas, know it to be form then union of

kshetra and kshetrajna. He sees, who sees the supreme Lord,

remaining the same in all beings, the eternal in the dying.

Because he who sees the Lord seated the same everywhere

destroys not the self by the self, therefore, he reaches the

supreme goal. He verily sees who sees that all actions aredone by Prakriti alone and that the Atman is actionless,

when he realizes the whole variety of beings as resting in

one and in an evolution form that one alone, then he

becomes Brahma.

Having no beginning and possessing no gunas, this supreme

self, imperishable, though dwelling in the body, O Kaunteya,

neither acts nor is tainted. As the all-pervading akash is not

tainted by reason of its subtlety, so the self-seated in the body

everywhere is not tainted. As the one sun illumines this whole

world, so does the Lord of the kshetra illumines the whole

kshetra, O Bharata. They who perceive with the eye of wisdom

this distinction between the kshetra and the kshetrajna and the

deliverance of beings from the Prakriti, they go to the Supreme.




The Blessed Lord said: I shall again declare that supreme

knowledge, the best of all forms of knowledge by knowing

which, all the sages have passed from this world to the highest

perfection. They who, having devoted themselves to this

knowledge having attained to unity with Me, are neither born

at the time of creation nor are they disturbed at the time of

dissolution.

My womb is the Mahat Brahma ( Prakriti), in that I place the

germ, thence O Bharata, is the birth of all beings. Whatever

forms are produced, O Kaunteya in any womb whatsoever, the

great Brahma ( Prakriti) is their womb, I the seed-giving father.

Sattva, rajas, tamas - three gunas, O mighty armed, born of

Prakriti, bind the indestructible embodied one fast in the body.Of these sattva, being stainless is luminous and unobstructive.

It binds, O sinless one, by creating attachment to happiness and

attachment to knowledge. Know Rajas to be of the nature of

passion, the source of thirst and attachment, it binds fast, O

Kaunteya, the embodied one by attachment to action. But

know tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied

beings, it binds fast, O Bharata, to heedlessness, indolence and

sleep.

Sattva binds one to happiness and Rajas to action, O

Bharata, while tamas verily veils knowledge and binds one to

heedlessness. Sattva asserts itself, O Bharata, by predominat-

CHAPTER - XIV

Guna-triya VibhagaYoga




ing over rajas and tamas, and rajas over sattva and tamas and

tamas over sattva and rajas. When the light of knowledge

beams through all the gateways of the body, then it may be

known that Sattva is predominant.

Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions unrest, longing-

these arise, O best of the Bharatas, when rajas is predominant.

Indiscrimination, inertness, heedlessness and delusion- these

arise, O joy of Kurus, when tamas is predominant. If the

embodiment one meets with death when sattva is predomi-

nant, then he goes to the pure worlds of those who know the

highest. Meeting with death in Rajas, he is born among thoseattached to action and dying in Tamas, he is born in the wombs

of the deluded.

The fruit of good action, they say, is sattvika and pure; verily

the fruit of Rajas is pain and ignorance is fruit of tamas. From

sattva rises wisdom and greed from Rajas; heedlessness and

error arise from tamas and also ignorance. Those who are fixed

in sattva go upwards; the rajasikas remain in the middle and

the tamasikas, abiding in the functions of the lowest gunas, go

downwards.

When the seer perceives no agent other than the gunas and

knows him who is higher than the gunas, he enters into My

Being. The embodied one having crossed over these three

gunas out of which the body is evolved, is freed from birth,

death, decay and pain, and attains to immortality.

Arjuna said: What are the marks, O Lord, of him who has

crossed over the three Gunas? What is his conduct? And how

does he rise above the Gunas?

The Blessed Lord said: He, O Pandava who hates not light,

activity and delusion, when present, nor longs after them whenabsent. He who, sitting like one unconcerned is moved not by

the gunas, who, knowing that the gunas operate, is firm and




moves not. Balanced in pleasure and pain, self-abiding, viewing

a clod of earth, a stone and gold alike; the same to agreeable and

disagreeable firm, the same in censure and praise, the same in

honour and dishonour, the same to friend and foe, abandoning

all undertakings-he is said to have risen above the Gunas. And

he who serves Me with an unswerving devotion, he going

beyond the Gunas, is fitted for becoming Brahma for I am

abode of Brahma, the Immortal and the Immutable, the

Eternal Dharma and Absolute Bliss.




The Blessed Lord said: They speak of an imperishable

Ashvatha tree with its roots above and branches below. Itsleaves are the Vedas, he who knows it is the knower of the

Vedas. Below and above spread its branches, nourished by the

gunas; sense objects are its buds and below in the world of men

stretch its roots, engendering action. Its form is not here

perceived as such, neither its end, nor its origin, nor its

existence. Having cut asunder this firm rooted ashvatha with

the strong axe of non-attachment, then that goal should be

sought for, going whither, they do not return again.

Seek refuge in that primeval Purusha whence streamed

forth the eternal activity. Free from pride and delusion, with the

evil of attachment conquered, ever dwelling in the self, their

desires being completely stilled, liberated from the pairs of

opposites known as pleasure and pain, the undeluded reaches

that goal eternal. That the sun illumines not, nor the moon, nor

fire, that is My Supreme abode, going whither they return not.

An eternal portion of Myself having become the jiva in the

world of jivas, attracts the senses, with mind as the sixth,

abiding in Prakriti when the Lord obtains a body and when he

leaves it, he takes these and goes, as the wind carries the scentsfrom their sources.

CHAPTER - XV

Purushotama Yoga




Presiding over the ear, the eye, the touch, the taste and the

smell, as also the mind, he experiences objects. The deluded

do not see him who departs, stays and enjoys, who is

conjoined with the Gunas, but they see who possesses the

eye of wisdom. Those who strive endued with yoga, cognize

Him dwelling in the self; though striving, the undefined and

unintelligent see Him not.

That light which residing in the sun illumines the whole

world, that which is in the moon and in the fire-know that light

to be Mine. Entering the earth I support all beings, by My

energy and having become the sapid moon, I nourish all herbs.Abiding in the body of living beings as Vishvanara, associated

with prana and aapana, I digest the four kind of food and I am

seated in the hearts of all. From Me are memory, knowledge,

as well as their loss. I am verily that which has to be known by

all the Vedas. I am indeed the author of the Vedanta as well as

the knower of the Vedas.

There are two Purushas in the world, the perishable and the

imperishable, and the Kutastha is called the imperishable. But

distinct is the Supreme Purusha called the Highest Self, the

indestructible Lord, who pervades and sustains the three

worlds. As I transcend the perishable, and am even above the

imperishable, therefore, I am known in the world and in the

Veda as ‘ Purhshottama’ the Highest Purusha. He, who

undeluded, knows me as the Highest Self – he knows all, O

Bharata, and he worships me with all his heart. Thus, O sinless

one, has this most profound teaching being imparted by Me,

knowing this a man becomes enlightened, O Bharata, and all

his duties are accomplished.






Filled with insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride and

arrogance, holding evil ideas through delusion, they work with

impure resolve. Beset with immense cares ending, only with

death. Regarding gratification of lust as the highest and feeling

sure that that is all, bound by a hundred ties of hope, given

over to lust and anger, they strive to secure by unjust means

hoards of wealth for sensual gratification.

“This today has been gained by me, this desire I shall fulfill;

this is mine, and this earth also shall be mine in future. That

enemy has been slain by me, and others also shall I slay. I

am a lord, I enjoy, I am successful, powerful and happy. I am

rich and well born who else is equal to me? I will sacrifice.”

Thus deluded by ignorance, bewildered by many a fancy,

enmeshed in the senses of delusion, addicted to the gratification

of lust, they fall into foul hell. Given over to egoism, power,

insolence lust and wrath, these malicious people hate me in their

own bodies and in those of others. Those cruel haters, worst

among men in the world, I hurl these evildoers forever into the

wombs of the demons only. Entering into demoniac wombs, the

deluded ones, in birth after birth, without ever reaching Me, they thus fall, O Kaunteya, into a condition still lower.

Triple is this gate of hell, destructive of the self – lust, anger

and greed; therefore should one abandon these three. The man

who is liberated from these three gates to darkness, O

Kaunteya, practices what is good for him and thus goes to the

Supreme Goal. He who casting aside the ordinances of the

scriptures, acts on the impulse of desire, attains not perfection,

nor happiness nor the Supreme Goal. Therefore, let the

scriptures be your authority in deciding what ought to be done

and what ought not to be done. Having known what is said in

the ordinance of the scriptures you should act here.




Arjuna said: What is the nature of the devotion of those,

O Krishna, who though disregarding the ordinance of the

Shastras, perform sacrifice with Shraddha? Is it one of Sattva,

Rajas or Tamas.The Blessed Lord said: The shradha of the embodied is of

three kinds, borne of their nature – the sattvika the rajasika

and the tamasika. Hear now about it. The Shraddha of every

man, O Bharata, is in accordance with his natural disposition.

Man is of the nature of shradha; what is shradha is that verily

he is. Sattvika men worship the devas, rajasika, the yakshas and

the rakshasas, the others – the tamasika men-the pretas and

the hosts of bhutas. Those men who practice violent austerities

not enjoined by the scriptures, given to hypocrisy and egoism,

impelled by the force of lust and attachment, fools that they are,

they torture their bodily organs and Me too, who dwell within

the body. Know that they are asurika in their resolve.

The food also that is dear to all is of three kinds. So are the

yagyas, austerities and gifts. Hear now of the distinction of

these. The foods that augment vitality, energy, vigour, health,

joy and cheerfulness which are savory and epigenous, substan-

tial and agreeable are liked by the sattvika. The food that is

bitter, sour, saline, over hot pungent, dry and burning are liked

by the rajasika, and are productive of pain, grief and disease.That which is stale, tasteless, stinking, cooked overnight refuse

and impure is the food liked by the tamasika.

CHAPTER - XVII

Shradha-triyaVibhaga Yoga




That yagya is sattvika which is performed by men desiring

no fruit as enjoined by ordinance, with their mind fixed on the

yagya alone for its own sake. That which is performed, O best

of the Bharatas, in expectation of reward or for self- glorifica-

tion, know it to be a rajasika yagya. They declare that yagya to

be tamasika which is contrary to the ordinances, in which no

food is distributed, which is devoid of mantras, gifts and

shradha. Worship the Gods of the twice born, of teachers and

of the wise.

Purity, uprightness, continence and non-injury – these are

said to be the austerity of the body. The speech which causesno excitement, which is truthful, pleasant and beneficial and

also the practice of sacred recitation, these are said to form the

austerity of speech. Serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-

control and purity of disposition – this is called the mental

austerity. This threefold austerity practiced by steadfast men

with the utmost shradha, desiring no fruit they call sattvika.

The austerity, which is practiced with the object of gaining

respect, honour and reverence and with ostentation is here

said to be rajasika, it is unstable and transitory. That austerity

which is practiced with a foolish obstinacy, with self-torture or

for the purpose of destroying another, is declared to be

tamasika.

That gift which is made to one who can make no return,

with the feeling that it is one’s duty to give, and which is given

at the right place and time and to a worthy person, that gift is

held sattvika. That gift which is given with a view to receive in

return, or looking for the fruit, or again grudgingly is accounted

as rajasika. The gift that is given at a wrong place or time, to

unworthy persons, without respect or with insult that isdeclared to be tamasika.

Om Tat Sat , this has been declared to be the triple




designation of Brahma. By that were made the Brahma and the

Vedas. Therefore, with the utterance of Om carry on the acts

of sacrifice, gift and austerity, as enjoined in the scriptures,

always undertaken by the followers of the Vedas. Uttering, Tat

without aiming at the fruits, carry on the acts of sacrifice and

austerity and the various acts of gifts as performed by the

seekers of moksha. The word Sat is used in the sense of reality

and of goodness and so, also, O Partha, the word Sat is used

in the sense of an auspicious act. Steadfastness in sacrifice,

austerity and gift is also called Sat and action for the sake of the

Lord is also called Sat. Whatever is sacrifice, given or per-formed and whatever austerity is practiced without shradha, it

is called asat , O Partha. It is of no account, here or hereafter.




Arjuna said: I desire to know severally, O mighty-armed,

the truth of sanyasa, O Hrishikesha, as also of tyaga O

slayer of Kesi.

The Blessed Lord said: The renunciation of kamya karma,

the sages understand as Sanyasa. The wise declare that the

abandonment of the fruits of all actions as tyaga. Some sages

declare that all action should be relinquished as evil, while

other say that yagya, gift and austerity should not be relin-

quished. Learn from Me the truth about this abandonment, O

best of the Bharatas. Abandonment, verily O best of men, has

been declared to be of three kinds. Acts of yagya, gift and

austerity should not be given up, but should be performed;

yagya, gift and austerity are purifying to the wise. But eventhese actions should be performed giving up attachment and

the fruits, O Partha. This is My certain and best belief.

Verily, the abandonment of any obligatory duty is not proper.

Such abandonment out of ignorance is declared to be tamasika.

He who from fear of bodily trouble abandons action, because

it is painful, thus performing a rajasika abandonment, obtains

not the fruit thereof. Whatever obligatory work is done, O

Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done, abandoning

attachment and also the fruit, that abandonment is deemed to

be sattvika. The relinquisher imbued with sattva and a

steady understanding and with his doubts dispelled, hates

CHAPTER - XVIII

Moksha Sanyasa Yoga




not a disagreeable work nor is he attached to an agreeable

one.

It is indeed impossible for an embodied being to renounce

actions entirely. But he who renounces the fruits of action,

is regarded as one who has renounced. The threefold fruits

of action wise, good and mixed accrues after death to one who

does not relinquish but there is none ever for the one who

renounces, Learn from Me, O mighty armed, the five factors

in the accomplishment of all actions, as taught in the Sankhya

which is the end of action. The body, the agent, the various

senses, the different functions of various sorts and the presid-ing deity as the fifth.

Whatever action a man performs with his body, speech or

mind, whether right or wrong-these five are its causes. That

being so, the man of perverse mind, who on account of his

imperfect understanding looks upon the self, the absolute,

as the agent – he does not see at all. He who is free from the

notions of egoism and whose understanding is not tainted –

though he kills these people, he kills not, nor is he bound.

Knowledge, the object of knowledge and the knower form the

threefold incitement to action; and the instrument, the object

and the agent are the three fold constituents of action.

Knowledge, action and actor are declared in the science of

gunas to be of three kinds only, according to the distinction of

gunas; hear of them also as they are. The knowledge by which

the one imperishable Being is seen in all existences, undivided

in the divided, knows that that knowledge is sattvika. But that

knowledge by which one sees in all beings manifold entities of

different kinds as varying from one another- know that that

knowledge is rajasika. And the knowledge that clings to onesingle effect as if it was the whole, and is without reason,

without foundation in truth, and trivial, that knowledge is




declared to be tamasika.

An action which is ordained, which is free from attachment,

which is done without love or hatred by one not desirous of the

fruit, the action is declared to be Sattvika. But that action

which is done by one craving for desires or again with egoism

or with much effort, that is declared to be rajasika. That action

which is undertaken from delusion, without heed to the

consequences, loss, injury and ability that is declared to be

tamasika.

An agent, who is free from attachment, non-egoistic,

endued with firmness and zeal and unaffected by success orfailure, is called sattvika. Passionate, desiring to obtain the fruit

of action, greedy, cruel, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such

an agent is said to be rajasika. Unsteady, vulgar, stubborn,

deceitful, malicious, indolent, despondent, procrastinating

such an agent is called tamasika.

Hear the threefold distinction of understanding and firm-

ness, according to the Gunas, as I explain them exhaustively

and severally, O Dhananjaya. The intellect, which knows the

paths of work and renunciation, right and wrong action, fear

and fearlessness, bondage and liberation, that intellect, O

Partha, is sattvika. The intellect that makes a distorted grasp

of dharma and adharma, of what ought to be done and what

ought not to be done, that O Partha, is rajasika. That which is

enveloped in darkness, regards adharma as dharma and views

all things in a perverted way, that intellect, O Partha, is

tamasika.

The unswerving firmness by which, through yoga, the

functions of the mind, the prana and the senses are regulated,

that firmness, O Partha, is sattvika. But the firmness, O Arjuna,by which one holds fast to dharma, kama and artha, desirous

of the fruit of each from attachment, that firmness, O Partha,




is rajasika. That by which a stupid man do not give up sleep,

fear, grief, despair and also conceit, that firmness, O Partha, is

tamasika.

And now hear from Me, O chief of the Bharatas the three

kinds of happiness. That in which one comes to rejoice by a

long practice and in which he reaches the end of his sorrow,

that which is like poison at first, but like nectar at the end, that

happiness is said to be sattvika, born of the translucence of

intellect due to self realization. That happiness which arises

from the contact of the senses and their objects and which is

like nectar at first, but like poison at the end, it is held to berajasika. That happiness which deludes the self both at the

beginning and at the end and which arises from sleep, sloth and

miscomprehension, that is declared to be tamasika.

There is no being on earth or again in heaven among the

devas, that is liberated from the three gunas, born of Prakriti.

The duties of brahmins, kshatriyas and vaishyas as also of

shudras, O scorcher of foes, are distributed according to the

Gunas born of their own nature.

Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, and also

uprightness, knowledge, realization belief in a hereafter, these

are the duties of the brahmins, born of their own nature.

Heroism, vigour, firmness, resourcefulness, not flying from

battle, generosity and lordliness are the duties of the kshatriyas

born of their own nature. Agriculture, cattle rearing and trade

are the duties of the vaishyas, born of their own nature; and

action consisting of services is the duty of the shudras born of

their own nature. Devoted each to his own duty, man attains

the highest perfection.

How engaged in his own duty, he attains perfection, that do you hear. He from whom is the evolution of all beings, by whom

all this is pervaded, worshipping him with his own duty, man




attains perfection. Better is one’s own dharma, though

imperfect, than the dharma of another well performed. He

who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin.

One should not abandon, O Kauanteya, the duty to which

one is born, though it is attended with evil; for all under-

takings are enveloped by evil, as fire by smoke.

He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has

subdued his self, from whom desires have disappeared, he by

renunciation attains the supreme state of freedom from

actions. Learn from Me in brief, O Kaunteya, how reaching

such perfection, he attains to Brahma that supreme consum-mation of knowledge.

Endowed with pure understanding, restraining the self with

firmness, turning away from sound and other objects and

abandoning attraction and aversion, dwelling in solitude eating

but little, speech, body and mind subdued, always engaged in

meditation and concentration, endued with dispassion. Hav-

ing abandoned egoism, violence, arrogance, desire, enmity,

property, free from the notion of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ and

peaceful, he is fit for becoming Brahma. Becoming Brahma,

serene minded he neither grieves, nor desires, the same to

all beings; he obtains supreme devotion to Me.

By devotion he knows Me in truth, what and who I am, then

having known Me in truth, he forthwith enters into Me. Doing

continually all actions whatsoever, taking refuge in Me, by My

grace he reaches the eternal undecaying abode. Mentally

resigning all deeds to Me, having Me as the highest goal,

resorting to buddhi yoga, do you ever fix your mind on Me.

Fixing your mind on Me, you will by My grace, overcome all

obstacles, but if from egoism you will not hear Me, you willperish. If filled with egoism, you think “I will not fight” vein is

this, your resolve; your nature will compel you. Bound by your




own karma born of your nature, that which from delusion

you wish not to do, even that you shall do helplessly, against

your will.

O Kaunteya, the lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O

Arjuna, and by his maya causes all beings to resolve as though

mounted on a machine. Seek refuge in Him alone with al your

heart, O Bharata. By his grace you will gain supreme peace and

the eternal abode. Thus has wisdom more profound than all

profundities been declared to you by Me.

Reflect upon it fully and act as you choose. Listen again

to My supreme word, the profoundest of all. You are belovedof Me and steadfast at heart, therefore, I shall tell what is good

for you. Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, sacrifice to

Me, prostrate before Me, so shall you come to Me. This is My

pledge to you, for you are dear to Me. Renounce all dharma and

take refuge in Me alone. I shall liberate you from all sins, grieve

not.

This is never to be spoken by you to one who is devoid

of austerities, nor to one who is not devoted, nor to one who

does not do service, nor to one who speaks ill of Me. He who

with supreme devotion to Me will teach this immensely

profound philosophy to My devotees, shall doubtlessly come to

Me alone. Nor is there any among men who renders dearer

service to Me than he, nor shall there be another on earth

dearer to Me then he.

And he who will study this sacred dialogue of ours, by him

I shall have been worshipped by Gyana Yoga, such is My

conviction. And the man, who fears this, full of faith and free

from scoff, even he, liberated from evil, shall attain the

auspicious regions of righteous. Has this been heard by you, O Partha, with an attentive mind? Has the delusion of your

ignorance been destroyed, O Dhananjaya?



Arjuna said: My delusion is destroyed. I have regained my

memory through your grace, O Achyuta, I am firm, and I am

free from doubt. I shall act according to your words.

Sanjaya said: Thus have I heard this wonderful dialogue

between Vasudeva and the high souled Partha, causing my hair

to stand on end. Through the grace of Vyasa have I heard the

supreme and the most profound yoga directly from Krishna,

the Lord of Yoga, himself declaring it? O King, as I recall again

and again this wonderful and holy dialogue between Keshva

and Arjuna I rejoice again and again. And as often as I recall

that most wondrous form of Hari, great is my astonishment, OKing, and I rejoice again and again. Wherever Krishna is, is

Partha, the wielder of the bow, there are prosperity,

victory, expansion, and sound policy, such is my convic-

tion.

Sri Krishna Pranama

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