Format by A.K. Aruna, 2019 ver.4.1: UpasanaYoga. Reformatted to emphasize the English translation. If downloaded, is best rendered with the Devanāgarī Siddhanta1.ttf font, downloadable from UpasanaYoga. If run from UpasanaYoga website, it alternatively can use online Web Font. Any Devanāgarī in parentheses () is an alternate reading of text in Red. Top button "Collapse all panels" contracts the view in which individual items can be re-expanded, or again the top button "Restore all panels" reloads page to original view. Chanted by Swami Omkarananda, and the Second and Fifteenth Chapter by Pujya Swami Dayananda, as per Sanskrit Reading Tutor (SG-Tutor). Bhagavad-Gītā is a part of the Mahā-Bhārata, attributed to Śrī Veda-Vyāsa. It is a report of a dialogue between Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Arjuna.
by A.K. Aruna
First Print Mar 2013 (ISBN 978-0-9818640-6-8)
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(Translation from Bhagavad Gita Home Study, Swami Dayananda)
🔗ओं, स॒ ह ना॑व् अवतु। स॒ ह नौ॑ भुनक्तु। स॒ह वी॒र्यं॑ करवावहै। ते॒ज॒स्विना॒व् अधी॑तम् अस्तु॒ मा वि॑द्विषा॒वहै᳚। ओं शान्तिः॒ शान्तिः॒ शान्तिः॑॥ (Tonal key – high Udātta/Svaritaa̍: अ॑ and Double Svarita: a̎ अ᳚ ; and a low Anudātta: a̩ अ॒ ) Om, sa̩ ha nā̍v avatu. Sa̩ ha nau̍ bhunaktu. Sa̩ha vī̩rya̍ṃ karavāvahai. Te̩ja̩svinā̩v adhī̍tam astu̩ mā vi̍dviṣā̩vahai̎. Om śānti̩ḥ sānti̩ḥ śānti̍ḥ.
The Bhagavad Gītā is a report of a dialogue between Arjuna, the greatest warrior of his time, and Kṛṣṇa his friend and mentor. It is set at the start of a huge war, involving millions of soldiers, over the right of succession for a kingdom in north-central India, five thousand years ago. Two groups of cousins (all in the Kuru clan) laid claim to the kingdom.
On one side was Prince Arjuna and his brothers, the five sons of the deceased King Pāṇḍu. On the other side was King Duryodhana and his brothers, the ninety-nine sons of King Dhṛta-rāṣṭra, the brother of King Pāṇḍu.
The Bhagavad Gītā is centrally located in the much larger story, now called the Mahā-bhārata, attributed to the near-mythical Vyāsa, the greatest ever Indian writer and editor. The antecedents that led to this war and the account of the war and its aftermath are covered in the rest of the Mahā-bhārata.
The Bhagavad Gītā starts with an introduction to the scene of the dialogue. In the first chapter, Sañjaya, the minister to King Dhṛta-rāṣṭra, brings the king up to date on what had happened at the war front. Sañjaya’s narration forms the text of the Bhagavad Gītā. Sañjaya doesn’t require war correspondents and spies. He is endowed with a magical ability to not only see and hear what is going on at the distant battlefield, but also to know the thoughts in the warriors’ minds. The Mahā-bhārata is, as teacher Swami Dayananda Saraswati says (2004, The Context of the Gītā Vol. 1 pg. 59), a historical poem, an imaginative weaving of drama around certain historical events and people. Kṛṣṇa was the most attractive divinity, the Lord incarnate, during Arjuna’s time and became the most celebrated focus of all Indian arts. Arjuna was the leader of his time. He fought against unjust aggression and is the greatest mortal martial artist in all of Indian history and mythology.
In the middle of the first chapter, Sañjaya finally speaks of these two main characters: Arjuna commands Kṛṣṇa to drive his chariot between the two armies so that he can get a close look at whom he would have to fight. Kṛṣṇa drives the chariot into position and says, “Behold these assembled Kurus.” Arjuna does not objectively see those lined up against him as warriors, but instead only sees his relatives, teachers, and friends. He subjectively sees only “my people.”
At this, Arjuna loses his ability to remain the warrior and leader of his side. He questions the previously clear justifications for the war that he and his brothers had discussed with respected counselors – and with Kṛṣṇa himself. A stream of emotionally grounded arguments against the war springs up in Arjuna. Finally, he collapses on the chariot seat, unable to proceed and wondering if the unthinkable – retreat – is the wisest course.
In the second chapter, knowing full well that the reasons for this war are sound, Kṛṣṇa prods Arjuna to regain his composure and proceed. But the crisis in Arjuna’s heart is not just about the war. It is deeply centered on the purpose of life itself. Arjuna feels a basic sorrow about the endless limitations of life – even of being a king of a huge empire or the king of heaven. He sees no purpose in a life that makes one struggle against others to gain fleeting moments of enjoyment, which are tainted by their costs. Arjuna begins to believe that his born duty as a prince and warrior is contrary to his goal. He wonders if he should drop everything and take to a life of renunciation. In fact, he loses sight of what his goal in life is – if it is enjoyment, then it is no longer worth it; if it is duty and justice, he doubts they are worth their cost.
Still, Arjuna knows that Kṛṣṇa is more than a friend. He looks upon Kṛṣṇa as divine and knows that Kṛṣṇa has the wisdom to teach him what the ultimate good is, which Arjuna believes will solve his predicament.
In the eleventh verse of chapter 2, the teaching, the reason for the Bhagavad Gītā, begins with a discussion – not of war, but of reality and how to live accordingly.
This vision of reality is initially presented in chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gītā, from verse 11 to verse 30, and is elaborated throughout the other chapters, especially in chapter 13. This reality is referred to by the terms brahman, ātmā, or Bhagavān, depending on whether the term is in reference, respectively, to itself, to oneself, or to the universe.
This reality is presented in the Bhagavad Gītā as timeless and locationless. It is the very fabric of the warp-and-woof of time and space, and is the very center of oneself, the observer of this entire universe.
The divisions of time and space of the universe – of before and after, inside and outside, up and down – that we each know, are the result of our limited views of the universe from our tiny perspectives. From the perspective of the total, of the infinite whose center is everywhere, there is only one uniform, timeless, and locationless reality.
This is the truly objective vision of the world, free of limited perspective, free of subjectivity. It is seeing reality as it is. This is the vision of the Lord, of Bhagavān. It is the ultimate good, the ultimate goal of everyone.
The life lived toward and within this goal is without sorrow, is conflict free, meritorious, and filled with complete satisfaction with oneself and the world. It is this vision that is taught in the Bhagavad Gītā.
Indeed, it is upon this clear vision of reality, taught in the Bhagavad Gītā and in the core tradition of ancient India literature, that the culture of universal justice (dharma) is based. Dharma is the natural application of the life of one who has this clear vision of reality. How the person who has this vision of reality would behave in various situations is the guiding principle for determining what dharma is.
A life of dharma, which is meant for gaining this vision of reality, is given the title of yoga (a means) in the Bhagavad Gītā.
Today’s popular meaning of “yoga” is not the “eight limbs of yoga”, defined by the teacher Patanjali over two thousand years ago in his Patanjali Yoga Sutras (Aruna 2012, "Yoga Sūtras"). Today’s yoga is narrowly confined to just one or two of the eight limbs; specifically, āsana (posture) and breath control (prāṇāyāma) (see YS.2.46–53) now promoted by contemporary yoga teachers.
The original meaning of “yoga” in the Bhagavad Gītā can easily be drawn from this text here itself. It refers to a way of living that helps the mind to mature so that one can fully appreciate this vision of timeless and locationless reality.
It is, then, this vision of reality that fulfills one’s life. It is the ultimate good, the ultimate goal of everyone. That is how yoga is presented in the Bhagavad Gītā and how it has been taught for told and untold thousands of years, of which the Bhagavad Gītā is but a recent illumination, though it was composed well over two (or perhaps five) thousand years ago.
This vision of reality has been preserved throughout the cycles of manifestation and destruction of the universe. It is a timeless vision of the timeless reality that forms the basis of this universe of time and space.
This timeless reality cannot be known as a this or that, cannot be arrived at by deduction or induction, cannot be a limited object of any mentation or meditation. You can only be it.
To appreciate this reality, you need only remove the wrong notions you have about yourself, this reality. To do this, you need not remove the limitations, but only understand the nature of these limitations – and why they cannot limit the reality in which they shine as its glories.
This is the teaching that removes the basic, but unexamined, sorrow centered on the countless limitations of a human life and replaces it with a fulfillment centered on the limitless nature of oneself.
It is a teaching that does not view itself as Indian, but as belonging to all humankind from time immemorial. It is a teaching that is faithfully preserved by the people of India, not created by them.
It is the teaching of the Lord. Not a Lord amongst or against other Lords, but rather there is only this Lord. Every thing; every being; you, yourself are but this Lord – this limitless reality. All this is one – oneself.
God does not look over you. Rather, you look over your body, your mind, and your life. You look over the universe as it presents itself to your senses and your mind, which are also part of this universe. The universe is ordered by the natural laws that are also called dharma, the laws of cause and effect. These laws govern not only the physical but also the mental, the subtle.
While you overlook all this before you, you remain the same (sama) while the entire universe continually changes. This continually changing time–space intersection of your experience, this physical and subtle universe before you, has you as its basis, as its very existence.
All this that your senses can perceive, all this that your mind can conceive or imagine, all the laws of the world and of the mind that you are able to appreciate, all that your languages can describe, and even the basic building block of everything (whatever it is currently calculated to be by science) – all are limited in time and space, including time and space itself.
All this observed universe has you as its observer and as its basis in reality (sat-cit, reality-awareness). This observer (you) cannot be limited as an object of the senses or the mind, since it is (you are) ever the subject, alone factually free of the perceived and conceived limitations of time and space and all within time and space. This is the basis of your undoubted and unchanging self-existence throughout your life – despite your changing body, mind, and environment.
Such an unchanging basis of reality, which you are, alone can be the background, the substratum and surface, within which this ever-changing universe plays itself out. Such a basis of reality alone is the ultimate you seek. The seeker is but you, the limitless observer – the seeker seeking itself. Only ignorance can be the cause of this estrangement and subsequent seeking.
This teaching, in the Bhagavad Gītā in the form of a dialogue, removes that ignorance. In the Bhagavad Gītā, the divinity (Kṛṣṇa) is teaching the student in you (Arjuna is oneself). This is the divine teaching of your self-identity with all, with the total.
It is also the teaching of independence, of freedom from all this before you. You are the being of this universe. This being is at once both the beloved (priya) and the love (prema) itself. It is a total turnaround in the understanding of oneself and of the universe.
I am not limited; I am limitless. And this current universe within time and space is completely within my self. My self is complete fulfillment.
As the doubts subside, the freedom and joy that is one’s nature become fully appreciated. This understanding is the grandest vision, the ultimate knowledge to gain, the ultimate good. Then life truly becomes fun and sport, just as Kṛṣṇa’s life was lived with fun and sport – like a song (gītā). It is a life free of guilt, free of hurt, and free of fear.
Let us begin the Songs of the Glorious Lord (Bhagavad Gītā). (Jump to 1st Ch. Intro)
(Jump to Bhagavad Gita initial Intro) The Topic of Arjuna’s Sorrow
The first chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā introduces both the scene of the narration and the scene of the dialogue. The dialogue consists of the teaching of and by the Lord, Kṛṣṇa, to the student, Arjuna. In the first scene, the scene of the narration, the king’s minister, Sañjaya, is narrating for King Dhṛta-rāṣṭra. Sañjaya tells what happened on the field of battle just prior to start of the war. He describes how the king’s son approached his teacher in martial arts to whip up his teacher’s desire for revenge against Drupada on the opposing side of the battlefield; for fear that the teacher (a brāhmaṇa) did not have the heart of a warrior (kṣatriya) in battle. Sañjaya then narrates the second scene, the scene of dialogue, which is just before the battle. In this scene, Arjuna commands Kṛṣṇa to drive his chariot between the two armies so that he can get a close look at whom he will fight. Kṛṣṇa drives the chariot and says, “Behold these assembled Kurus.” Arjuna does not see those lined up against him as warriors, but instead only sees his relatives, teachers, and friends. He only sees “my people” (verse 31). At this, Arjuna loses the ability to remain the warrior and leader. A stream of emotionally grounded arguments against this war wells up in him. His mind becomes stressed and overwhelmed by pity to such an extent that he is physically incapacitated. Finally, Arjuna collapses on the chariot seat, unable to proceed and wondering if the unthinkable – retreat – would be the wisest course.
In this chapter, Arjuna argues that war based on greed and desire for power is never justified. However, such a war is not what Arjuna faces. Rather, this war, clearly narrated in the Mahā-bhārata as a war of justice (dharma) against injustice (a-dharma), is for the survival and reestablishment of justice over injustice. But, even in a just war, an individual on either side of battle may have mixed motivations. The individual may be for or against the war and yet be overwhelmed by desire for power and pleasures. A question for the individual is whether the mind’s likes and dislikes override one’s own sense of justice or one’s duty to uphold justice. The answer to this question may hinge on the individual’s understanding of life and death. If the fear of death trumps all, or if justice is thought not worth dying for, then one may succumb to the persuasion of the mind’s likes and dislikes.
We can look at Arjuna’s struggle in this crisis as a metaphor for our own lives. Each of us is in a life-and-death struggle, having to make decisions on a daily and hourly basis that make life a series of heavens and hells – for ourselves and for others. The Bhagavad Gītā presents this daily struggle – not the struggle of war or the justification for war, but the struggle of what is life and what is death (metaphysically and morally) – in a deeply philosophical and personal manner. It is not a theoretical discussion, but a methodical presentation of an indisputable reality and the assimilation of this vision of reality in one’s life. Arjuna’s situational crisis mirrors each person’s existential crisis regarding the meaning of life and the fear of death. Arjuna’s crisis is the catalyst for presenting a clear vision of life and death that solves the felt crisis in every human heart, and for revealing the way to open the heart to this vision and allow it to firmly remain there. (Jump to 2nd Ch. Intro)
✅ atra śūrā maheṣvāsā bhīmārjuna-samā yudhi, yuyudhāno virāṭaś ca dru-padaś ca mahā-rathaḥ. dhṛṣṭa-ketuś cekitānaḥ kāśī-rājaś ca vīryavān, puru-jit kunti-bhojaś ca śaibyaś ca nara-puṅgavaḥ. yudhā-manyuś ca vikrānta uttamaujāś ca vīryavān, sau-bhadro drau-padeyāś ca sarva eva mahā-rathāḥ. अत्र शूरा महेष्वासा भीमार्जुन-समा युधि। युयुधानो विराटश् च द्रु-पदश् च महा-रथः॥ धृष्ट-केतुश् चेकितानः काशि-राजश् च वीर्यवान्। पुरु-जित् कुन्ति-भोजश् च शैब्यश् च नर-पुङ्गवः॥ युधा-मन्युश् च विक्रान्त उत्तमौजाश् च वीर्यवान्। सौ-भद्रो द्रौ-पदेयाश् च सर्व एव महा-रथाः॥
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✅ asmākaṃ tu viśiṣṭā ye tān nibodha dvijottama, nāyakā mama sainyasya saṃjñārthaṃ tān bravīmi te. अस्माकं तु विशिष्टा ये तान् निबोध द्विजोत्तम। नायका मम सैन्यस्य सञ्ज्ञार्थं तान् ब्रवीमि ते॥
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✅ bhavān bhīṣmaś ca karṇaś ca kṛpaś ca samitiñ-jayaḥ, aśva-tthāmā vikarṇaś ca sauma-dattis tathaiva ca. भवान् भीष्मश् च कर्णश् च कृपश् च समितिञ्-जयः। अश्व-त्थामा विकर्णश् च सौम-दत्तिस् तथैव च॥
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✅ anye ca bahavaḥ śūrā mad-arthe tyakta-jīvitāḥ, nānā-śastra-praharaṇāḥ sarve yuddha-viśāradāḥ. अन्ये च बहवः शूरा मद्-अर्थे त्यक्त-जीविताः। नाना-शस्त्र-प्रहरणाः सर्वे युद्ध-विशारदाः॥
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✅ aparyāptaṃ tad asmākaṃ balaṃ bhīṣmābhirakṣitam, paryāptaṃ tv idam eteṣāṃ balaṃ bhīmābhirakṣitam. अपर्याप्तं तद् अस्माकं बलं भीष्माभिरक्षितम्। पर्याप्तं त्व् इदम् एतेषां बलं भीमाभिरक्षितम्॥
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✅ ayaneṣu ca sarveṣu yathā-bhāgam avasthitāḥ, bhīṣmam evābhirakṣantu bhavantaḥ sarva eva hi. अयनेषु च सर्वेषु यथा-भागम् अवस्थिताः। भीष्मम् एवाभिरक्षन्तु भवन्तः सर्व एव हि॥
✅ tataḥ śaṅkhāś ca bheryaś ca paṇavānaka-go-mukhāḥ, sahasaivābhyahanyanta sa śabdas tumulo'bhavat. ततः शङ्खाश् च भेर्यश् च पणवानक-गो-मुखाः। सहसैवाभ्यहन्यन्त स शब्दस् तुमुलोऽभवत्॥
✅ ananta-vijayaṃ rājā kuntī-putro yudhi-ṣṭhiraḥ, nakulaḥ saha-devaś ca su-ghoṣa-maṇi-puṣpakau. अनन्त-विजयं राजा कुन्ती-पुत्रो युधि-ष्ठिरः। नकुलः सह-देवश् च सु-घोष-मणि-पुष्पकौ॥
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✅ kāśyaś ca parameṣvāsaḥ śikhaṇḍī ca mahā-rathaḥ, dhṛṣṭa-dyumno virāṭaś ca sātyakiś cāparā-jitaḥ. dru-pado drau-padeyāś ca sarvaśaḥ pṛthivī-pate, sau-bhadraś ca mahā-bāhuḥ śaṅkhān dadhmuḥ pṛthak pṛthak. काश्यश् च परमेष्वासः शिखण्डी च महा-रथः। धृष्ट-द्युम्नो विराटश् च सात्यकिश् चापरा-जितः॥ द्रु-पदो द्रौ-पदेयाश् च सर्वशः पृथिवी-पते। सौ-भद्रश् च महा-बाहुः शङ्खान् दध्मुः पृथक् पृथक्॥
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✅ sa ghoṣo dhārta-rāṣṭrāṇāṃ hṛdayāni vyadārayat, nabhaś ca pṛthivīṃ caiva tumulo vyanunādayan. स घोषो धार्त-राष्ट्राणां हृदयानि व्यदारयत्। नभश् च पृथिवीं चैव तुमुलो व्यनुनादयन्॥
✅ arjuna uvāca: dṛṣṭvemaṃ sva-janaṃ kṛṣṇa yuyutsuṃ samupasthitam. sīdanti mama gātrāṇi mukhaṃ ca pariśuṣyati, vepathuś ca śarīre me roma-harṣaś ca jāyate. अर्जुन उवाच। दृष्ट्वेमं स्व-जनं कृष्ण युयुत्सुं समुपस्थितम्॥ सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति। वेपथुश् च शरीरे मे रोम-हर्षश् च जायते॥
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✅ gāṇḍīvaṃ sraṃsate hastāt tvak caiva paridahyate, na ca śaknomy avasthātuṃ bhramatīva ca me manaḥ. गाण्डीवं स्रंसते हस्तात् त्वक् चैव परिदह्यते। न च शक्नोम्य् अवस्थातुं भ्रमतीव च मे मनः॥
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✅ nimittāni ca paśyāmi viparītāni keśava, na ca śreyo'nupaśyāmi hatvā sva-janam āhave. निमित्तानि च पश्यामि विपरीतानि केशव। न च श्रेयोऽनुपश्यामि हत्वा स्व-जनम् आहवे॥
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✅ na kāṅkṣe vijayaṃ kṛṣṇa na ca rājyaṃ sukhāni ca, kiṃ no rājyena go-vinda kiṃ bhogair jīvitena vā. न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च। किं नो राज्येन गो-विन्द किं भोगैर् जीवितेन वा॥
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✅ yeṣām arthe kāṅkṣitaṃ no rājyaṃ bhogāḥ sukhāni ca, ta ime'vasthitā yuddhe prāṇāṃs tyaktvā dhanāni ca. ācāryāḥ pitaraḥ putrās tathaiva ca pitā-mahāḥ, mātulāḥ śvaśurāḥ pautrāḥ syālāḥ sambandhinas tathā. येषाम् अर्थे काङ्क्षितं नो राज्यं भोगाः सुखानि च। त इमेऽवस्थिता युद्धे प्राणांस् त्यक्त्वा धनानि च॥ आचार्याः पितरः पुत्रास् तथैव च पिता-महाः। मातुलाः श्वशुराः पौत्राः श्यालाः सम्बन्धिनस् तथा॥
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✅ etān na hantum icchāmi ghnato'pi madhu-sūdana, api trai-lokya-rājyasya hetoḥ kiṃ nu mahī-kṛte. एतान् न हन्तुम् इच्छामि घ्नतोऽपि मधु-सूदन। अपि त्रै-लोक्य-राज्यस्य हेतोः किं नु मही-कृते॥
The Topic of Knowledge Kṛṣṇa is being asked to be a guru, a teacher. He himself had been a young student under the sage Sāndīpani, so, in addition to being the Lord incarnate, Kṛṣṇa clearly is equipped with the methodology of teaching presented in the Upaniṣads. He shows this by fluently quoting and paraphrasing verses of several Upaniṣads and by wholesale borrowing topics from several more to weave a complete vision.
The Advaita Vedānta teaching is then not new. It is completely within the ancient tradition of the Upaniṣad scriptures and elaborates the preparation required to assimilate the direct knowledge of the teaching. It is not a “secret” teaching for the initiated only. Rather, it is presented in the middle of the Mahā-bhārata, the most popular storybook in Indian literature.
In chapter 2, Kṛṣṇa teaches Arjuna that the people Arjuna is grieving are, in fact, the being that is timeless and unchanging, and none other than the self of Arjuna. So, being changeless, Arjuna, from the true perspective of himself, whether he knows it or not, is not the doer of action – not the slayer of these people or even of these bodies before him.
This is called viveka, discernment of the real from the unreal, the self from the nonself. This teaching is quite shocking (āścaryavat), and not easily understood when first heard. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa further explains. He speaks from the perspective of the relative reality of living and explains that impermanent entities obviously have an end and that their lot after their end is both unknown and unknowable to others. So, even relatively then, there is no basis for grieving, he tells Arjuna. Moreover, Kṛṣṇa says, if Arjuna deserts the battlefield, he is deserting his duty, and this will bring unwanted repercussions in this life and later. Kṛṣṇa then proceeds to teach the prerequisite understanding that a student needs in order to assimilate this profound teaching. This understanding involves committing to doing one’s duty with the intent of gaining in this life the knowledge that liberates. This preparation is presented in the Upaniṣads by the description of the qualifications of the student and by various upāsanas, meditations on life and the universe that instill a cosmic perspective to living. This preparation is here called karma-yoga. It is a dispassion (vairāgya) for material and even spiritual results that are time bound. Then, with this dispassion, doing action as a participation in the cosmic cycle simply because it is a duty-to-be-done and is the proper thing to be done that matures the mind. The mature mind then has the discipline and clarity to assimilate the self-knowledge that liberates – that brings one to an appreciation of brahman, the ultimate reality, as one’s self. (Jump to 3rd Ch. Intro)
✅ na caitad vidmaḥ kataran no garīyo yad vā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ, yān eva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas te'vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārta-rāṣṭrāḥ. न चैतद् विद्मः कतरन् नो गरीयो यद् वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः। यान् एव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस् तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्त-राष्ट्राः॥
✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṃ prajñā-vādāṃś ca bhāṣase, gatāsūn agatāsūṃś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। अशोच्यान् अन्वशोचस् त्वं प्रज्ञा-वादांश् च भाषसे। गतासून् अगतासूंश् च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः॥
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✅ na tv evāhaṃ jātu nāsaṃ na tvaṃ neme janādhipāḥ, na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param. न त्व् एवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः। न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयम् अतः परम्॥
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✅ dehino'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati. देहिनोऽस्मिन् यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा। तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर् धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति॥
✅ ya enaṃ vetti hantāraṃ yaś cainaṃ manyate hatam, ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṃ hanti na hanyate. य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश् चैनं मन्यते हतम्। उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते॥
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✅ na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṃ bhūtvābhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ, ajo nityaḥ śāśvato'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन् नायं भूत्वाभविता वा न भूयः। अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥
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✅ vedāvināśinaṃ nityaṃ ya enam ajam avyayam, kathaṃ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha kaṃ ghātayati hanti kam. वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनम् अजम् अव्ययम्। कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम्॥
✅ jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur dhruvaṃ janma mṛtasya ca, tasmād aparihārye'rthe na tvaṃ śocitum arhasi. जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर् ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च। तस्माद् अपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुम् अर्हसि॥
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✅ avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni bhārata, avyakta-nidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā. अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्त-मध्यानि भारत। अव्यक्त-निधनान्य् एव तत्र का परिदेवना॥
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✅ āścaryavat paśyati kaścid enam āścaryavad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ, āścaryavac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti śrutvāpy enaṃ veda na caiva kaścit. आश्चर्यवत् पश्यति कश्चिद् एनम् आश्चर्यवद् वदति तथैव चान्यः। आश्चर्यवच् चैनम् अन्यः शृणोति श्रुत्वाप्य् एनं वेद न चैव कश्चित्॥
✅ karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana, mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo'stv akarmaṇi. कर्मण्य् एवाधिकारस् ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्म-फल-हेतुर् भूर् मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्व् अकर्मणि॥
✅ nāsti buddhir ayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā, na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham. नास्ति बुद्धिर् अयुक्तस्य न चायुक्तस्य भावना। न चाभावयतः शान्तिर् अशान्तस्य कुतः सुखम्॥
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✅ indriyāṇāṃ hi caratāṃ yan mano'nuvidhīyate, tad asya harati prajñāṃ vāyur nāvam ivāmbhasi. इन्द्रियाणां हि चरतां यन् मनोऽनुविधीयते। तद् अस्य हरति प्रज्ञां वायुर् नावम् इवाम्भसि॥
The Topic of Action
In chapter 3, Arjuna has a doubt: The Upaniṣad teachings say that the self does not do action, so, even if it is Arjuna’s duty, why and how should he undertake the action of this battle? Isn’t renunciation (sannyāsa) alone the lifestyle extolled in the Upaniṣads? Arjuna wonders: Even if karma-yoga (the means that is duty) is an alternate lifestyle, Kṛṣṇa has not said that it leads by itself to the ultimate good (śreyas). Arjuna questions why Kṛṣṇa is compelling him into gruesome action and wants to know, between the two lifestyles, which leads to śreyas. Kṛṣṇa replies that, indeed, in the Upaniṣads, He taught that the two lifestyles lead to śreyas, absolute freedom. But simply adopting either of these two lifestyles does not give freedom (mokṣa). Kṛṣṇa will clearly explain later, in chapter 4 (4.33–39), that it is knowledge that gives mokṣa. In chapter 3, Kṛṣṇa points out that both lifestyles are conducive to gaining and assimilating this knowledge. One cannot really be said to have gained this knowledge without having also assimilated it, because this knowledge is not information about some remote object, but instead is self-knowledge. However, if one is not mentally prepared for a life of renunciation, then it may prove to be useless. Karma-yoga is meant for preparing the mind for a life of renunciation, as well as for gaining and assimilating the knowledge. This is the order of the four stages of life: student, householder, retiree, renunciate. Kṛṣṇa does not think Arjuna, who had to this point dedicated his life to gaining the warrior’s skills and weapons needed to take back the kingdom, is prepared for the quiet life of renunciation (sannyāsa). So, between the two lifestyles, Kṛṣṇa recommends karma-yoga to Arjuna.
Even in the lifestyle of sannyāsa, for one who does not have self-knowledge and thinks he or she is a doer, there is action. Therefore, one needs to understand why and how one should perform action. Kṛṣṇa explains that the entire cosmos is interconnected. Helping one another, all beings thrive. The one who fights against this great cosmic wheel lives life in vain; whereas the one who follows this cosmic ecological system – with the goal of attaining the limitless – eventually attains the limitless. Action done with this understanding is thus converted into a spiritual act (yajña), which makes it karma-yoga. In particular for Arjuna, because he is looked upon as a leader, he ought to enthusiastically perform his own duty as a yajña, thus encouraging others to do the same – for the benefit of all. Even in renunciation (sannyāsa), action is done with the attitude of karma-yoga.
But if the self does not do action, then what sense does it make to say one should perform action? Kṛṣṇa answers this concern by explaining that, indeed, the self does not do physical or mental action. Rather, action is done by the body and mind. Action, along with the body and mind, belong to the sphere of nature, not to ātmā, the self. This body and mind is not one’s personal creation. One must then renounce the ego’s imagined ownership of actions, as well as the actions of the body and mind, relinquishing them to where they belong – unto the Lord’s cosmic nature and order – and choose to perform duty as an offering to the whole. Such action alone will not bind one to disappointment, sorrow, and death. This is karma-yoga, which develops one’s discernment (viveka) and dispassion (vairāgya). (Jump to 4th Ch. Intro)
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✅ arjuna uvāca: jyāyasī cet karmaṇas te matā buddhir janārdana, tat kiṃ karmaṇi ghore māṃ niyojayasi keśava. अर्जुन उवाच। ज्यायसी चेत् कर्मणस् ते मता बुद्धिर् जनार्दन। तत् किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव॥
✅ na karmaṇām anārambhān naiṣ-karmyaṃ puruṣo'śnute, na ca sannyasanād eva siddhiṃ samadhigacchati. न कर्मणाम् अनारम्भान् नैष्-कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते। न च सन्न्यसनाद् एव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति॥
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✅ na hi kaścit kṣaṇam api jātu tiṣṭhaty akarma-kṛt, kāryate hy avaśaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛti-jair guṇaiḥ. न हि कश्चित् क्षणम् अपि जातु तिष्ठत्य् अकर्म-कृत्। कार्यते ह्य् अवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृति-जैर् गुणैः॥
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✅ karmendriyāṇi saṃyamya ya āste manasā smaran, indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate. कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन्। इन्द्रियार्थान् विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते॥
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✅ yas tv indriyāṇi manasā niyamyārabhate'rjuna, karmendriyaiḥ karma-yogam asaktaḥ sa viśiṣyate. यस् त्व् इन्द्रियाणि मनसा नियम्यारभतेऽर्जुन। कर्मेन्द्रियैः कर्म-योगम् असक्तः स विशिष्यते॥
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✅ niyataṃ kuru karma tvaṃ karma jyāyo hy akarmaṇaḥ, śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasidhyed akarmaṇaḥ. नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्य् अकर्मणः। शरीर-यात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येद् अकर्मणः॥
✅ iṣṭān bhogān hi vo devā dāsyante yajña-bhāvitāḥ, tair dattān apradāyaibhyo yo bhuṅkte stena eva saḥ. इष्टान् भोगान् हि वो देवा दास्यन्ते यज्ञ-भाविताः। तैर् दत्तान् अप्रदायैभ्यो यो भुङ्क्ते स्तेन एव सः॥
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✅ yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ, bhuñjate te tv aghaṃ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt. यज्ञ-शिष्टाशिनः सन्तो मुच्यन्ते सर्व-किल्बिषैः। भुञ्जते ते त्व् अघं पापा ये पचन्त्य् आत्म-कारणात्॥
✅ evaṃ pravartitaṃ cakraṃ nānuvartayatīha yaḥ, aghāyur indriyārāmo moghaṃ pārtha sa jīvati. एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह यः। अघायुर् इन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति॥
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✅ yas tv ātma-ratir eva syād ātma-tṛptaś ca mānavaḥ, ātmany eva ca santuṣṭas tasya kāryaṃ na vidyate. यस् त्व् आत्म-रतिर् एव स्याद् आत्म-तृप्तश् च मानवः। आत्मन्य् एव च सन्तुष्टस् तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते॥
✅ yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ, sa yat pramāṇaṃ kurute lokas tad anuvartate. यद् यद् आचरति श्रेष्ठस् तत् तद् एवेतरो जनः। स यत् प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस् तद् अनुवर्तते॥
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✅ na me pārthāsti kartavyaṃ triṣu lokeṣu kiñcana, nānavāptam avāptavyaṃ varta eva ca karmaṇi. न मे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किञ्चन। नानवाप्तम् अवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि॥
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✅ yadi hy ahaṃ na varteya jātu karmaṇy atandritaḥ, mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ. यदि ह्य् अहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्य् अतन्द्रितः। मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः॥
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✅ utsīdeyur ime lokā na kuryāṃ karma ced aham, saṅkarasya ca kartā syām upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ. उत्सीदेयुर् इमे लोका न कुर्यां कर्म चेद् अहम्। सङ्करस्य च कर्ता स्याम् उपहन्याम् इमाः प्रजाः॥
✅ ye me matam idaṃ nityam anutiṣṭhanti mānavāḥ, śrad-dhāvanto'nasūyanto mucyante te'pi karmabhiḥ. ये मे मतम् इदं नित्यम् अनुतिष्ठन्ति मानवाः। श्रद्-धावन्तोऽनसूयन्तो मुच्यन्ते तेऽपि कर्मभिः॥
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✅ ye tv etad abhyasūyanto nānutiṣṭhanti me matam, sarva-jñāna-vimūḍhāṃs tān viddhi naṣṭān acetasaḥ. ये त्व् एतद् अभ्यसूयन्तो नानुतिष्ठन्ति मे मतम्। सर्व-ज्ञान-विमूढांस् तान् विद्धि नष्टान् अचेतसः॥
✅ indriyasyendriyasyārthe rāga-dveṣau vyavasthitau, tayor na vaśam āgacchet tau hy asya paripanthinau. इन्द्रियस्येन्द्रियस्यार्थे राग-द्वेषौ व्यवस्थितौ। तयोर् न वशम् आगच्छेत् तौ ह्य् अस्य परिपन्थिनौ॥
The Topic of Knowledge and the Renunciation of Action
At the end of the third chapter, the Lord discloses the secret to overcoming binding desire (kāma), which binds one helplessly to a life of unending need for becoming, called saṃsāra. The secret, an elaboration of 2.58–68, is to control the intellect by self-knowledge – this is viveka, discernment of the real from the unreal, the self from the nonself. With this informed intellect, one steadies the previously rudderless mind, which in turn controls the senses – this is vairāgya, dispassion toward the present memories of the past, the present imaginations of the future, and the appearances in the present that one calls “me,” “mine,” and “not me,” “not mine.” By vairāgya (dispassion), the mind becomes free of its imagined entanglement in saṃsāra, its imagined world of me/mine and not me/not mine, of likes and dislikes, aspirations and fears. Then the mind sees a natural world free of these projections. This relative freedom allows the mind to become clear. In this clear mind, the self-knowledge that resolves the life of unbecoming becoming (saṃsāra) quickly becomes firm (2.64–65).
At the beginning of chapter 4, Kṛṣṇa concludes by extolling the lineage of the Vedānta teaching, starting from Himself. But Arjuna does not let Kṛṣṇa’s teaching end there. Arjuna asks how Kṛṣṇa can say He taught this knowledge at the beginning of humankind. Kṛṣṇa replies that He is speaking from the standpoint of the Lord. This embodiment, seated before Arjuna, is a divine form acquired due to the natural need to rebalance dharma (tradition and justice) and a-dharma (disorder and injustice) in this world. Kṛṣṇa says that His actions do not bind Him, nor is He the doer of these actions. Kṛṣṇa explains that those who similarly perform action not backed by binding desire, and who know themselves as the actionless self, attain His nature. He explains that action is to be undertaken as a yajña (3.9–30), a spiritual act for the benefit of the whole, as indeed Kṛṣṇa’s action is. Kṛṣṇa then lists various types of yajñas (spiritual acts) that have been given in the Vedas, saying that these actions, though considered spiritual, are produced by nature’s body and mind alone. The one who knows one’s self as not limited by the body and mind, which perform these actions, is thus free from their binding nature. By this knowledge, one will see all of nature’s beings in Him and even in oneself (4.35). This is called being the reality of all (sarvātma-bhāva), appreciating oneself as the whole, free of divisions and their limitations. The Lord describes sarvātma-bhāva as taking refuge in Him by being Him alone, attaining His nature (4.10, 2.72). This is nonduality (a-dvaita).
Gaining this knowledge is the goal of performing these yajñas for purity of mind. Knowledge is attained by surrender to a teacher within this teaching lineage who will teach you. Kṛṣṇa then proceeds to praise this knowledge as the ultimate purifier. But it requires trust in this teaching as a valid means of knowledge. What blocks this teaching from blessing is not discerning the self from the nonself (a lack of viveka, discernment); due to a doubtful (cynical) mind that does not trust the teaching. This is important for every student to understand, so it is repeated throughout the Lord’s teaching (3.31–32; 4.39–42; 5.25; 6.47; 7.1; 9.1, 9.3; 12.2, 12.20; and 18.10, 18.67, 18.71). (Jump to 5th Ch. Intro)
✅ paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṃ vināśāya ca duṣ-kṛtām, dharma-saṃsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge. परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्-कृताम्। धर्म-संस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे॥
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✅ janma karma ca me divyam evaṃ yo vetti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṃ punar-janma naiti mām eti so'rjuna. जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यम् एवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः। त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्-जन्म नैति माम् एति सोऽर्जुन॥
✅ na māṃ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā, iti māṃ yo'bhijānāti karmabhir na sa badhyate. न मां कर्माणि लिम्पन्ति न मे कर्म-फले स्पृहा। इति मां योऽभिजानाति कर्मभिर् न स बध्यते॥
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✅ evaṃ jñātvā kṛtaṃ karma pūrvair api mumukṣubhiḥ, kuru karmaiva tasmāt tvaṃ pūrvaiḥ pūrvataraṃ kṛtam. एवं ज्ञात्वा कृतं कर्म पूर्वैर् अपि मुमुक्षुभिः। कुरु कर्मैव तस्मात् त्वं पूर्वैः पूर्वतरं कृतम्॥
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✅ kiṃ karma kim akarmeti kavayo'py atra mohitāḥ, tat te karma pravakṣyāmi yaj jñātvā mokṣyase'śubhāt. किं कर्म किम् अकर्मेति कवयोऽप्य् अत्र मोहिताः। तत् ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्यामि यज् ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात्॥
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✅ karmaṇo hyapi boddhavyaṃ boddhavyaṃ ca vi-karmaṇaḥ, akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṃ gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ. कर्मणो ह्य् अपि बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च वि-कर्मणः। अकर्मणश् च बोद्धव्यं गहना कर्मणो गतिः॥
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✅ karmaṇy akarma yaḥ paśyed akarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ, sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu sa yuktaḥ kṛtsna-karma-kṛt. कर्मण्य् अकर्म यः पश्येद् अकर्मणि च कर्म यः। स बुद्धिमान् मनुष्येषु स युक्तः कृत्स्न-कर्म-कृत्॥
✅ na hi jñānena sa-dṛśaṃ pavitram iha vidyate, tat svayaṃ yoga-saṃsiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati. न हि ज्ञानेन स-दृशं पवित्रम् इह विद्यते। तत् स्वयं योग-संसिद्धः कालेनात्मनि विन्दति॥
✅ ajñaś cāśrad-dadhānaś ca saṃśayātmā vinaśyati, nāyaṃ loko'sti na paro na sukhaṃ saṃśayātmanaḥ. अज्ञश् चाश्रद्-दधानश् च संशयात्मा विनश्यति। नायं लोकोऽस्ति न परो न सुखं संशयात्मनः॥
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✅ yoga-sannyasta-karmāṇaṃ jñāna-sañchinna-saṃśayam, ātmavantaṃ na karmāṇi nibadhnanti dhanañ-jaya. योग-सन्न्यस्त-कर्माणं ज्ञान-सञ्छिन्न-संशयम्। आत्मवन्तं न कर्माणि निबध्नन्ति धनञ्-जय॥
The Topic of Renunciation of Action
In chapter 5, Arjuna asks Kṛṣṇa to clarify the distinction between the sannyāsa (renunciation) and karma-yoga (seeking while living a life of duties) lifestyles and which one would be better for him. The Lord replies that an essential element of both lifestyles is renunciation. He explains that the candidate for sannyāsa lifestyle already has a certain mastery in renunciation; otherwise that lifestyle would be difficult – just as He said earlier, in the third chapter (3.6), that sannyāsa is useless for one without mental discipline. On the other hand, karma-yoga prepares the mind for the renunciation required in a life of sannyāsa. The distinction between the two lifestyles involves the qualification of the candidate regarding his or her degree of mastery in renunciation. Kṛṣṇa, for this reason, again recommends karma-yoga for Arjuna. The degree of renunciation required for sannyāsa is such that if one has to ask whether one is ready for it, then one is probably not ready for it. However, because the sole purpose of both sannyāsa and karma-yoga is the śreyas (the ultimate good) that is freedom (mokṣa), in this there is no difference between them. Because knowledge liberates and the pursuit of knowledge is in both lifestyles, both lead to mokṣa. Perfect renunciation is simply the assimilated knowledge that the self does not, in fact, do action. This can be realized within either lifestyle. Kṛṣṇa then goes on to say that this knowledge culminates in oneself being brahman, the limitless reality. There is no rebirth for such a person because there is no longer a distinct individuality that owns a history burdened with yet-to-fructify karmas, results of action. The one with this culmination of knowledge has attained a fulfillment that does not wane. Until this assimilation of the knowledge – with its appreciation of this fulfillment – is complete, one must make proper efforts to free the mind from requirements, anticipations, and anger. One should make effort to master the mind so that one can gain this knowledge. For this, meditation and contemplation are proper means, within both sannyāsa and karma-yoga lifestyles. At the end of this chapter, Kṛṣṇa introduces the topic of meditation and contemplation, which is taken up in greater detail in chapter 6.
There is a difference between meditation and contemplation. Meditation (dhyāna) is the employment of techniques for mastering the mind and is mental worship of the Lord, or prayer. Contemplation, also called dhyāna or more specifically called nididhyāsana, is seeing the truth of the teaching in order to remove obstacles to assimilating it. Meditation is preliminary and prepares the mind to remain in contemplation of the teaching. Meditation happens in the seat of meditation; whereas contemplation happens both in the seat of meditation and during the rest of one’s time. We can meditate even before we hear this teaching. Contemplation requires that we have heard and are clear on the teaching being contemplated. Assimilation of this teaching, of this knowledge, requires contemplation – or at least a contemplative mind. (Jump to 6th Ch. Intro)
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✅ arjuna uvāca: sannyāsaṃ karmaṇāṃ kṛṣṇa punar yogaṃ ca śaṃsasi, yac chreya etayor ekaṃ tan me brūhi suniścitam. अर्जुन उवाच। सन्न्यासं कर्मणां कृष्ण पुनर् योगं च शंससि। यच् छ्रेय एतयोर् एकं तन् मे ब्रूहि सुनिश्चितम्॥
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✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: sannyāsaḥ karma-yogaś ca niḥśreyasa-karāv ubhau, tayos tu karma-sannyāsāt karma-yogo viśiṣyate. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। सन्न्यासः कर्म-योगश् च निःश्रेयस-कराव् उभौ। तयोस् तु कर्म-सन्न्यासात् कर्म-योगो विशिष्यते॥
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✅ jñeyaḥ sa nitya-sannyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati, nir-dvandvo hi mahā-bāho sukhaṃ bandhāt pramucyate. ज्ञेयः स नित्य-सन्न्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति। निर्-द्वन्द्वो हि महा-बाहो सुखं बन्धात् प्रमुच्यते॥
✅ yat sāṅkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṃ tad yogair api gamyate, ekaṃ sāṅkhyaṃ ca yogaṃ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati. यत् साङ्ख्यैः प्राप्यते स्थानं तद् योगैर् अपि गम्यते। एकं साङ्ख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स पश्यति॥
✅ sarva-karmāṇi manasā sannyasyāste sukhaṃ vaśī, nava-dvāre pure dehī naiva kurvan na kārayan. सर्व-कर्माणि मनसा सन्न्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी। नव-द्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन् न कारयन्॥
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✅ na kartṛtvaṃ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ, na karma-phala-saṃyogaṃ sva-bhāvas tu pravartate. न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः। न कर्म-फल-संयोगं स्व-भावस् तु प्रवर्तते॥
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✅ nādatte kasyacit pāpaṃ na caiva su-kṛtaṃ vibhuḥ, ajñānenāvṛtaṃ jñānaṃ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ. नादत्ते कस्यचित् पापं न चैव सु-कृतं विभुः। अज्ञानेनावृतं ज्ञानं तेन मुह्यन्ति जन्तवः॥
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✅ jñānena tu tad ajñānaṃ yeṣāṃ nāśitam ātmanaḥ, teṣām ādityavaj jñānaṃ prakāśayati tat param. ज्ञानेन तु तद् अज्ञानं येषां नाशितम् आत्मनः। तेषाम् आदित्यवज् ज्ञानं प्रकाशयति तत् परम्॥
✅ ye hi saṃsparśa-jā bhogā duḥkha-yonaya eva te, ādy-antavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ. ये हि संस्पर्श-जा भोगा दुःख-योनय एव ते। आद्य्-अन्तवन्तः कौन्तेय न तेषु रमते बुधः॥
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✅ śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṃ prāk charīra-vimokṣaṇāt, kāma-krodhodbhavaṃ vegaṃ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ. शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक् छरीर-विमोक्षणात्। काम-क्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः॥
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✅ yo'ntaḥ-sukho'ntar-ārāmas tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ, sa yogī brahma-nirvāṇaṃ brahma-bhūto'dhigacchati. योऽन्तः-सुखोऽन्तर्-आरामस् तथान्तर्-ज्योतिर् एव यः। स योगी ब्रह्म-निर्वाणं ब्रह्म-भूतोऽधिगच्छति॥
The Topic of Contemplation
In this chapter, Kṛṣṇa again states that renunciation is at the core of karma-yoga. Renunciation is essentially mental. It is the mind that needs to be freed from the hold of its likes and dislikes. Whether that renunciation gets translated into the renunciation of material comforts is a lifestyle choice that is secondary to mental renunciation of likes and dislikes, although it is a natural progression for the one who has the understanding necessary to be free from one’s likes and dislikes. But unless one is, in fact, able to give up material comforts, then one’s supposed mental power of renunciation is more an imagination. Renunciation means knowledge, not denial; it is the knowledge that the self is not a doer or an enjoyer.
The assimilation of this knowledge is assisted by the outward discipline of the lifestyles of karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga (knowledge as a means), and by the inward discipline of meditation and contemplation. These inward disciplines are available for both lifestyles, but the sannyāsa lifestyle and the student and retired stages of a karma-yoga life provide more opportunity for continual practice of these inward disciplines. Śama means the cessation of duties, and the sannyāsa lifestyle within the Indian culture best affords the opportunity for śama. With śama, one can focus on meditation and contemplation. But śama is just an opportunity; one has to choose inner disciplines in order to assimilate the teaching. A sannyāsī (renunciate) who is not in contemplation of the teaching is one who has fallen from the yoga.
This chapter introduces meditation and contemplation as a discipline, a yoga, within but not exclusive to jñāna-yoga. It is a solitary pursuit, once learned, meant for removing any remaining obstacles to knowledge. Meditation techniques are for gaining a steadiness of mind with the purpose of contemplating the teaching, helping one assimilate the teaching. Some details are provided in this chapter on meditation techniques; more can be gained, if needed, from the Upaniṣads (for example, Śvetāśvatara 1.10–16, Joshi 2007) and from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (1.12–51 and 2.46–3.3).
Those meditation techniques meant for gaining siddhis (special powers over nature or over others) are contrary to the teaching given here by Lord Kṛṣṇa (see 2.41–45). Patanjali said these siddhis are impediments to progress in contemplative absorption (Yoga Sutras 3.37). So the contemplation is only on the teaching given here by Lord Kṛṣṇa. The danger in focusing elsewhere is that we may become lost in pursuits outside of the teaching of the Lord and fall from the yoga. Many people have been waylaid in popular yoga power trips. If, instead, we follow the Lord’s teaching, it will show us how to progress in contemplative absorption for gaining knowledge.
Some think that they cannot meditate because the mind wanders when they sit in meditation. Incorrect! This is exactly meditation. Meditation is continually bringing the naturally mobile mind back to its intended focus. If it does not wander away, then it is samādhi (absorption in the topic); in which case, the meditation has more than succeeded. As soon as the mind has gained a certain degree of steadiness, it should be turned to contemplation of the teaching. Such a steady mind can then remain with the teaching both in and out of the seat of meditation. This is the ideal pursuit of every seeker, whether one is in karma-yoga or sannyāsa. (Jump to 7th Ch. Intro)
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✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṃ kāryaṃ karma karoti yaḥ, sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca na nir-agnir na cākriyaḥ. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। अनाश्रितः कर्म-फलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः। स सन्न्यासी च योगी च न निर्-अग्निर् न चाक्रियः॥
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✅ yaṃ sannyāsam iti prāhur yogaṃ taṃ viddhi pāṇḍava, na hy asannyasta-saṅkalpo yogī bhavati kaścana. यं सन्न्यासम् इति प्राहुर् योगं तं विद्धि पाण्डव। न ह्य् असन्न्यस्त-सङ्कल्पो योगी भवति कश्चन॥
✅ yadā hi nendriyārtheṣu na karmasv anuṣajjate, sarva-saṅkalpa-sannyāsī yogārūḍhas tadocyate. यदा हि नेन्द्रियार्थेषु न कर्मस्व् अनुषज्जते। सर्व-सङ्कल्प-सन्न्यासी योगारूढस् तदोच्यते॥
✅ su-hṛn-mitrāry-udāsīna-madhya-stha-dveṣya-bandhuṣu, sādhuṣv api ca pāpeṣu sama-buddhir viśiṣyate. सु-हृन्-मित्रार्य्-उदासीन-मध्य-स्थ-द्वेष्य-बन्धुषु। साधुष्व् अपि च पापेषु सम-बुद्धिर् विशिष्यते॥
✅ nātyaśnatas tu yogo'sti na caikāntam anaśnataḥ, na cātisvapna-śīlasya jāgrato naiva cārjuna. नात्यश्नतस् तु योगोऽस्ति न चैकान्तम् अनश्नतः। न चातिस्वप्न-शीलस्य जाग्रतो नैव चार्जुन॥
✅ yo māṃ paśyati sarvatra sarvaṃ ca mayi paśyati, tasyāhaṃ na praṇaśyāmi sa ca me na praṇaśyati. यो मां पश्यति सर्वत्र सर्वं च मयि पश्यति। तस्याहं न प्रणश्यामि स च मे न प्रणश्यति॥
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✅ sarva-bhūta-sthitaṃ yo māṃ bhajaty ekatvam āsthitaḥ, sarvathā vartamāno'pi sa yogī mayi vartate. सर्व-भूत-स्थितं यो मां भजत्य् एकत्वम् आस्थितः। सर्वथा वर्तमानोऽपि स योगी मयि वर्तते॥
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✅ ātmaupamyena sarvatra samaṃ paśyati yo'rjuna, śukhaṃ vā yadi vā duḥkhaṃ sa yogī paramo mataḥ. आत्मौपम्येन सर्वत्र समं पश्यति योऽर्जुन। सुखं वा यदि वा दुःखं स योगी परमो मतः॥
✅ etan me saṃśayaṃ kṛṣṇa chettum arhasy aśeṣataḥ, tvad-anyaḥ saṃśayasyāsya chettā na hy upapadyate. एतन् मे संशयं कृष्ण छेत्तुम् अर्हस्य् अशेषतः। त्वद्-अन्यः संशयस्यास्य छेत्ता न ह्य् उपपद्यते॥
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✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśas tasya vidyate, na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid dur-gatiṃ tāta gacchati. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। पार्थ नैवेह नामुत्र विनाशस् तस्य विद्यते। न हि कल्याण-कृत् कश्चिद् दुर्-गतिं तात गच्छति॥
✅ yoginām api sarveṣāṃ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā, śrad-dhāvān bhajate yo māṃ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ. योगिनाम् अपि सर्वेषां मद्-गतेनान्तर्-आत्मना। श्रद्-धावान् भजते यो मां स मे युक्ततमो मतः॥
Knowledge and Its Assimilation
When this teaching uses the word knowledge by itself, it indicates the completion of the knowledge that yields complete freedom. When it uses the two words knowledge (jñāna) and assimilation (vijñāna), it is distinguishing simple understanding about the teaching from its fulfillment in complete freedom. It is the difference between saying “The teaching and the teacher say I am (the self is) completely free” and saying “I am completely free.” The first speaker may simply be a scholar; the later is a master. In the preceding chapter, a life of contemplation is encouraged for the assimilation of the teaching about the nature of the limitless self.
This chapter marks a shift in emphasis from the nature of the individual (and the pursuit and assimilation of the knowledge of the nature of the individual) to the nature of the Lord (and the pursuit and assimilation of the knowledge of the nature of the Lord). This shift in emphasis lasts through chapter 12. Chapter 13 then gives a marvelous presentation of the identity of the Lord and the individual – of the Lord who is both the field and the knower of the field, and the individual who is this same knower of the field. The great Upaniṣad statement “Tat tvam asi (That [Lord] you are)” is the basis for these shifts in emphasis from the individual (“you”) to the Lord (“that”) and then to their identity (“are”). Whether one fully knows the microcosm or fully knows the macrocosm, either one amounts to complete knowledge – as the truth of one is the truth of the other. That is the very nature of truth. Truth is without division and infinite. If it is limited in any way, then it is only a concept that is subject to correction and negation.
The knowledge of the Lord starts with the macrocosm. The macrocosm is all the objects of your five senses and the concepts that make up your mind. This is the entirety of the universe, the field, before you. Even what you don’t know falls within the concept of what you know you do not know. We have to pause to appreciate how complete this ancient description of the macrocosm is. Even our vaunted modern-day physics is not as complete. Physics has only recently come to accept that the observer needs to be taken into account in order to correctly understand even a single event in the universe. But the knowledge of the Lord does not stop at that, as there is also the being that is aware of the observations and concepts in the mind.
When a scientist observes a person, the scientist can never observe that person’s awareness. Hence, psychology and the other sciences – because of the scientific method to which they are wed – are forever shut off from arriving at an understanding of the nature of this awareness, which awareness is in fact self-evident to everyone. Psychology cannot even directly study the mind. Psychologists rely on clients’ subjective responses to determine what is happening in the mind. For example, if you were the client, you would have to tell the psychologist whether stimulating a particular part of your brain evoked a particular thought in your mind. If a set of neurons firing was exactly the same as a thought, then why would a psychologist need to ask you?
Before anyone knew there were such neurons, everyone was clear what thoughts they entertained. Indeed, scientists don’t even see these neurons firing in their lab; they see only spikes on a graph, once or twice removed from what they are claiming is the fact of thought. At best, scientific theories about awareness and the mind are suppositions and inferences – to be corrected and negated by the next generation. Scientists cannot directly study your mind any more than they can read your mind. However, you alone can contemplate all this before you (including your mind) with this teaching, within self-evident awareness, and as the Lord – because the Lord is none other than yourself. (Jump to 8th Ch. Intro)
✅ ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasās tamasāś ca ye, matta eveti tān viddhi na tv ahaṃ teṣu te mayi. ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास् तामसाश् च ये। मत्त एवेति तान् विद्धि न त्व् अहं तेषु ते मयि॥
✅ teṣāṃ jñānī nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate, priyo hi jñānino'tyartham ahaṃ sa ca mama priyaḥ. तेषां ज्ञानी नित्य-युक्त एक-भक्तिर् विशिष्यते। प्रियो हि ज्ञानिनोऽत्यर्थम् अहं स च मम प्रियः॥
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✅ udārāḥ sarva evaite jñānī tv ātmaiva me matam, āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā mām evānuttamāṃ gatim. उदाराः सर्व एवैते ज्ञानी त्व् आत्मैव मे मतम्। आस्थितः स हि युक्तात्मा माम् एवानुत्तमां गतिम्॥
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✅ bahūnāṃ janmanām ante jñānavān māṃ prapadyate, vāsu-devaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-dur-labhaḥ. बहूनां जन्मनाम् अन्ते ज्ञानवान् मां प्रपद्यते। वासु-देवः सर्वम् इति स महात्मा सु-दुर्-लभः॥
✅ yo yo yāṃ yāṃ tanuṃ bhaktaḥ śrad-dhayārcitum icchati, tasya tasyācalāṃ śrad-dhāṃ tām eva vidadhāmy aham. यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्तः श्रद्-धयार्चितुम् इच्छति। तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्-धां ताम् एव विदधाम्य् अहम्॥
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✅ sa tayā śrad-dhayā yuktas tasyā rādhanam īhate, labhate ca tataḥ kāmān mayaiva vihitān hi tān. स तया श्रद्-धया युक्तस् तस्या राधनम् ईहते। लभते च ततः कामान् मयैव विहितान् हि तान्॥
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✅ antavat tu phalaṃ teṣāṃ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām, devān deva-yajo yānti mad-bhaktā yānti mām api. अन्तवत् तु फलं तेषां तद् भवत्य् अल्प-मेधसाम्। देवान् देव-यजो यान्ति मद्-भक्ता यान्ति माम् अपि॥
✅ vedāhaṃ samatītāni vartamānāni cārjuna, bhaviṣyāṇi ca bhūtāni māṃ tu veda na kaścana. वेदाहं समतीतानि वर्तमानानि चार्जुन। भविष्याणि च भूतानि मां तु वेद न कश्चन॥
✅ yeṣāṃ tv anta-gataṃ pāpaṃ janānāṃ puṇya-karmaṇām, te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā bhajante māṃ dṛḍha-vratāḥ. येषां त्व् अन्त-गतं पापं जनानां पुण्य-कर्मणाम्। ते द्वन्द्व-मोह-निर्मुक्ता भजन्ते मां दृढ-व्रताः॥
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✅ jarā-maraṇa-mokṣāya mām āśritya yatanti ye, te brahma tad viduḥ kṛtsnam adhy-ātmaṃ karma cākhilam. जरा-मरण-मोक्षाय माम् आश्रित्य यतन्ति ये। ते ब्रह्म तद् विदुः कृत्स्नम् अध्य्-आत्मं कर्म चाखिलम्॥
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✅ sādhi-bhūtādhi-daivaṃ māṃ sādhi-yajñaṃ ca ye viduḥ, prayāṇa-kāle'pi ca māṃ te vidur yukta-cetasaḥ. साधि-भूताधि-दैवं मां साधि-यज्ञं च ये विदुः। प्रयाण-कालेऽपि च मां ते विदुर् युक्त-चेतसः॥
The Topic of the Imperishable Reality
The entirety of this universe has been presented in the previous chapter, as only the Advaita Vedānta teaching can present it. Modern sciences are limited in their scope and therefore can neither confirm nor disaffirm this teaching, nor are they required to confirm it. The sciences have their own relative scope in which they provide solutions pending further study. Because only you can know your own mind and because a complete teaching must include yourself (the witness of all, including the mind), self-examination is required – in the light of this teaching – to confirm the teaching. No future science or new savior (whether in the future or the past) can do that for you.
This teaching – which examines the nature of the entire universe and the very nature of you, its witness – was given, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, at the beginning of humankind (4.1); it comes with each manifestation of the universe. It was not first given only this century, this millennium, two- or two-thousand-five-hundred or five thousand years ago – condemning previous generations to so-called “barbaric” ignorance or to lesser realms (or even torturous realms) just because they weren’t exposed to the products of the various world religions, cults, or sciences. The Vedānta teaching indicates that all possible subtle heavens or hells exist for everyone, of all generations, in keeping with their will-based deeds (7.22–23) – regardless of the era, culture, or religion in which they live. The Vedānta teaching alone reflects the eternal, universal justice to all living beings of all generations.
This teaching also indicates that there can be a transcendence of this universe, both physical and subtle – a final release from the revolutions through universal realms of existence. This release is by knowledge alone and is available during this lifetime – not supposedly after you die. This freedom, in fact, is already our nature, hidden from us by our ill-conceived notions of ourselves. This freedom is not some new knowledge given by a savior or liberator, but is the self-knowledge within each of us that blossoms once the ignorant notions have been removed and the heart is sufficiently purified of its guilts and hurts. Attaining this freedom is attaining the self of all, attaining the very being of the Lord, reality as-it-is. For this reason, Kṛṣṇa says that the greatest devotee (bhakta) to the All, to the Lord which is all, is the jñānī, the one who knows this (7.16–19, 8.22).
In chapter 8, Lord Kṛṣṇa again states that reality is unchanging and limitless and is the very nature of oneself. The Lord, this reality, alone is the embodied one in all bodies. The one who knows and thus remembers the Lord – without a doubt, as one’s self – attains that unchanging and limitless reality (8.3–10). But the one who is mistakenly identified with the changing and limited – whether that be as tiny as this body-mind complex or as grand as the manifestation of this universe (yet excluding one’s self) – will, upon the failure of the body to retain the subtle mind, move on to subtle realms. That is, one’s subtle mind with the identified ego reflecting within it will move to subtle realms. These realms will be in keeping with the grandeur of what one had continually identified with in this life. Then that subtle mind, with its ego, will be born again – with an appropriate material body to exhaust more of one’s accumulated store of karmas. Therefore, the Lord says “know Me” (13.2) and “remember Me” (8.7). (Jump to 9th Ch. Intro)
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✅ arjuna uvāca: kiṃ tad brahma kim adhy-ātmaṃ kiṃ karma puruṣottama, adhi-bhūtaṃ ca kiṃ proktam adhi-daivaṃ kim ucyate. adhi-yajñaḥ kathaṃ ko'tra dehe'smin madhu-sūdana, prayāṇa-kāle ca kathaṃ jñeyo'si niyatātmabhiḥ. अर्जुन उवाच। किं तद् ब्रह्म किम् अध्य्-आत्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम। अधि-भूतं च किं प्रोक्तम् अधि-दैवं किम् उच्यते॥ अधि-यज्ञः कथं कोऽत्र देहेऽस्मिन् मधु-सूदन। प्रयाण-काले च कथं ज्ञेयोऽसि नियतात्मभिः॥
✅ paras tasmāt tu bhāvo'nyo'vyakto'vyaktāt sanā-tanaḥ, yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati. परस् तस्मात् तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात् सना-तनः। यः स सर्वेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न विनश्यति॥
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✅ avyakto'kṣara ity uktas tam āhuḥ paramāṃ gatim, yaṃ prāpya na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṃ mama. अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्य् उक्तस् तम् आहुः परमां गतिम्। यं प्राप्य न निवर्तन्ते तद् धाम परमं मम॥
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✅ puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā, yasyāntaḥ-sthāni bhūtāni yena sarvam idaṃ tatam. पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस् त्व् अनन्यया। यस्यान्तः-स्थानि भूतानि येन सर्वम् इदं ततम्॥
The Topic of King of All Knowledge, King of All Secrets
Chapter 9 explains the relationship between this manifest universe and the Lord. This “relationship” is peculiar: The Lord is timeless and spaceless, yet manifests to us as time and space and as all within time and space. The Lord describes it thus: “All beings exist in Me, but I am not in them. Beings do not exist in Me… My ātmā (self) produces things, sustains things, but does not exist in things” (see 9.4–5). This peculiar “relationship,” like a secret (4.2–3, 9.1–2, 11.1, 15.20, and 18.63–64, 18.68, and 18.75), needs to be revealed by one who knows.
There are various analogies to understand this “relationship.” The analogy that the Lord gives in this chapter (9.6) is that of air within space. This analogy requires some understanding of Upaniṣad cosmogony. Space means dimension and air means movement. Movement arises from there being dimension; without dimension there is no movement. The understanding of movement must include dimension, but dimension does not require movement, nor is it changed in any way by this movement. Movement comes and goes within dimension, but, from the standpoint of movement, dimension always exists. Yet, dimension does not exist as a separate, limited entity within or outside movement.
Other analogies can also help us understand this “relationship” between this manifest universe and the Lord. The manifest within the Lord can be likened to clay pots within the world of clay. All clay pots are nothing but clay. You cannot take away clay and still have a clay pot. Before, during, and after the existence of a clay pot, there is only clay. Clay is the material cause (upādāna-kāraṇa) of a clay pot, but a clay pot is not a separate entity from clay. Pot is just a name we give to clay in a particular form. Being simply a name and form we attribute to clay, a pot itself does not have within its nature clay – because it could just as well be a metal or glass pot. Pot or plate is just an adjective we give to clay. Similarly, this universe of entities is simply the various names we give to forms appearing in existence-awareness (in the Lord).
Another analogy is a dream within you, the dreamer. The dream and the entities within the dream exist in you. But as real, separate entities, they do not exist in you. The dream is you, but you are not the dream. You alone are the permanent, unaffected existence within which the dream world comes and goes, cycles in and out of manifestation. Once you wake up, the particular problems of the dream disappear; you are “freed,” as it were, from the dream problems. The dream is not a modification of you, the dreamer. Even while within the dream, you are – to the extent you identify yourself with the dream – only notionally, not actually, affected by the problems in the dream. Like the dream world in relation to you, the dreamer, this universe is a lower level of reality within the real you, like the unreal to the real (a-sat to sat).
As has already been taught, the real you is nothing but the Lord. The universe is “related” to the real you, ātmā (the self), in the same way as it is to the Lord. Yet, out of ignorance, we think we are born into and die from this world and that we travel to heavenly or hellish realms within this universe. (Jump to 10th Ch. Intro)
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✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: idaṃ tu te guhyatamaṃ pravakṣyāmy anasūyave, jñānaṃ vijñāna-sahitaṃ yaj jñātvā mokṣyase'śubhāt. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। इदं तु ते गुह्यतमं प्रवक्ष्याम्य् अनसूयवे। ज्ञानं विज्ञान-सहितं यज् ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात्॥
✅ na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogam aiśvaram, bhūta-bhṛn na ca bhūta-stho mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ. न च मत्-स्थानि भूतानि पश्य मे योगम् ऐश्वरम्। भूत-भृन् न च भूत-स्थो ममात्मा भूत-भावनः॥
✅ ahaṃ hi sarva-yajñānāṃ bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca, na tu mām abhijānanti tattvenātaś cyavanti te. अहं हि सर्व-यज्ञानां भोक्ता च प्रभुर् एव च। न तु माम् अभिजानन्ति तत्त्वेनातश् च्यवन्ति ते॥
✅ samo'haṃ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo'sti na priyaḥ, ye bhajanti tu māṃ bhaktyā mayi te teṣu cāpy aham. समोऽहं सर्व-भूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रियः। ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्य् अहम्॥
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✅ api cet su-dur-ācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ. अपि चेत् सु-दुर्-आचारो भजते माम् अनन्य-भाक्। साधुर् एव स मन्तव्यः सम्यग् व्यवसितो हि सः॥
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✅ kṣipraṃ bhavati dharmātmā śaśvac chāntiṃ nigacchati, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati. क्षिप्रं भवति धर्मात्मा शश्वच् छान्तिं निगच्छति। कौन्तेय प्रतिजानीहि न मे भक्तः प्रणश्यति॥
The Topic of Glories
Literature is also part of our universe. For Arjuna, literature includes the mythologies (purāṇas) and the Vedas. Many of the purāṇas were written after the major Upaniṣads and the Rāmāyaṇa epic, but before the Mahā-bhārata epic, of which the Bhagavad Gītā is part. Prior to the purāṇas, the deities in the Vedas, including the Upaniṣads, were barely personified forces of nature, such as Agni (Fire), Vāyu (Wind), and Indra (Mind and king of the deities). The purāṇas introduced personified deities, such as Viṣṇu (Sustainer), Śiva (Destroyer), Lakṣmī (Abundance), and Sarasvatī (Culture). The deities of the purāṇas married, had families and adventures, and got in and out of trouble.
Similar to the shift in literature of natural forces to personified ones is the shift of human characters to deities. In Vālmīki’s original Rāmāyaṇa epic (the story has undergone many retellings), Rāma is a man of virtue (dharma). In the later, poetic retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa story, Rāma is a deity, an incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu. The personification of the divine aspects of nature and the divination of human characters have benefits – such as inspiring imaginative minds – but if we overlook the earlier literature, we may fail to appreciate the wonder and glory of the forces of nature and the majesty of life in a purely scientific spirit. We may also lose the culture-free unity inspired by nonpersonified nature deities. For example, a lack of attention to the earlier literature may contribute to one thinking that Kṛṣṇa is superior to Rāma, or Śiva to Viṣṇu (which is equivalent to a schoolyard argument that “my dad is better than your dad”). The Advaita Vedānta teaching has survived nonetheless, and the blend of the purāṇas and earlier literatures has indeed blessed us – despite the fractured appearances of Hinduism today.
The Mahā-bhārata epic and the Bhagavad Gītā present Kṛṣṇa as Lord Kṛṣṇa, an incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu. However, this teaching would be just as powerful and true if Kṛṣṇa was presented as a man of knowledge who had completely assimilated the knowledge of the identity of himself with the total. If this were the case, then we would understand that, when He talks about Himself, Kṛṣṇa legitimately talks from the perspective of the Lord (compare Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.10.5–6). This teaching, after all, unfolds the fact that we all are already free and are already the Lord, but we don’t know it until we are taught. If we take Kṛṣṇa as a person, a genius who was born already wise, and understand that Kṛṣṇa would have been exposed from childhood to the wonderful literature and culture that confirms the wisdom that one is the self of all, then we would understand these statements He makes about Himself in the light of the purāṇa literature. Kṛṣṇa is a special incarnation of the Lord – not born of ignorance.
In this chapter, Kṛṣṇa presents Himself as all the glories (which are described in both sets of literature – the Vedas and the purāṇas), since nothing is apart from the Lord. All we see and all we hear and think are but the Lord. This is a powerful acknowledgment of the real basis of this universe and, when that clear vision includes one’s self, it is the limitless freedom called mokṣa. The inclusion of oneself in the vision of the Lord is the difficult step indicated in the beginning and the end of Kṛṣṇa’s description of His glories (10.20, 10.42). This complete vision is the same as the culmination of the contemplation described earlier (6.10–26) that helps us assimilate this teaching. Meditation or prayer helps us mature into this complete vision until one’s self is included inseparably in this vision of the Lord. (Jump to 11th Ch. Intro)
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✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: bhūya eva mahā-bāho śṛṇu me paramaṃ vacaḥ, yat te'haṃ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyāmi hita-kāmyayā. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। भूय एव महा-बाहो शृणु मे परमं वचः। यत् तेऽहं प्रीयमाणाय वक्ष्यामि हित-काम्यया॥
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✅ na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṃ na maha-rṣayaḥ, aham ādir hi devānāṃ maha-rṣīṇāṃ ca sarvaśaḥ. न मे विदुः सुर-गणाः प्रभवं न मह-र्षयः। अहम् आदिर् हि देवानां मह-र्षीणां च सर्वशः॥
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✅ yo mām ajam anādiṃ ca vetti loka-maheśvaram, asaṃmūḍhaḥ sa martyeṣu sarva-pāpaiḥ pramucyate. यो माम् अजम् अनादिं च वेत्ति लोक-महेश्वरम्। असम्मूढः स मर्त्येषु सर्व-पापैः प्रमुच्यते॥
✅ mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā bodhayantaḥ paras-param, kathayantaś ca māṃ nityaṃ tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca. मच्-चित्ता मद्-गत-प्राणा बोधयन्तः परस्-परम्। कथयन्तश् च मां नित्यं तुष्यन्ति च रमन्ति च॥
✅ sarvam etad ṛtaṃ manye yan māṃ vadasi keśava, na hi te bhagavan vyaktiṃ vidur devā na dānavāḥ. सर्वम् एतद् ऋतं मन्ये यन् मां वदसि केशव। न हि ते भगवन् व्यक्तिं विदुर् देवा न दानवाः॥
✅ kathaṃ vidyām ahaṃ yogiṃs tvāṃ sadā paricintayan, keṣu keṣu ca bhāveṣu cintyo'si bhagavan mayā. कथं विद्याम् अहं योगिंस् त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन्। केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन् मया॥
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✅ vistareṇātmano yogaṃ vibhūtiṃ ca janārdana, bhūyaḥ kathaya tṛptir hi śṛṇvato nāsti me'mṛtam. विस्तरेणात्मनो योगं विभूतिं च जनार्दन। भूयः कथय तृप्तिर् हि शृण्वतो नास्ति मेऽमृतम्॥
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✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: hanta te kathayiṣyāmi divyā hy ātma-vibhūtayaḥ, prādhānyataḥ kuru-śreṣṭha nāsty anto vistarasya me. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। हन्त ते कथयिष्यामि दिव्या ह्य् आत्म-विभूतयः। प्राधान्यतः कुरु-श्रेष्ठ नास्त्य् अन्तो विस्तरस्य मे॥
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✅ aham ātmā guḍākeśa sarva-bhūtāśaya-sthitaḥ, aham ādiś ca madhyaṃ ca bhūtānām anta eva ca. अहम् आत्मा गुडाकेश सर्व-भूताशय-स्थितः। अहम् आदिश् च मध्यं च भूतानाम् अन्त एव च॥
✅ yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā, tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṃ mama tejo-'ṃśa-sambhavam. यद् यद् विभूतिमत् सत्त्वं श्रीमद् ऊर्जितम् एव वा। तद् तद् एवावगच्छ त्वं मम तेजो-ंऽश-सम्भवम्॥
The Topic of the Vision of the Cosmic Form
Now Arjuna makes a bold claim that is common among new students to this teaching. He says, “OK, I get it!” But what Arjuna “gets” is a particular concept; he has not fully assimilated the teaching. We know this because his next request is to especially experience the vision of this teaching. And the vision of this teaching is not a special experience.
The culmination of this teaching is a complete vision, a complete knowledge, of the all – including, inseparably, oneself – so every single experience, no matter how mundane, is immediately assimilated within this complete vision. This complete vision cannot be lost – because it is not an experience; it is simply knowledge. Once gained, it cannot be forgotten. Just as one cannot forget that one exists, one cannot forget – once clearly known – that one exists free of limitations.
If we think that there is some special enlightenment experience in the future to be reached, then we simply are not yet clear in this knowledge and what the complete vision is. It is often confused with a kind of samādhi in meditation, wherein the experiential subject/object separation disappears for a time. That is just what it is: a temporary experience that can be produced with a lot of practice. We all naturally have a very similar experience when we have a good night’s sleep. Like when we wake from sleep, when we get up from meditation we aren’t wiser. We simply get up with new information that such a nice experience happens and thus is possible. Like with sleep, we only know we had that special experience when it is over. How that experience could ever be confused with enlightenment is a wonder. A temporary mokṣa (liberation) is hardly a mokṣa. It is like a prisoner getting out of jail for a few minutes every other day. At first it is something to look forward to, but eventually it becomes just another frustration; the person remains a prisoner.
That said; the mind is capable of such epiphanies. These are natural and may be triggered by a breakthrough at some level in understanding oneself or the world, or even mechanically by certain physical or mental practices. These epiphanies can occur, but they are not the permanent, assimilated vision – the knowledge – that is unfolded by the Lord in the Bhagavad Gītā. In the Lord’s teaching, the real knowledge is of what is, always has been, and always will be (2.16–25). It is knowledge of the timeless reality as one’s self right now. It is not knowledge of what will be for a certain time and remembered later. It is a vision that, once gained, is never lost. This is especially indicated in verses 6.27–31 and 9.1–2.
Yet, in chapter 11, Arjuna naively asks Kṛṣṇa for a special perception of the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa indulges him, as only Kṛṣṇa can – as a friend and also as a teacher – to tamp down Arjuna’s boastful claim. He temporarily gives Arjuna a special sight of the infinite Lord. But though the vision starts wonderfully, Arjuna soon becomes fearful – because he has not assimilated his self in his understanding of the Lord. He feels overwhelmingly limited by what he sees as “out there” in this infinite sight, and this exacerbates the already existing fear in his heart. This fear, naturally occurring in the human heart, is due to the sense of limitation that arises from our perception of all the “others.” Arjuna’s fear indicates that he has not yet acquired clarity, much less maturity, in the vision of oneness. Maturity in this knowledge first requires clarity, then assimilation in the heart. Habitual doubts and their connected emotions based on our prior ignorance are gradually rendered more and more impotent as we mature in this vision. So this chapter, although seeming to be simply a praise of the Lord, importantly conveys a warning that this teaching is not meant to be additional information about God and life. Rather, it is a transformative, liberating teaching that is to be completely assimilated. (Jump to 12th Ch. Intro)
✅ na tu māṃ śakyase draṣṭum anenaiva sva-cakṣuṣā, divyaṃ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ paśya me yogam aiśvaram. न तु मां शक्यसे द्रष्टुम् अनेनैव स्व-चक्षुषा। दिव्यं ददामि ते चक्षुः पश्य मे योगम् ऐश्वरम्॥
✅ nabhaḥ-spṛśaṃ dīptam aneka-varṇaṃ vyāttānanaṃ dīpta-viśāla-netram, dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṃ pravyathitāntar-ātmā dhṛtiṃ na vindāmi śamaṃ ca viṣṇo. नभः-स्पृशं दीप्तम् अनेक-वर्णं व्यात्ताननं दीप्त-विशाल-नेत्रम्। दृष्ट्वा हि त्वां प्रव्यथितान्तर्-आत्मा धृतिं न विन्दामि शमं च विष्णो॥
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✅ daṃṣṭrā-karālāni ca te mukhāni dṛṣṭvaiva kālānala-sannibhāni, diśo na jāne na labhe ca śarma prasīda deveśa jagan-nivāsa. दंष्ट्रा-करालानि च ते मुखानि दृष्ट्वैव कालानल-सन्निभानि। दिशो न जाने न लभे च शर्म प्रसीद देवेश जगन्-निवास॥
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✅ amī ca tvāṃ dhṛta-rāṣṭrasya putrāḥ sarve sahaivāvani-pāla-saṅghaiḥ, bhīṣmo droṇaḥ sūta-putras tathāsau sahāsmadīyair api yodha-mukhyaiḥ. अमी च त्वां धृत-राष्ट्रस्य पुत्राः सर्वे सहैवावनि-पाल-सङ्घैः। भीष्मो द्रोणः सूत-पुत्रस् तथासौ सहास्मदीयैर् अपि योध-मुख्यैः॥
✅ ākhyāhi me ko bhavān ugra-rūpo namo'stu te deva-vara prasīda, vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṃ na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim. आख्याहि मे को भवान् उग्र-रूपो नमोऽस्तु ते देव-वर प्रसीद। विज्ञातुम् इच्छामि भवन्तम् आद्यं न हि प्रजानामि तव प्रवृत्तिम्॥
✅ adṛṣṭa-pūrvaṃ hṛṣito'smi dṛṣṭvā bhayena ca pravyathitaṃ mano me, tad eva me darśaya deva rūpaṃ prasīda deveśa jagan-nivāsa. अदृष्ट-पूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे। तद् एव मे दर्शय देव रूपं प्रसीद देवेश जगन्-निवास॥
✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: mayā prasannena tavārjunedaṃ rūpaṃ paraṃ darśitam ātma-yogāt, tejomayaṃ viśvam anantam ādyaṃ yan me tvad-anyena na dṛṣṭa-pūrvam. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। मया प्रसन्नेन तवार्जुनेदं रूपं परं दर्शितम् आत्म-योगात्। तेजोमयं विश्वम् अनन्तम् आद्यं यन् मे त्वद्-अन्येन न दृष्ट-पूर्वम्॥
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✅ na veda-yajñādhyayanair na dānair na ca kriyābhir na tapobhir ugraiḥ, evaṃ-rūpaḥ śakya ahaṃ nṛ-loke draṣṭuṃ tvad-anyena kuru-pravīra. न वेद-यज्ञाध्ययनैर् न दानैर् न च क्रियाभिर् न तपोभिर् उग्रैः। एवं-रूपः शक्य अहं नृ-लोके द्रष्टुं त्वद्-अन्येन कुरु-प्रवीर॥
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✅ mā te vyathā mā ca vimūḍha-bhāvo dṛṣṭvā rūpaṃ ghoram īdṛṅ mamedam, vyapeta-bhīḥ prīta-manāḥ punas tvaṃ tad eva me rūpam idaṃ prapaśya. मा ते व्यथा मा च विमूढ-भावो दृष्ट्वा रूपं घोरम् ईदृङ् ममेदम्। व्यपेत-भीः प्रीत-मनाः पुनस् त्वं तद् एव मे रूपम् इदं प्रपश्य॥
✅ nāhaṃ vedair na tapasā na dānena na cejyayā, śakya evaṃ-vidho draṣṭuṃ dṛṣṭavān asi māṃ yathā. नाहं वेदैर् न तपसा न दानेन न चेज्यया। शक्य एवं-विधो द्रष्टुं दृष्टवान् असि मां यथा॥
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✅ bhaktyā tv ananyayā śakya aham evaṃ-vidho'rjuna, jñātuṃ draṣṭuṃ ca tattvena praveṣṭuṃ ca paran-tapa. भक्त्या त्व् अनन्यया शक्य अहम् एवं-विधोऽर्जुन। ज्ञातुं द्रष्टुं च तत्त्वेन प्रवेष्टुं च परन्-तप॥
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✅ mat-karma-kṛn mat-paramo mad-bhaktaḥ saṅga-varjitaḥ, nir-vairaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ sa mām eti pāṇḍava. मत्-कर्म-कृन् मत्-परमो मद्-भक्तः सङ्ग-वर्जितः। निर्-वैरः सर्व-भूतेषु यः स माम् एति पाण्डव॥
The Topic of Devotion
The majesty and power of the physical and subtle universe was presented in the preceding chapter. The individual – who takes himself or herself as trapped within that universe, as a victim of the devouring jaws of time – is naturally afraid of the crushing immensity of everything “out there.” But, if one understands that this universe is a single manifestation of the reality that one calls the Lord; that one’s body-mind complex, along with its action, is naturally within the order that manifests as this universe; and that the physical and subtle laws that inform this universe are outside of one’s control but are certain and just – then one can start to objectively reconcile one’s life within the universe.
The results in life are outside of one’s control, but the results are always in keeping with one’s attitude and effort – because all results are within the cosmic order, which takes all factors into account. Every result is acceptable because every result is naturally in keeping with the entirety of the cosmic order. There is no pseudoscientific “randomness” in nature; there is only order and probability everywhere. Only possibilities exist.
The obvious intelligent design that is inherent in nature is evident as its discoverable laws. All is a manifestation of an order that only intelligence can appreciate. This is the starting point of devotion – appreciating and accepting the Lord, the reality, manifesting as the intelligent order within this cosmic wheel. In this chapter, we can understand devotion as the commitment to gaining this appreciation and acceptance. Devotion is not emotional and it is not intellectual. It is the whole person committing the body and mind to the understanding that this universe is an expression of the Lord as the cosmic order and to living this understanding appropriately.
But the Lord is more than this universe. The universe cycles in and out of manifestation within this reality that is the Lord. This Lord is the untainted reality in which the universe appears, plays itself out, and disappears. At the unchanging core of all beings is reality, the Lord’s reality. This reality can be appreciated as having all the glories we see in the universe – this is one appropriate vision. This reality can also be appreciated as being completely free of and untainted by this universe – this is the other appropriate vision.
In the first verse of chapter 12, Arjuna has a question as to which of these two visions is most efficacious in one’s means (sādhana) of seeking the ultimate goal (śreyas). The Lord has sanctioned both lifestyles – pravṛtti (pursuit in) and nivṛtti (withdrawal from) the world, both karma-yoga and sannyāsa. Kṛṣṇa again explains in this chapter that both lifestyles and their respective visions given above – appreciating the glories and acting within them, and appreciating being totally free from the glorious universe – are efficacious. But if one is not prepared – if one is still highly identified with the body and mind and is full of desires – then sannyāsa, the lifestyle wherein one renounces duties in the world and takes only to study and contemplation of the ultimate reality, is a more difficult path. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa recommends karma-yoga as a better starting point for such a person. This is obvious, but still it has to be explained because there are many people, like Arjuna, who fancy taking to sannyāsa – not out of a mature understanding of reality, but as a way to run away from the world and their duties. This seems to have been as common a problem in Kṛṣṇa’s time as it is today. (Jump to 13th Ch. Intro)
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✅ arjuna uvāca: evaṃ sa-tata-yuktā ye bhaktās tvāṃ paryupāsate, ye cāpy akṣaram avyaktaṃ teṣāṃ ke yoga-vittamāḥ. अर्जुन उवाच। एवं स-तत-युक्ता ये भक्तास् त्वां पर्युपासते। ये चाप्य् अक्षरम् अव्यक्तं तेषां के योग-वित्तमाः॥
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✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: mayy āveśya mano ye māṃ nitya-yuktā upāsate, śrad-dhayā parayopetās te me yuktatamā matāḥ. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। मय्य् आवेश्य मनो ये मां नित्य-युक्ता उपासते। श्रद्-धया परयोपेतास् ते मे युक्ततमा मताः॥
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✅ ye tv akṣaram anirdeśyam avyaktaṃ paryupāsate, sarvatra-gam acintyaṃ ca kūṭa-stham acalaṃ dhruvam. sanniyamyendriya grāmaṃ sarvatra sama-buddhayaḥ, te prāpnuvanti mām eva sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ. ये त्व् अक्षरम् अनिर्देश्यम् अव्यक्तं पर्युपासते। सर्वत्र-गम् अचिन्त्यं च कूट-स्थम् अचलं ध्रुवम्॥ सन्नियम्येन्द्रिय-ग्रामं सर्वत्र सम-बुद्धयः। ते प्राप्नुवन्ति माम् एव सर्व-भूत-हिते रताः॥
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✅ kleśo'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām, avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṃ dehavadbhir avāpyate. क्लेशोऽधिकतरस् तेषाम् अव्यक्तासक्त-चेतसाम्। अव्यक्ता हि गतिर् दुःखं देहवद्भिर् अवाप्यते॥
✅ mayy eva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṃ niveśaya, nivasiṣyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṃ na saṃśayaḥ. मय्य् एव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय। निवसिष्यसि मय्य् एव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशयः॥
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✅ atha cittaṃ samādhātuṃ na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram, abhyāsa-yogena tato mām icchāptuṃ dhanañ-jaya. अथ चित्तं समाधातुं न शक्नोषि मयि स्थिरम्। अभ्यास-योगेन ततो माम् इच्छाप्तुं धनञ्-जय॥
✅ adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṃ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca, nir-mamo nir-ahaṅkāraḥ sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣamī. santuṣṭaḥ sa-tataṃ yogī yatātmā dṛḍha-niścayaḥ, mayy arpita-mano-buddhir yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ. अद्वेष्टा सर्व-भूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च। निर्-ममो निर्-अहङ्कारः सम-दुःख-सुखः क्षमी॥ सन्तुष्टः स-ततं योगी यतात्मा दृढ-निश्चयः। मय्य् अर्पित-मनो-बुद्धिर् यो मद्-भक्तः स मे प्रियः॥
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✅ yasmān nodvijate loko lokān nodvijate ca yaḥ, harṣāmarṣa-bhayodvegair mukto yaḥ sa ca me priyaḥ. यस्मान् नोद्विजते लोको लोकान् नोद्विजते च यः। हर्षामर्ष-भयोद्वेगैर् मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः॥
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✅ anapekṣaḥ śucir dakṣa udāsīno gata-vyathaḥ, sarvārambha-parityāgī yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ. अनपेक्षः शुचिर् दक्ष उदासीनो गत-व्यथः। सर्वारम्भ-परित्यागी यो मद्-भक्तः स मे प्रियः॥
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✅ yo na hṛṣyati na dveṣṭi na śocati na kāṅkṣati, śubhāśubha-parityāgī bhaktimān yaḥ sa me priyaḥ. यो न हृष्यति न द्वेष्टि न शोचति न काङ्क्षति। शुभाशुभ-परित्यागी भक्तिमान् यः स मे प्रियः॥
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✅ samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ, śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ. tulya-nindā-stutir maunī santuṣṭo yena kenacit, aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ. समः शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयोः। शीतोष्ण-सुख-दुःखेषु समः सङ्ग-विवर्जितः॥ तुल्य-निन्दा-स्तुतिर् मौनी सन्तुष्टो येन केनचित्। अनिकेतः स्थिर-मतिर् भक्तिमान् मे प्रियो नरः॥
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✅ ye tu dharmyāmṛtam idaṃ yathoktaṃ paryupāsate, śrad-dadhānā mat-paramā bhaktās te'tīva me priyāḥ. ये तु धर्म्यामृतम् इदं यथोक्तं पर्युपासते। श्रद्-दधाना मत्-परमा भक्तास् तेऽतीव मे प्रियाः॥
The Topic of the Distinction of the Field and the Knower of the Field
Knowledge is the direct means of freeing oneself from saṃsāra (the life of unending need for becoming) because the bondage of saṃsāra is one of ignorance – ignorance of the fact that one’s self is none other than the reality of this universe and yet is free of this universe. Through ignorance alone one is bound (yoked) to “otherness,” to the limitations that appear in one’s body and mind in relation to the vast universe. Knowledge does not create freedom since, by one’s very nature, one is already free. Rather, knowledge removes the ignorance that veils the oneness of reality from our understanding.
The reality and freedom of the self is predominately taught in the first six chapters of the Bhagavad Gītā, and the reality and glories of the universe as the Lord is predominately taught in chapters 7–12. Clear statements of the identity of the self and the Lord have been given. In the next six chapters, the oneness of reality is emphasized and methodically unfolded. Through every chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā, the means to assimilate the teaching is continually taught. This means, called yoga, is essentially an enlightened attitude with appropriate values – an attitude one takes to all aspects of the relationship between oneself and the whole. This enlightened attitude is one of a devotee (bhakta) – one who intelligently appreciates and participates in the great cosmic wheel. The bhakta’s attitude yields a clarity that allows the knowledge to be completely assimilated and, hence, made firm.
This teaching of oneness – and of the way to assimilate it – is a means within saṃsāra to get out of saṃsāra. It is the key to release from limitation. In each cycle of the universe, this teaching is handed to the beings who are intelligent and mentally mature enough to make use of it. The yoga (literally, “uniting,” “yoking”) taught in the Bhagavad Gītā is the “uniting” of oneself with this teaching of the oneness of reality. It is the yoga, the commitment to the teaching, that frees us from the “yoke” that otherwise keeps us seemingly limited. In chapter 13, the Lord distinguishes (or “unyokes”) kṣetra – the field, that is, the universe including one’s body-mind complex – from kṣetra-jña, the knower of the field, who is the Lord that is oneself.
Until the reality, brahman – which is to be known as oneself, as the basis of the universe, and as the Lord – is known, making the effort of yoga and attending to the teaching is valid and required. This knowledge is not just a physical, emotional, or intellectual pursuit; nor is it an inactive or overly energetic (tāmasa or rājasa) pursuit. The whole person has to commit to this pursuit of knowledge.
There are two possible lifestyles in this pursuit – sannyāsa and yoga, or in other words nivṛtti and pravṛtti mārgas (disengaging from competitive society and engaging in competitive society) – but the means is one: Knowledge alone is the means. Yoga, as taught in the Bhagavad Gītā, is the preparation for its assimilation. It is purely cognitive (sāttvika) – all the way. Both the one who knows this knowledge and the one who wants to know this knowledge are devotees (bhaktas, see 7.16–18). The belief that there are many yogas (depending on one’s personality) that separately lead to the ultimate goal (śreyas) is not grounded in this teaching here, though elsewhere – outside the Upaniṣads, Bhagavad Gītā, and Brahma-sūtras – such divisions are expressed by those who don’t yet understand this teaching. Kṛṣṇa warned us of such distractions early on (see 2.41). Instead of creating unnecessary divisions among sincere bhaktas, Kṛṣṇa brings the traditional teaching all together in this chapter. (Jump to 14th Ch. Intro)
✅ tat kṣetraṃ yac ca yā-dṛk ca yad-vikāri yataś ca yat, sa ca yo yat-prabhāvaś ca tat samāsena me śṛṇu. तत् क्षेत्रं यच् च या-दृक् च यद्-विकारि यतश् च यत्। स च यो यत्-प्रभावश् च तत् समासेन मे शृणु॥
✅ bahir antaś ca bhūtānām acaraṃ caram eva ca, sūkṣmatvāt tad avijñeyaṃ dūra-sthaṃ cāntike ca tat. बहिर् अन्तश् च भूतानाम् अचरं चरम् एव च। सूक्ष्मत्वात् तद् अविज्ञेयं दूर-स्थं चान्तिके च तत्॥
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✅ avibhaktaṃ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktam iva ca sthitam, bhūta-bhartṛ ca taj jñeyaṃ grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca. अविभक्तं च भूतेषु विभक्तम् इव च स्थितम्। भूत-भर्तृ च तज् ज्ञेयं ग्रसिष्णु प्रभविष्णु च॥
✅ ya evaṃ vetti puruṣaṃ prakṛtiṃ ca guṇaiḥ saha, sarvathā vartamāno'pi na sa bhūyo'bhijāyate. य एवं वेत्ति पुरुषं प्रकृतिं च गुणैः सह। सर्वथा वर्तमानोऽपि न स भूयोऽभिजायते॥
✅ samaṃ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitam īśvaram, na hinasty ātmanātmānaṃ tato yāti parāṃ gatim. समं पश्यन् हि सर्वत्र समवस्थितम् ईश्वरम्। न हिनस्त्य् आत्मनात्मानं ततो याति परां गतिम्॥
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✅ prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ, yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṃ sa paśyati. प्रकृत्यैव च कर्माणि क्रियमाणानि सर्वशः। यः पश्यति तथात्मानम् अकर्तारं स पश्यति॥
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✅ yadā bhūta-pṛthag-bhāvam eka-stham anupaśyati, tata eva ca vistāraṃ brahma sampadyate tadā. यदा भूत-पृथग्-भावम् एक-स्थम् अनुपश्यति। तत एव च विस्तारं ब्रह्म सम्पद्यते तदा॥
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✅ anāditvān nir-guṇatvāt paramātmāyam avyayaḥ, śarīra-stho'pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate. अनादित्वान् निर्-गुणत्वात् परमात्मायम् अव्ययः। शरीर-स्थोऽपि कौन्तेय न करोति न लिप्यते॥
✅ kṣetra-kṣetra-jñayor evam antaraṃ jñāna-cakṣuṣā, bhūta-prakṛti-mokṣaṃ ca ye vidur yānti te param. क्षेत्र-क्षेत्र-ज्ञयोर् एवम् अन्तरं ज्ञान-चक्षुषा। भूत-प्रकृति-मोक्षं च ये विदुर् यान्ति ते परम्॥
The Topic of the Division of the Three Guṇas
Chapter 14 marks the start of the elaboration of the three guṇas (qualities in, or constituents of, nature): sattva (related to knowledge); rajas (related to activity); and tamas (related to inactivity). The universal categorization of the guṇas is used to encompass the total universe, such as the traiguṇya (see 2.45 and 3.27–28), or to encompass just the subtle world of thoughts (see 10.36, 13.19, and 17.2).
The elaboration of the guṇas that begins in this chapter distinguishes appropriate and inappropriate attitudes as they relate to karma-yoga – and ultimately brings us to the transcendence of these guṇas. Universal categorizations, such as the three guṇas, the five elements linked to the five human sense-organs, or the three worlds (earth/sky/heaven), are employed throughout the Upaniṣads to help us apply the teaching to the entire universe. The method of using universal categorization, of covering everything with a few categories, is self-acknowledged in Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.4.5:
“Because they knew [everything] through these [three categories – the red/white/black, relating to the three visible elements fire/water/earth], they said, ‘None of us will speak of anything as unheard, unthought, or unknown.’”
The universal categorization method is also used in the Bhagavad Gītā to help us understand how the three-fold structure of the universe is reflected in the mind and how the mind should then relate objectively to the universe. Just as Kṛṣṇa used the concept of yoga from Kaṭha Upaniṣad and elaborated on it in previous chapters, in chapter 14 He uses the universal categorization of the guṇas, given in Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad – which borrows heavily from Kaṭha Upaniṣad and employs the terms sāṅkhya (knowledge) and yoga together (see 2.39) – to explain karma-yoga.
Although a predominately sāttvika (uplifting) attitude is the most appropriate attitude within various behaviors, the goal is to appreciate oneself as guṇātīta – one who transcends all three guṇas – as well as one who thus transcends all actions. Among all possible attitudes we can take toward life’s basic activities, the chapters that follow (chapters 14, 17, and 18) indicate that the attitudes that can be categorized as sāttvika are preferred and that the others are to be avoided.
Sometimes the guṇas are used to categorize the predilections (dispositions) toward behaviors, for example, all the categorizations in chapter 14 are of this type. Other times, they are used to categorize the behaviors themselves, for example, most of the categorizations in chapter 17 are of this type – food choices, rituals, religious disciplines, and charities are related to the guṇas. In these cases, predilections or inappropriate behaviors are not to be condemned in others or in one’s self. After all, the things and actions of the world and the thoughts that make up the mind are what they are. They are governed by the universal laws of the total, both physical and psychological, and are affected by the whole universe. They are not meant to be viewed in isolation or out of context. In their context, they cannot be other than what they are – and ought to be accepted as they are.
However, as doers (as long as we take ourselves to be doers), we have a choice in our current action, and the Advaita Vedānta teaching can inform our attitude and our choice in that action. When we make choices informed by the teaching, we live a clean life conducive to assimilating the knowledge unfolded by the teaching. And, by living such a life, we gain this knowledge, which frees us from grief and death. (Jump to 15th Ch. Intro)
✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: prakāśaṃ ca pravṛttiṃ ca moham eva ca pāṇḍava, na dveṣṭi sampravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati. udāsīnavad āsīno guṇair yo na vicālyate, guṇā vartanta ity eva yo'vatiṣṭhati neṅgate. sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ sva-sthaḥ sama-loṣṭāśma-kāñcanaḥ, tulya-priyāpriyo dhīras tulya-nindātma-saṃstutiḥ. mānāpamānayos tulyas tulyo mitrāri-pakṣayoḥ, sarvārambha-parityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहम् एव च पाण्डव। न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति॥ उदासीनवद् आसीनो गुणैर् यो न विचाल्यते। गुणा वर्तन्त इत्य् एव योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते॥ सम-दुःख-सुखः स्व-स्थः सम-लोष्टाश्म-काञ्चनः। तुल्य-प्रियाप्रियो धीरस् तुल्य-निन्दात्म-संस्तुतिः॥ मानापमानयोस् तुल्यस् तुल्यो मित्रारि-पक्षयोः। सर्वारम्भ-परित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते॥
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✅ māṃ ca yo'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate, sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate. मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्ति-योगेन सेवते। स गुणान् समतीत्यैतान् ब्रह्म-भूयाय कल्पते॥
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✅ brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham amṛtasyāvyayasya ca, śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya ca. ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाहम् अमृतस्याव्ययस्य च। शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च॥
The Topic of the Being Who Transcends
The fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā is a marvelously complete chapter, like the second, the ninth, and the thirteenth. In each of these chapters, the entire Advaita Vedānta teaching is summarized. In chapter 15, the whole universe is presented through the Upaniṣad imagery of the Tree of Saṃsāra. In the Bhagavad Gītā, as in Kaṭha Upaniṣad (which is the source of this imagery), the Tree of Saṃsāra is not an upside-down tree. This common, but mistaken, notion is due to confusion about the meanings of the Sanskrit words “ūrdhva” and “adhas.”
In Sanskrit, ūrdhva can mean “up” or it can mean “superior.” Similarly, adhas can mean “down” or “inferior.” In Kaṭha Upaniṣad 6.1 and in the first verse of this chapter, these two words are used in their valuation and cause-effect sense (that is, as superior and inferior), not in their directional sense (up and down). If the meanings are taken as up and down, then the imagery is self-contradictory – since the “downward” secondary roots (see 15.2), which extend from the taproot, would actually be upward if the tree were upside down. (For more about the meanings of ūrdhva and adhas, see The Bhagavad Gita Dictionary, Aruna 2012.)
The taproot of the Tree of Saṃsāra is the a-vyakta brahman – the unsensed, unmanifest source of the seen universe. This a-vyakta brahman does not mutate into the vyakta (manifest) universe at the beginning of each manifestation cycle. Rather, the a-vyakta brahman continues to be while the manifest universe shimmers in our perception of it, like the unseen taproot continuously supports the visible and ever-changing tree.
Quantum physics assists in understanding this imagery. The a-vyakta (unmanifest), the kūṭa-stha (what remains immutable and in the form of deception), is like the quantum soup out of which each observer fixes what each calls “my reality” due to individual observations. This “my reality” is no more real than the perceptions and mentations that fix it. It is limited, ever-changing, and not the definitive truth. But there is truth; it is reality in and of itself. It is not other than the reality of oneself, the only observer – not other than the reality of the a-vyakta, called a-vyakta brahman. This unchanging reality is not in time or space, which are just ingredients in “my reality.” Identification with this shimmering “my reality” – a mutual imposing of natures between the observed and the observer, who wants and expects “my reality” to be as unchanging and real as myself (ātmā) yet, at the same time, perceives the observed as limiting and impinging on myself (simply because it is perceived as other than myself) – is the source of grief and death. Therefore, the first step in realizing the inherent freedom that is one’s birthright is cutting attachment to this “my reality,” this Tree of Saṃsāra (15.3–4).
Just as this timeless teaching has no fear of sciences, but rather embraces the sciences for what they are, so also does this teaching have no fear of religion. It embraces religion. This is why, in chapter 15, Kṛṣṇa describes this limitless reality as the Lord, which “in-forms” this universe and the individual – nourishing all. The term Lord is used because this reality is not a dead, insentient thing. It is not the insentient pradhāna (unevolved nature) of the later-day Sāṅkhya philosophy, akin to the evolutionary materialism of the immature Western sciences. Rather, it is the source of the singular intelligent energy that modern string theorists cannot hope to describe. It is the real “soup of everything.” The source of intelligent energy we call “the Lord” is infinitely more than what our minds can grasp; it is beyond all words and thoughts – because it is, indeed, none other than one’s self. The limitless being that we can appreciate is but the self – the observer of all limitations, free of all limitations. It is not theory, not belief. (Jump to 16th Ch. Intro)
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✅ śrī-bhagavān uvāca: ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham aśva-tthaṃ prāhur avyayam, chandāṃsi yasya parṇāni yastaṃ veda sa vedavit. श्री-भगवान् उवाच। ऊर्ध्व-मूलम् अधः-शाखम् अश्व-त्थं प्राहुर् अव्ययम्। छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस् तं वेद स वेद-वित्॥
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✅ adhaś cordhvaṃ prasṛtās tasya śākhā guṇa-pravṛddhā viṣaya-pravālāḥ, adhaś ca mūlāny anusantatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣya-loke. अधश् चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास् तस्य शाखा गुण-प्रवृद्धा विषय-प्रवालाः। अधश् च मूलान्य् अनुसन्ततानि कर्मानुबन्धीनि मनुष्य-लोके॥
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✅ na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na cādir na ca sampratiṣṭhā, aśva-ttham enaṃ su-virūḍha-mūlam asaṅga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā. tataḥ padaṃ tat parimārgitavyaṃ yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ, tam eva cādyaṃ puruṣaṃ prapadye yataḥ pravṛttiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī. न रूपम् अस्येह तथोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर् न च सम्प्रतिष्ठा। अश्व-त्थम् एनं सु-विरूढ-मूलम् असङ्ग-शस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा॥ ततः पदं तत् परिमार्गितव्यं यस्मिन् गता न निवर्तन्ति भूयः। तम् एव चाद्यं पुरुषं प्रपद्ये यतः प्रवृत्तिः प्रसृता पुराणी॥
✅ na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṃ mama. न तद् भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः। यद् गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते तद् धाम परमं मम॥
The Topic of the Distinction Between Worthy and Unworthy Dispositions
In this chapter, Lord Kṛṣṇa returns to distinguishing appropriate and inappropriate attitudes and behaviors, using the two terms daiva and āsura (see 9.12–13), meaning worthy and unworthy, instead of using the three guṇas. This change of categorization terminology brings up an important point: The teaching of Advaita Vedānta, unlike many philosophies and religions, has no interest in simply categorizing attitudes and behaviors, simply assigning names to various forms of thinking, behaving, or being. Rather, the ultimate purpose in categorizing is to direct us to see beyond names and forms, to appreciate the unchanging, underlying reality. If there are attitudes and behaviors that are helpful or not in bringing about this appreciation, they are indicated. It is not to praise or condemn them, but to point to their possible importance in gaining appreciation of the reality of oneself and the world. Once reality is appreciated for what it is, all these categories drop their significance. None of these categories are ultimate or absolute divisions in the final analysis.
The lack of importance in the naming and categorizing of things shows in the various ways for unfolding the vision of reality seen in Vedānta, in the Upaniṣads. For example, the creation or evolution of divisions in the world being not ultimately real, different teachers in the different Upaniṣads describe the apparent creation of the universe variously as coming from sat (reality), from a-sat (the unmanifest), from brahman (another word for reality, and for the Lord), from ātmā (oneself, the limitless self), from prāṇa (subtle being), etcetera. All these creation descriptions are only as if, temporary explanations for the student who believes the world is real to eventually reveal that these are just so many words and words, and that the reality of the student alone is the reality of these words, of this universe of words and their apparent divisions.
This one unchanging reality is also pointed out variously using different terms: as brahman, Īś (meaning Īśvara, the Lord), and ātmā that reference this one reality in terms of itself, the universe, and oneself, respectively. Moreover, the term for reality, brahman, is used interchangeably with Īśvara and ātmā; the term for the Lord, Īśvara, with brahman or ātmā (see 15.8); and the term for the reality of oneself, ātmā, with brahman, Īśvara, deva (shining one, deity), and so on.
Similar is the various categorizations of reality in this teaching, depending on the perspective towards the one reality that one is assuming for the moment. One can temporarily assume two levels of reality: the real and the unreal (sat and a-sat); or three: the absolute, objective, and imaginary (pāramārthika, vyāvahārika, and prātibhāsika).
In the Bhagavad Gītā, karma-yoga is taught specifically to move the individual’s identity from predominately prātibhāsika (too much subjectivity and self-importance) to vyāvahārika (more objectivity, more Īśvara in one’s life), and, eventually, to pāramārthika (that one is that Īśvara, the only reality); whereas sāṅkhya (the knowledge of reality introduced in the second chapter, see 2.39) assumes the individual is already reasonably objective and attempts to move the individual’s identity from vyāvahārika to pāramārthika, from the changing a-sat to the unchanging sat.
This switching of terminology and perspective is a method employed in the Advaita Vedānta teaching tradition to clarify one’s understanding of reality from every perspective, deterring just memorization of categories. But, to be effective, the method requires a teacher who knows the whole methodology and who has fully benefited from the teaching. The teaching tradition is for passing on this knowledge fully and faithfully to future teachers: oneself re-teaching oneself during situational backslides into habitual thinking and behaviors, as well as passing on this teaching methodology to future generations. (Jump to 17th Ch. Intro)
✅ dvau bhūta-sargau loke'smin daiva āsura eva ca, daivo vistaraśaḥ prokta āsuraṃ pārtha me śṛṇu. द्वौ भूत-सर्गौ लोकेऽस्मिन् दैव आसुर एव च। दैवो विस्तरशः प्रोक्त आसुरं पार्थ मे शृणु॥
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✅ pravṛttiṃ ca nivṛttiṃ ca janā na vidur āsurāḥ, na śaucaṃ nāpi cācāro na satyaṃ teṣu vidyate. प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च जना न विदुर् आसुराः। न शौचं नापि चाचारो न सत्यं तेषु विद्यते॥
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✅ asatyam apratiṣṭhaṃ te jagad āhur anīśvaram, aparas-para-sambhūtaṃ kim anyat kāma-haitukam. असत्यम् अप्रतिष्ठं ते जगद् आहुर् अनीश्वरम्। अपरस्-पर-सम्भूतं किम् अन्यत् काम-हैतुकम्॥
✅ yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṃ na parāṃ gatim. यः शास्त्र-विधिम् उत्सृज्य वर्तते काम-कारतः। न स सिद्धिम् अवाप्नोति न सुखं न परां गतिम्॥
The Topic of the Distinction of the Three Śraddhās
Chapter seventeen is mostly about śraddhā – a positive and receptive (sāttvika) attitude toward learning and life. It is also about the importance of accepting particular universal concepts and facts of reality that are helpful to the development of spiritual maturity. These universal concepts (such as the existence of karma or of heaven) and facts (such as oneself being none other than the limitless existence, brahman) cannot be established by reason – but they are not against reason. Reason based on perceptions cannot prove or disprove what cannot in anyway be perceived or tested (heaven, brahman). However, reason can help us understand the concepts and facts, introduced by scripture teaching, that are outside of sense perception.
Let us assume a person has trust in the teaching that the individual can exist in some way before and after this life. Reason cannot establish this, but once accepted on trust, it can be seen as reasonable, in that it is not unlike the cycling of heavenly and hellish experiences we all have survived in this life that we know in some small or great way we deserved or could not avoid. This acceptance of a continuance of life, and its assumption based on universal karma (cause and effect, potentials created that can fructify much later), provides an objective basis for understanding how my and other’s life is like it is, instead of basing these on sectarian morality, on simple mechanical causality, or on chaotic blind chance.
This objective, universal basis that spans this one life, as well as before and after this life, allows us to take a long-term approach to understanding and making choices in life. Such a long-term approach provides an objective and healthy balance to our whatever-I-can-get-away-with tendencies in life choices and to the why-me responses we have toward painful episodes.
In this short life it is not possible to perceive, and hence confidently infer, karma, heaven, or the limitless nature of oneself. In order to be as doubtless and confident in these concepts and facts as we are doubtless and confident in our sense perceptions, we must consider that there should be a separate means for knowing these with certainty. That means of knowing is here called scripture (śruti). Śraddhā (trust) in this śruti allows us to yield the full benefits of its resulting understandings of life and the world – because these understandings are taken as being as valid as sense perceptions. But if we only halfway believe in karma and heaven, then, when in crisis, we might lack confidence and spiritual maturity in the face of these situations.
With full śraddhā, we can remain unshaken during the unavoidable highs and lows of life. But these beliefs, unlike the fact of one’s limitless nature, must be recognized as beliefs, as possibly as much a myth as any other myth (for example, that there definitely are no heavens or hells, no life prior to this life, etcetera). The real value of the beliefs one accepts is in the maturity of their resulting world view that they provide you.
On one hand, we have gathered in our life opinions based on current pop culture. Yet we know they can be contradicted next week, next year, next government, next decade, next century. These opinions may have benefited some people, but on what basis does one assume that they will benefit my life? Or that they will benefit me later on in my life when I know more than I do now?
On the other hand, we have traditional teachings, perhaps as mythical as the opinions from pop culture, yet we know those teachings must have benefited people throughout their life in some way for countless generations to have survived thousands of years. If those teachings have accumulated and developed over thousands of years and are not just an old frozen document, and if those teachings are about the common human condition and are about topics that modern science has no access, then in whom should you trust?
An intelligent seeker of truth ought not to blindly accept what any teacher says. Rather, the seeker asks questions in order to discern the validity and benefit of what is being taught. To whom should I surrender my śraddhā and my life? Are there half-truths, nonsense, or unintended consequences in these beliefs? These are the concerns of an intelligent seeker of truth. Our śraddhā should always be intelligent, always be sāttvika. (Jump to 18th Ch. Intro)
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✅ arjuna uvāca: ye śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya yajante śrad-dhayānvitāḥ, teṣāṃ niṣṭhā tu kā kṛṣṇa sattvam āho rajas tamaḥ. अर्जुन उवाच। ये शास्त्र-विधिम् उत्सृज्य यजन्ते श्रद्-धयान्विताः। तेषां निष्ठा तु का कृष्ण सत्त्वम् आहो रजस् तमः॥
✅ sattvānurūpā sarvasya śrad-dhā bhavati bhārata, śrad-dhāmayo'yaṃ puruṣo yo yac-chrad-dhaḥ sa eva saḥ. सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य श्रद्-धा भवति भारत। श्रद्-धामयोऽयं पुरुषो यो यच्-छ्रद्-धः स एव सः॥
✅ dātavyam iti yad dānaṃ dīyate'nupakāriṇe, deśe kāle ca pātre ca tad dānaṃ sāttvikaṃ smṛtam. दातव्यम् इति यद् दानं दीयतेऽनुपकारिणे। देशे काले च पात्रे च तद् दानं सात्त्विकं स्मृतम्॥
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✅ yat tu pratyupakārārthaṃ phalam uddiśya vā punaḥ, dīyate ca parikliṣṭaṃ tad dānaṃ rājasaṃ smṛtam. यत् तु प्रत्युपकारार्थं फलम् उद्दिश्य वा पुनः। दीयते च परिक्लिष्टं तद् दानं राजसं स्मृतम्॥
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✅ adeśa-kāle yad dānam apātrebhyaś ca dīyate, asat-kṛtam avajñātaṃ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam. अदेश-काले यद् दानम् अपात्रेभ्यश् च दीयते। असत्-कृतम् अवज्ञातं तत् तामसम् उदाहृतम्॥
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✅ oṃ tat sad iti nirdeśo brahmaṇas tri-vidhaḥ smṛtaḥ, brāhmaṇās tena vedāś ca yajñāś ca vihitāḥ purā. ओं तत् सद् इति निर्देशो ब्रह्मणस् त्रि-विधः स्मृतः। ब्राह्मणास् तेन वेदाश् च यज्ञाश् च विहिताः पुरा॥
✅ tad ity anabhisandhāya phalaṃ yajña-tapaḥ-kriyāḥ, dāna-kriyāś ca vividhāḥ kriyante mokṣa-kāṅkṣibhiḥ. तद् इत्य् अनभिसन्धाय फलं यज्ञ-तपः-क्रियाः। दान-क्रियाश् च विविधाः क्रियन्ते मोक्ष-काङ्क्षिभिः॥
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✅ sad-bhāve sādhu-bhāve ca sad ity etat prayujyate, praśaste karmaṇi tathā sac-chabdaḥ pārtha yujyate. सद्-भावे साधु-भावे च सद् इत्य् एतत् प्रयुज्यते। प्रशस्ते कर्मणि तथा सच्-छब्दः पार्थ युज्यते॥
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✅ yajñe tapasi dāne ca sthitiḥ sad iti cocyate, karma caiva tad-arthīyaṃ sad ity evābhidhīyate. यज्ञे तपसि दाने च स्थितिः सद् इति चोच्यते। कर्म चैव तद्-अर्थीयं सद् इत्य् एवाभिधीयते॥
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✅ aśrad-dhayā hutaṃ dattaṃ tapas taptaṃ kṛtaṃ ca yat, asad ity ucyate pārtha na ca tat pretya no iha. अश्रद्-धया हुतं दत्तं तपस् तप्तं कृतं च यत्। असद् इत्य् उच्यते पार्थ न च तत् प्रेत्य नो इह॥
The Topic of the Renunciation That Gives Complete Freedom
This final chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā answers Arjuna’s long-lasting concern about a life of renunciation, completes the unfoldment of other open topics, and covers new ones (for example, the five causes or factors for the accomplishment of all actions in verses 13–16). Chapter eighteen closes with praise of the teaching lineage (18.67–78) and sums up (18.50–66) the Advaita Vedānta teaching with the essentials that Kṛṣṇa wishes Arjuna – and us – to focus on. That focus is, through karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga, to drop identification as a separate body-mind complex. We are to objectively recognize that this time-bound, limited body-mind complex and its actions are not our own but instead belong to the interconnected totality, to the natural order as a temporary manifestation of the Lord. We are to recognize our timeless identity as the limitless Lord, as existence itself. Kṛṣṇa does not stop teaching until the student, Arjuna, is fully satisfied and acknowledges that he has understood. This is because the teaching is not only for the student, but is also for the teacher inherent in the student, as the student becomes the teacher for himself or herself throughout the rest of life. Every time the unassimilated mind strays into its old, habitual thinking, the student’s now-informed intellect catches the digression and brings the mind back to clarity. The student’s informed intellect is the same as the teacher’s informed intellect, the same as the informed intellect of that teacher’s teacher, and so on, from the beginningless beginning. That student may eventually become the teacher of others also. The Advaita Vedānta teaching prepares us for all this. It is complete in every way.
All of life, then, is a field for us to resolve remaining habitual thinking. Ultimately, human life is for correcting the erroneous sense of limitation we have and the resulting unacceptability of oneself. It is natural that a teaching exists that directly addresses this need in the human heart – just as the human body needs air, so air is provided; needs food, so food is provided. This teaching is universal to all humankind. Ātmā, the essential conscious being, is as universal as it gets. That the ātmā is the limitless reality of this universe is also as universal as it gets. A life of acknowledging the interconnectedness of the entire cosmos is both ancient and modern, religious and scientific. A life of dedication to one’s duty, in recognition of this interconnectedness, is similarly universal and timeless. To the extent that modern cultures do not emphasize this truth, to that extent these cultures have yet to mature. This complete teaching was not created by Indians. It is the teaching of the Lord – the Lord which is everything, including oneself.
Until we become teachers unto ourselves, we stay with these words of the Lord. We listen to a teacher (4.34) who can unfold these words as they have been unfolded for millennia. This will bring us to the fulfillment of human life – a life free of grief, free of guilt, free of hurt, free of fear, and free of death.
✅ niścayaṃ śṛṇu me tatra tyāge bharata-sattama, tyāgo hi puruṣa-vyāghra tri-vidhaḥ samprakīrtitaḥ. निश्चयं शृणु मे तत्र त्यागे भरत-सत्तम। त्यागो हि पुरुष-व्याघ्र त्रि-विधः सम्प्रकीर्तितः॥
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✅ yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyaṃ kāryam eva tat, yajño dānaṃ tapaś caiva pāvanāni manīṣiṇām. यज्ञ-दान-तपः-कर्म न त्याज्यं कार्यम् एव तत्। यज्ञो दानं तपश् चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम्॥
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✅ etāny api tu karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā phalāni ca, kartavyānīti me pārtha niścitaṃ matam uttamam. एतान्य् अपि तु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलानि च। कर्तव्यानीति मे पार्थ निश्चितं मतम् उत्तमम्॥
✅ na hi deha-bhṛtā śakyaṃ tyaktuṃ karmāṇy aśeṣataḥ, yas tu karma-phala-tyāgī sa tyāgīty abhidhīyate. न हि देह-भृता शक्यं त्यक्तुं कर्माण्य् अशेषतः। यस् तु कर्म-फल-त्यागी स त्यागीत्य् अभिधीयते॥
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✅ aniṣṭam iṣṭaṃ miśraṃ ca tri-vidhaṃ karmaṇaḥ phalam, bhavaty atyāgināṃ pretya na tu sannyāsināṃ kvacit. अनिष्टम् इष्टं मिश्रं च त्रि-विधं कर्मणः फलम्। भवत्य् अत्यागिनां प्रेत्य न तु सन्न्यासिनां क्वचित्॥
✅ tatraivaṃ sati kartāram ātmānaṃ kevalaṃ tu yaḥ, paśyaty akṛta-buddhitvān na sa paśyati dur-matiḥ. तत्रैवं सति कर्तारम् आत्मानं केवलं तु यः। पश्यत्य् अकृत-बुद्धित्वान् न स पश्यति दुर्-मतिः॥
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✅ yasya nāhaṅ-kṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate, hatvāpi sa imāṃl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate. यस्य नाहङ्-कृतो भावो बुद्धिर् यस्य न लिप्यते। हत्वापि स इमाल्ँ लोकान् न हन्ति न निबध्यते॥
✅ pravṛttiṃ ca nivṛttiṃ ca kāryākārye bhayābhaye, bandhaṃ mokṣaṃ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī. प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये। बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी॥
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✅ yayā dharmam adharmaṃ ca kāryaṃ cākāryam eva ca, ayathāvat prajānāti buddhiḥ sā pārtha rājasī. यया धर्मम् अधर्मं च कार्यं चाकार्यम् एव च। अयथावत् प्रजानाति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ राजसी॥
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✅ adharmaṃ dharmam iti yā manyate tamasāvṛtā, sarvārthān viparītāṃś ca buddhiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī. अधर्मं धर्मम् इति या मन्यते तमसावृता। सर्वार्थान् विपरीतांश् च बुद्धिः सा पार्थ तामसी॥
✅ yad agre cānubandhe ca sukhaṃ mohanam ātmanaḥ, nidrālasya-pramādotthaṃ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam. यद् अग्रे चानुबन्धे च सुखं मोहनम् आत्मनः। निद्रालस्य-प्रमादोत्थं तत् तामसम् उदाहृतम्॥
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✅ na tad asti pṛthivyāṃ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ, sattvaṃ prakṛti-jair muktaṃ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ. न तद् अस्ति पृथिव्यां वा दिवि देवेषु वा पुनः। सत्त्वं प्रकृति-जैर् मुक्तं यद् एभिः स्यात् त्रिभिर् गुणैः॥
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✅ brāhmaṇa-kṣatriya-viśāṃ śūdrāṇāṃ ca paran-tapa, karmāṇi pravibhaktāni sva-bhāva-prabhavair guṇaiḥ. ब्राह्मण-क्षत्रिय-विशां शूद्राणां च परन्-तप। कर्माणि प्रविभक्तानि स्व-भाव-प्रभवैर् गुणैः॥
✅ saha-jaṃ karma kaunteya sa-doṣam api na tyajet, sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ. सह-जं कर्म कौन्तेय स-दोषम् अपि न त्यजेत्। सर्वारम्भा हि दोषेण धूमेनाग्निर् इवावृताः॥
✅ iti te jñānam ākhyātaṃ guhyād guhyataraṃ mayā, vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa yathecchasi tathā kuru. इति ते ज्ञानम् आख्यातं गुह्याद् गुह्यतरं मया। विमृश्यैतद् अशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु॥
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✅ sarva-guhyatamaṃ bhūyaḥ śṛṇu me paramaṃ vacaḥ, iṣṭo'si me dṛḍham iti tato vakṣyāmi te hitam. सर्व-गुह्यतमं भूयः शृणु मे परमं वचः। इष्टोऽसि मे दृढम् इति ततो वक्ष्यामि ते हितम्॥
✅ idaṃ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana, na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṃ na ca māṃ yo'bhyasūyati. इदं ते नातपस्काय नाभक्ताय कदाचन। न चाशुश्रूषवे वाच्यं न च मां योऽभ्यसूयति॥
✅ na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ, bhavitā na ca me tasmād anyaḥ priyataro bhuvi. न च तस्मान् मनुष्येषु कश्चिन् मे प्रिय-कृत्तमः। भविता न च मे तस्माद् अन्यः प्रियतरो भुवि॥
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✅ adhyeṣyate ca ya imaṃ dharmyaṃ saṃvādam āvayoḥ, jñāna-yajñena tenāham iṣṭaḥ syām iti me matiḥ. अध्येष्यते च य इमं धर्म्यं संवादम् आवयोः। ज्ञान-यज्ञेन तेनाहम् इष्टः स्याम् इति मे मतिः॥
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✅ śrad-dhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ, so'pi muktaḥ śubhāṃl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām. श्रद्-धावान् अनसूयश् च शृणुयाद् अपि यो नरः। सोऽपि मुक्तः शुभाल्ँ लोकान् प्राप्नुयात् पुण्य-कर्मणाम्॥
✅ tac ca saṃsmṛtya saṃsmṛtya rūpam atyadbhutaṃ hareḥ, vismayo me mahān rājan hṛṣyāmi ca punaḥ punaḥ. तच् च संस्मृत्य संस्मृत्य रूपम् अत्यद्भुतं हरेः। विस्मयो मे महान् राजन् हृष्यामि च पुनः पुनः॥
