Capter VII
Communion Through Knowledge
The Blessed Lord said:
1. Hear now, O son of Pritha, how one resigned to Me and absorbed in love of Me, attains
to full knowledge of Me through the practice of spiritual communion.
2. I shall now declare to you in fullness that Knowledge along with Special Knowledge, (its
higher development), by means of which there will remain nothing more for you to
understand.
3. Among thousands of men, there will just be one here or there striving for spiritual
perfection. From among the aspirants so striving, one perchance knows Me in truth.
4. My Nature is divided into eight categories - earth, water, fire, air, sky (ether), mind
(manas), understanding (buddhi), and I-sense (ahamkara).
5. This, O mighty armed, is My lower Nature. Know that, as different from it, is My higher
Nature forming the source of all Jivas and the support of the whole universe.
6. Know that all beings have these two Natures of Mine as their source. I am the origin and
the dissolution of this entire universe.
7. O Arjuna! There is no being higher than Me. As a row of pearls threaded on a string, all
the worlds are held on Me.
8. O son of Kunti! In water I am taste; in sun and moon, their brilliance; in all the Vedas,
the sound symbol Om; in the sky-element, sound; and in men, their manliness.
9. In the earth element I am sweet fragrance; in fire I am brilliance; in living beings I am
the life-principle; and in austere men, I am austerity.
10. Know me, O Partha! to be the eternal seed of all beings. In the wise I am their wisdom
and in puissant men, their prowess.
11. In the strong I am strength uncorrupted by desire and attachment, and in living beings
I am desire not contrary to virtue.
12. Whatever manifestations there are of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, they have all come from
Me. They are in Me, not I in them.
13. Deluded by the mental states accruing from the three Gunas of Prakriti, this world
knows not Me, the Imperishable, transcending these Gunas.
14. My divine Maya (power) constituted of the three Gunas is difficult to overcome.
Whoever takes refuge in Me alone, in utter devotion, overcomes it.
15. The lowest type of men, evil, foolish and demoniac in nature, being deprived of right
understanding by Maya, never take refuge in Me with devotion.
16. O Arjuna, the greatest of the Bharata race! Four kinds of pious men adore Me. They are
the distressed one, the knowledge-seeker, the wealth-seeker, and the knower.
17. Among them, the knower (or the man of wisdom), ever communing and single-minded
in devotion, is the best. I am indeed supremely dear to such a knower, and he in turn is
dear to Me.
18. While all of them are certainly noble, the knower I cherish as My very self - such is My
view. For, ever in union with Me, he is established in the conviction that I am his highest
goal.
19. At the end of many births (of striving), the knowing one makes Me his refuge, realising
that Vasudeva is All. A great soul of that type is rare to find.
20. Influenced by their inherent nature and deprived of correct judgement by numerous
desires, people adore other deities with various forms of worship pertaining to them.
21. Whichever devotee desires to adore whatever such Deity with faith, in all such votaries
I make that particular faith unshakable.
22. Endowed with that faith, a votary performs the worship of that particular deity and
obtains the fruits thereof, these being granted by Me alone.
23. The results accruing to such small-minded people are finite only. Those who worship
the Devas go to the Devas, but My devotees attain to Me.
24. Without any insight into My transcendental nature, unique and immutable, men of
little understanding look upon Me as a mere human individual, having come into
manifestation from an unmanifested state.
25. Veiled as I am in My Yoga-maya (Divine Power), I am not revealed to all. This deluded
world does not know Me, the unoriginated and the indestructible.
26. O Arjuna! I know all beings - past, present and future. But none knows me.
27. O scion of Bharata's house! From their very birth all beings are deluded by the
bewitchment of the pairs of opposites like pleasure and pain, springing from the instinctive
feelings of attraction and aversion for them.
28. But those men of virtuous deeds, in whom sinfulness has been effaced - they, freed
from the bewilderment of sense life, worship Me with great steadfastness in their vows.
29. Those that strive for liberation from the travails of old age and death in complete trust
and dependence on Me, shall know all about the Absolute, His spiritual manifestation and
His works of spiritual import.
30. Those who have grasped that I am the spiritual power that sustains all material
manifestations, all divine expressions and all spiritual endeavours - they continue to know
Me as such even at the time of death, their mind being ever absorbed in Me.
The Blessed Lord said:
1. Hear now, O son of Pritha, how one resigned to Me and absorbed in love of Me, attains
to full knowledge of Me through the practice of spiritual communion.
2. I shall now declare to you in fullness that Knowledge along with Special Knowledge, (its
higher development), by means of which there will remain nothing more for you to
understand.
3. Among thousands of men, there will just be one here or there striving for spiritual
perfection. From among the aspirants so striving, one perchance knows Me in truth.
4. My Nature is divided into eight categories - earth, water, fire, air, sky (ether), mind
(manas), understanding (buddhi), and I-sense (ahamkara).
5. This, O mighty armed, is My lower Nature. Know that, as different from it, is My higher
Nature forming the source of all Jivas and the support of the whole universe.
6. Know that all beings have these two Natures of Mine as their source. I am the origin and
the dissolution of this entire universe.
7. O Arjuna! There is no being higher than Me. As a row of pearls threaded on a string, all
the worlds are held on Me.
8. O son of Kunti! In water I am taste; in sun and moon, their brilliance; in all the Vedas,
the sound symbol Om; in the sky-element, sound; and in men, their manliness.
9. In the earth element I am sweet fragrance; in fire I am brilliance; in living beings I am
the life-principle; and in austere men, I am austerity.
10. Know me, O Partha! to be the eternal seed of all beings. In the wise I am their wisdom
and in puissant men, their prowess.
11. In the strong I am strength uncorrupted by desire and attachment, and in living beings
I am desire not contrary to virtue.
12. Whatever manifestations there are of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, they have all come from
Me. They are in Me, not I in them.
13. Deluded by the mental states accruing from the three Gunas of Prakriti, this world
knows not Me, the Imperishable, transcending these Gunas.
14. My divine Maya (power) constituted of the three Gunas is difficult to overcome.
Whoever takes refuge in Me alone, in utter devotion, overcomes it.
15. The lowest type of men, evil, foolish and demoniac in nature, being deprived of right
understanding by Maya, never take refuge in Me with devotion.
16. O Arjuna, the greatest of the Bharata race! Four kinds of pious men adore Me. They are
the distressed one, the knowledge-seeker, the wealth-seeker, and the knower.
17. Among them, the knower (or the man of wisdom), ever communing and single-minded
in devotion, is the best. I am indeed supremely dear to such a knower, and he in turn is
dear to Me.
18. While all of them are certainly noble, the knower I cherish as My very self - such is My
view. For, ever in union with Me, he is established in the conviction that I am his highest
goal.
19. At the end of many births (of striving), the knowing one makes Me his refuge, realising
that Vasudeva is All. A great soul of that type is rare to find.
20. Influenced by their inherent nature and deprived of correct judgement by numerous
desires, people adore other deities with various forms of worship pertaining to them.
21. Whichever devotee desires to adore whatever such Deity with faith, in all such votaries
I make that particular faith unshakable.
22. Endowed with that faith, a votary performs the worship of that particular deity and
obtains the fruits thereof, these being granted by Me alone.
23. The results accruing to such small-minded people are finite only. Those who worship
the Devas go to the Devas, but My devotees attain to Me.
24. Without any insight into My transcendental nature, unique and immutable, men of
little understanding look upon Me as a mere human individual, having come into
manifestation from an unmanifested state.
25. Veiled as I am in My Yoga-maya (Divine Power), I am not revealed to all. This deluded
world does not know Me, the unoriginated and the indestructible.
26. O Arjuna! I know all beings - past, present and future. But none knows me.
27. O scion of Bharata's house! From their very birth all beings are deluded by the
bewitchment of the pairs of opposites like pleasure and pain, springing from the instinctive
feelings of attraction and aversion for them.
28. But those men of virtuous deeds, in whom sinfulness has been effaced - they, freed
from the bewilderment of sense life, worship Me with great steadfastness in their vows.
29. Those that strive for liberation from the travails of old age and death in complete trust
and dependence on Me, shall know all about the Absolute, His spiritual manifestation and
His works of spiritual import.
30. Those who have grasped that I am the spiritual power that sustains all material
manifestations, all divine expressions and all spiritual endeavours - they continue to know
Me as such even at the time of death, their mind being ever absorbed in Me.