The Path of Immediate Realization

When a devotee thinks of God, he becomes absorbed in Him. Correspondingly, God also becomes absorbed in His devotee. In this state of awareness, full of grace and affection for Arjuna, Śrī Kṛṣṇa begins this chapter without any prompting from Arjuna, focusing mainly on the topic of devotion.
This chapter, which begins the second set of six chapters and concentrates on bhakti-yoga, consists of thirty verses, all spoken by Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa explains jñāna (knowledge) and vijñāna (its immediate realization) (2). It is very rare that someone takes to the path of liberation (3). The majority of humanity is engrossed in survival and material pleasure. Yet, even among thousands of liberated individuals, hardly anyone knows Śrī Kṛṣṇa in reality. In nine verses, Kṛṣṇa explains how He is the source of everything and the possessor of the material energy. This energy manifests as the five gross elements, as well as the mind, intellect, and ego. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s other energy is the conscious living being for whom this whole universe is evolved (4–6).
Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the essence of everything. He is the taste in water, the fragrance in earth, and the effulgence in the sun and moon (8–9). Indeed, everything emanates from Him and is pervaded by Him. Why then are people not aware of Him? Śrī Kṛṣṇa responds that it is due to the influence of His māyā (the material energy), which consists of the three guṇas (13). Only those who surrender to Him can transcend His māyā (14). Those bereft of wisdom do not surrender to Him (15). By contrast, the wise who, after many births, surrender unto Him, are dear to Him and exceedingly rare (19).
Those whose discernment is stolen away by desire, worship other devas and achieve insignificant goals (20–23). Those free from the illusion of duality and whose misdeeds have come to an end, worship Kṛṣṇa with staunch faith (28). Being established in immediate realization of Him, such yogīs remain conscious of Him. Śrī Kṛṣṇa affirms this conclusion at the end of the chapter, while referring to the complete array of His potencies: “Those who strive for deliverance from old age and death, having taken shelter of Me, realize the Absolute (Brahman), the total complex of integral selfhood (adhyātma), and consequential action (karma) in its entirety. Those who have realized Me, along with the truths regarding phenomenality (adhibhūta), cosmic governance (adhidaiva), and the immanent impeller of action (adhiyajña), and whose minds are firmly established in Me are conscious of Me even at the time of death” (29–30). The technical Sanskrit terms used here are defined in the beginning of Chapter 8.

All Verses

  1. Verse 1Śrī Bhagavān said: Arjuna, please listen how, with your mind attached to Me, taking refuge in Me, and practicing yoga, you will come to know Me fully, free from any doubt.
  2. Verse 2I shall reveal to you in full this knowledge along with the process of its immediate realization, knowing which nothing else further remains to be known in this world.
  3. Verse 3Among thousands of human beings, one might strive for perfection. Moreover, among all those who are striving and even among those who have already attained perfection, hardly anyone knows Me in reality.
  4. Verse 4Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and ego — this is My material energy (prakṛti), divided into eight categories.
  5. Verse 5This is My inferior nature, O mighty-armed. But you should know that distinct from this, is My superior nature which consists of the individual self ( jīva) by whom the cosmos is sustained.
  6. Verse 6Know that these two natures are the source of all created beings. I am the origin and dissolution of the entire cosmos.
  7. Verse 7There is nothing superior to Me, O Arjuna. This entire cosmos is strung on Me, like pearls on a thread.
  8. Verse 8O son of Kuntī, in water I am taste, and in the moon and sun I am light. In all the Vedas I am the sacred syllable Oṁ, in ether I am sound, and in human beings I am prowess.
  9. Verse 9In the earth I am pure odor, and in fire I am radiance. In all living beings I am life itself, and in ascetics I am austerity.
  10. Verse 10O Pārtha, know Me to be the eternal seed of all living beings. I am the wisdom of the wise and the prowess of the powerful.
  11. Verse 11O best of the Bharatas, I am the strength of the strong, free from hankering and attachment, and in human beings, I am passion that is unopposed to scriptural injunctions.
  12. Verse 12Know that all mental states, be they of the nature of illumination (sāttvika), dynamism (rājasika), or inertia (tāmasika), originate exclusively from Me. I am not under the guṇas and the mental states induced by them, yet they are under Me.
  13. Verse 13Deluded by these mental states, which are products of the three guṇas of nature, this entire universe does not know Me, who am beyond these mental states and immutable.
  14. Verse 14This divine external potency of Mine, constituted of the three guṇas, is indeed very difficult to surmount. Yet, those who take refuge in Me alone cross over this māyā.
  15. Verse 15Those who are utterly bereft of discrimination, those who are the lowest of men, those whose wisdom has been carried away by māyā, and those who have embraced the secularist-materialistic (asuric*) nature — all such performers of unmeritorious acts do not take refuge in Me.
  16. Verse 16Four kinds of virtuous people worship Me, O Arjuna — the distressed, those inquiring into the nature of truth, the seeker of wealth, and the wise ( jñānī), O best of Bharatas.
  17. Verse 17Out of these, the person endowed with wisdom, who is ever united with Me and invested with exclusive devotion, is preeminent. Indeed, I am exceedingly dear to the wise person and he is dear to Me.
  18. Verse 18All of these people indeed are noble, but the person endowed with wisdom is My very Self. This is My view, because such a person, having fixed his mind on Me, has taken refuge of Me, considering Me alone as the highest goal.
  19. Verse 19After many births, the person endowed with the wisdom that “Vāsudeva* is everything” surrenders unto Me. Such a great person is extremely rare.
  20. Verse 20Those whose discernment has been taken away by various desires surrender to other deities. Observing the various rules related to them, they are swayed by their own nature.
  21. Verse 21Whatever form a particular devotee chooses to worship with faith, I bestow upon him firm faith in that particular deity.
  22. Verse 22Endowed with that faith, the devotee worships that particular deity and obtains through that deity the desired boons which are in fact granted by Me alone.
  23. Verse 23However, the fruit attained by these people of meager intellect is perishable. The worshipers of the devas go to the devas, whereas My devotees come to Me.
  24. Verse 24Not knowing My supreme nature, which is immutable and insurmountable, those of unawakened discrimination consider Me as but a visible manifestation of the unmanifest formless Brahman.
  25. Verse 25Veiled by My divine potency ( yoga-māyā), I am not manifest to all. Therefore, the deluded world does not know Me, the unborn and imperishable.
  26. Verse 26O Arjuna, I know all living beings, past, present, and future, but nobody knows Me.
  27. Verse 27O Bhārata, O scorcher of enemies, all living beings are beset with delusion from their very birth due to the illusion of duality which is born of desire and aversion.
  28. Verse 28But those people whose actions are virtuous and whose misdeeds have come to an end, they, being freed from the delusion of duality, worship Me with firm resolve.
  29. Verse 29Those who strive for deliverance from old age and death, having taken shelter of Me, realize the Absolute (Brahman), the total complex of integral selfhood (adhyātma), and consequential action (karma) in its entirety.
  30. Verse 30Those who have realized Me, along with the truths regarding phenomenality (adhibhūta), cosmic governance (adhidaiva), and the immanent impeller of action (adhiyajña), and whose minds are firmly established in Me are conscious of Me even at the time of death.

Questions

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