- 7.1श्री भगवानुवाचLord Shri Krishna said: Listen, O Arjuna! I will tell you how you can know Me in my full perfection. Practice meditation with your mind devoted to Me and take Me as your refuge.
- 7.2ज्ञानं तेऽहं सविज्ञानमिदं वक्ष्याम्यशेषतः।I will reveal this knowledge to you and how it can be realized; once accomplished, there is nothing else worth having in this life.
- 7.3मनुष्याणां सहस्रेषु कश्िचद्यतति सिद्धये।Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection, and even among those who gain occult powers, perhaps only one knows me in truth.
- 7.4भूमिरापोऽनलो वायुः खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च।Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and personality—this is the eightfold division of My manifested nature.
- 7.5अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम्।This is My inferior nature; however, O valiant one, know that distinct from this is My superior nature, which is the very life that sustains the universe.
- 7.6एतद्योनीनि भूतानि सर्वाणीत्युपधारय।It is the womb of all beings; for I am He by Whom the worlds were created and shall be dissolved.
- 7.7मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय।O Arjuna! There is nothing higher than Me; all is strung on Me like rows of pearls on a thread.
- 7.8रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययोः।O Arjuna! I am the fluidity in water, the light in the sun and moon, the mystic syllable Om in the Vedic scriptures, the sound in ether, and the virility in man.
- 7.9पुण्यो गन्धः पृथिव्यां च तेजश्चास्मि विभावसौ।I am the fragrance of the earth, the brilliance of fire, the life force in all beings, and the austerity of ascetics.
- 7.10बीजं मां सर्वभूतानां विद्धि पार्थ सनातनम्।Know, O Arjuna, that I am the eternal seed of being; I am the intelligence of the intelligent, the splendour of the resplendent.
- 7.11बलं बलवतां चाहं कामरागविवर्जितम्।I am the strength of the strong, those who are free from attachment and desire; and, O Arjuna, I am the desire for righteousness.
- 7.12ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास्तामसाश्च ये।Whatever be the nature of their life, whether it be pure, passionate, or ignorant, they are all derived from Me. They are in Me, but I am not in them.
- 7.13त्रिभिर्गुणमयैर्भावैरेभिः सर्वमिदं जगत्।The inhabitants of the world, misled by the natures engendered by the Qualities, do not know that I am higher than them all and that I do not change.
- 7.14दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया।Verily, this divine illusion of phenomenon manifesting itself in the qualities is difficult to surmount. Only they who devote themselves exclusively to Me can accomplish it.
- 7.15न मां दुष्कृतिनो मूढाः प्रपद्यन्ते नराधमाः।The sinner, the ignorant, the vile, deprived of spiritual perception by the glamour of illusion, and he who leads a godless life—none of them shall find me.
- 7.16चतुर्विधा भजन्ते मां जनाः सुकृतिनोऽर्जुन।O Arjuna! The righteous who worship Me are grouped in stages: first, those who suffer, next those who desire knowledge, then those who thirst after truth, and lastly those who attain wisdom.
- 7.17तेषां ज्ञानी नित्ययुक्त एकभक्ितर्विशिष्यते।Of all these, he who has gained wisdom, who meditates on Me without ceasing, devoting himself solely to Me, is the best; for I am exceedingly beloved by the wise man, and the wise man is also beloved by Me.
- 7.18उदाराः सर्व एवैते ज्ञानी त्वात्मैव मे मतम्।Noble-minded are they all, but the wise man I hold as my own self; for he, remaining always at peace with me, makes me his ultimate goal.
- 7.19बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते।After many lives, at last the wise one realizes Me as I am. It is very difficult to find a man so enlightened that he sees God everywhere.
- 7.20कामैस्तैस्तैर्हृतज्ञानाः प्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवताः।They in whom wisdom is obscured by one desire or another, worship the lesser powers, practicing many rites that vary according to their temperaments.
- 7.21यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्तः श्रद्धयार्चितुमिच्छति।But whatever form of worship, if the devotee has faith, then I set My own seal upon their faith in that worship.
- 7.22स तया श्रद्धया युक्तस्तस्याराधनमीहते।If he worships one form alone with real faith, then his desires shall be fulfilled through that alone; for thus I have ordained.
- 7.23अन्तवत्तु फलं तेषां तद्भवत्यल्पमेधसाम्।The fruit that comes to people of limited insight is, after all, finite. Those who worship the Lower Powers attain them; but those who worship Me come to Me alone.
- 7.24अव्यक्तं व्यक्ितमापन्नं मन्यन्ते मामबुद्धयः।The ignorant think of Me, who am the Unmanifested Spirit, as if I were in human form. They do not understand that My Superior Nature is unchanging and most excellent.
- 7.25नाहं प्रकाशः सर्वस्य योगमायासमावृतः।I am not visible to all, for I am enveloped by the illusion of the Phenomenon. This deluded world does not know Me as the Unborn and Imperishable.
- 7.26वेदाहं समतीतानि वर्तमानानि चार्जुन।I know, O Arjuna, all beings in the past, the present, and the future; but they do not know Me.
- 7.27इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत।O brave Arjuna! Man lives in a fantastical world, deceived by the glamour of opposing sensations, infatuated by desire and aversion.
- 7.28येषां त्वन्तगतं पापं जनानां पुण्यकर्मणाम्।But those who act righteously, in whom sin has been destroyed, who are free from the infatuation of conflicting emotions, they worship Me with a firm resolve.
- 7.29जरामरणमोक्षाय मामाश्रित्य यतन्ति ये।Those who make Me their refuge, striving for liberation from decay and death, realize the Supreme Spirit, which is their own real Self, and in which all action finds its consummation.
- 7.30साधिभूताधिदैवं मां साधियज्ञं च ये विदुः।Those who see Me in the life of the world, in the universal sacrifice, and as pure Divinity, keeping their minds steady, they live in Me even in the hour of death's approach.