The Bhagavad-Gita

THE SEVENTH TEACHING

KNOWLEDGE AND
JUDGMENT

Lord Krishna

Practice discipline in my protection,
with your mind focused on me;
Arjuna, hear how you can know me
completely, without doubt.

I will teach you the totality
of knowledge and judgment;
this known, nothing else
in the world need be known.

One man among thousands
strives for success,
and of the few who are successful,
a rare one knows my reality.

My nature has eight aspects:
earth, water, fire, wind, space,
mind, understanding,
and individuality.

This is my lower nature;
know my higher nature too,
the life-force
that sustains this universe.

Learn that this is the womb
of all creatures;
I am the source of all the universe,
just as I am its dissolution.

Nothing is higher than I am;
Arjuna, all that exists
is woven on me,
like a web of pearls on thread.

I am the taste in water, Arjuna,
the light in the moon and sun,
OM resonant in all sacred lore,
the sound in space, valor in men.

I am the pure fragrance
in earth, the brilliance in fire,
the life in all living creatures,
the penance in ascetics.

Know me, Arjuna,
as every creature's timeless seed,
the understanding of intelligent men,
the brilliance of fiery heroes.

Of strong men, I am strength,
without the emotion of desire;
in creatures I am the desire
that does not impede sacred duty.

Know that nature's qualities
come from me—lucidity,
passion, and dark inertia;
I am not in them, they are in me.

All this universe, deluded
by the qualities inherent in nature,
fails to know that I am
beyond them and unchanging.

Composed of nature's qualities,
my divine magic is hard to escape;
but those who seek refuge in me
cross over this magic.

Vile, deluded sinners are the men
who fail to take refuge in me;
their knowledge ruined by magic,
they fall prey to demonic power.

Arjuna, four types of virtuous men
are devoted to me:
the tormented man, the seeker of wisdom,
the suppliant, and the sage.

Of these, the disciplined man of knowledge
is set apart by his singular devotion;
I am dear to the man of knowledge,
and he is dear to me.

They are all noble, but I regard
the man of knowledge to be my very self;
self-disciplined, he holds me
to be the highest way.

At the end of many births,
the man of knowledge finds refuge in me;
he is the rare great spirit who sees
“Krishna is all that is.”

Robbed of knowledge by stray desires,
men take refuge in other deities;
observing varied rites,
they are limited by their own nature.

I grant unwavering faith
to any devoted man who wants
to worship any form
with faith.

Disciplined by that faith,
he seeks the deity's favor;
this secured, he gains desires
that I myself grant.

But finite is the reward
that comes to men of little wit;
men who sacrifice to gods reach the gods;
those devoted to me reach me.

Men without understanding think that I am
unmanifest nature become manifest;
they are ignorant of my higher existence,
my pure, unchanging absolute being.

Veiled in the magic of my discipline,
I elude most men;
this deluded world is not aware
that I am unborn and immutable.

I know all creatures
that have been, that now exist,
and that are yet to be;
but, Arjuna, no one knows me.

All creatures are bewildered
at birth by the delusion
of opposing dualities
that arise from desire and hatred.

But when they cease from evil
and act with virtue, they devote
themselves to me, firm in their vows,
freed from the delusion of duality.

Trusting me, men strive
for freedom from old age and death;
they know the infinite spirit,
its inner self and all its action.

Men who know me as its inner being,
inner divinity, and inner sacrifice
have disciplined their reason;
they know me at the time of death.