CH 7, Verse 1

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Chapter 7

Verse 1

 

Atha saptamo'dhyaayah

(jnaanavijnaanayogah)

 

Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:

 

Mayy aasakta-manaah Paartha yogam yunjan mad-aashrayah

/

asa.nshayam samagram maa.n yathaajnaasyasi tach

chhrinu //

 

Seventh Chapter

The Yoga of Knowledge With Realization

The Blessed Lord siad:

 

With the mind intent on Me, taking refuge in Me, and

practicing Yoga, O Arjuna, hear how you will know Me

fully, without any doubt whatsoever

 

 

LESSONS FROM BHAGAVAD GITA – 67

As taught by Parama Pujya Sri Swamiji

Compiled by: Swami Dattananda

Bhaktimala, February 1999

 

Now, we will begin the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad

Gita. In the first six chapters Sri Krishna explained

the true nature of the divinity within us. He

described that man is the soul and not the body, which

is subject to decay and death. And the death of the

body is not the death of the soul as the soul is

immortal. Thus after explaining the immortality of the

soul, the Lord gave necessary directions and guidance

to the individual as to how he should proceed and what

practices he should do in order to realize the higher

values of life. By the time we reach the seventh

chapter, this task of self-integration gets completed

and we are made ready to leap into the beyond and see

how the Lord remains a Transcendental Being while

being immanent in everything in the world.

 

But, in order to understand the Lord in His entirety,

it is imperative that the seeker should possess

intense faith and devotion to Him. It is worthwhile,

in this connection, to remember the last verse of the

previous chapter in which Sri Krishna says, "Even

among all the Yogis, he who worships Me, full of

faith, is my opinion, the most steadfast." In this

verse the Lord has sown the seed of Bhakti Yoga, which

is of paramount importance to understand the Lord

fully. Bhakti Yoga will be explained in detail in the

12th chapter. But in this seventh chapter, the Lord

stresses the importance of Bhakti to realize fully the

nature of the Lord and the power of his manifestation.

 

 

The seeker of God should fix his mind on God alone and

he should resort to Him alone. He should not resort to

anything else. He should not allow his mind to wander

about here and there. This, in short, is Bhakti Yoga.

If this Yoga or discipline is resorted to, one can

attain to the highest knowledge of the Lord in its

fullness. Therefore the Lord says, "With the mind

intent on Me, taking refuge in Me, and practicing

Yoga, O Arjuna, hear how you will know Me fully,

without any doubt whatsoever" (Chapter 7, Verse 1).

 

One cannot understand the true nature of the divinity

of the Supreme Lord through intelligence or

scholarship. It is through love and love alone that

one gets the realization of the divinity in the real

sense. Love means attraction and attachment that bring

two souls together. And when an individual soul gets

attracted to the Supreme Soul, then takes place the

highest expression of Love. This love, unlike the

earthly love, is pure and unselfish. That is why it is

called Bhakti, or devotion. Bhakti is constant

remembrance of the Lord with intense love. In this

love, if the lover (devotee) by chance forgets for a

moment to think of his Beloved (the Lord) that would

suffice to impair his existence. This kind of devotion

is necessary to understand and realize the true nature

of the Lord. Therefore the Lord wants Arjuna to keep

his mind intent on Him, which means fully absorbed in

love for Him and to take refuge in Him, which means to

resign to Him totally, and then alone, by the practice

of Yoga, he would understand the Lord fully.

 

 

 

 

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