BHAGAVAD GITA FOR BUSY PEOPLE - SWAMI SIVANANDA

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DEAR BHAGAVAT BANDUVULLARA!,

 

BHAGAVAD GITA FOR BUSY PEOPLE

 

CHAPTER: CHAPTER VII

 

THE YOGA OF WISDOM: JNANA YOGA

 

The blessed Lord said, " I shall declare to thee in full this

knowledge combined with realization, which being known, nothing here

remains to be known (2). Among thousands of men, one perchance

strives for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only

one perchance knows Me in essence (3).

 

" Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, egoism—this is

My Prakriti divided eightfold (4). This is the inferior Prakriti,

but different from it, know thou, O mighty-armed, My higher Prakriti,

the very life-element, by which this world is upheld (5).

 

" I am the taste in waters, O Son of Kunti. I am the light in the

moon, and the sun; I am the syllable OM in all Vedas, sound in ether

and virility in men (8)

 

" Verily, this divine illusion of Mine, caused by the qualities is

difficult to cross over, those who take refuge in Me alone cross over

this illusion. (14).

 

" Four kinds of virtuous men worship Me O Arjuna, and they are the

distressed, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of wealth and the

wise, O lord of Bharatas (16). Of these, the wise, ever steadfast

and devoted to the One excels, for I am exceedingly dear to the wise,

and he is dear to Me (17). Noble indeed are all these; but the wise

man, I deem as My very Self; for steadfast in mind he is established

in Me alone, as the Supreme Goal (18). At the end of many births the

wise man comes to Me, realizing that all this is Vasudeva, the

innermost Self, such a great soul is very hard to find (19).

 

" " By the delusion of the pairs of opposites, arising from desire

and aversion (likes and dislikes) O Bharata, all beings are subject

to illusion, O Parantapa (Scorcher of Foes) (27). But those men of

pure deeds, whose sin has come to an end, who are freed from the

delusion of the pairs of opposites, worship Me, steadfast in vows

(23).

 

" Those who knows Me in the Adhibhuta (pertaining to the elements)

in the Adhidaiva (pertaining to the Gods) and in the Adhiyajna

(pertaining to the sacrifice), know Me even at the time of death,

steadfast in mind " (30)