Chapter 7

Krishna spoke: Listen now, dear Prince, and I will tell you how, if you keep your soul fixed always on Me, practicing yoga and taking Me as your refuge, you will surely come to a complete grasp of Me. I will share with you the highest knowledge, both whole and detailed, and once you know it, nothing further remains to be known in this world.

Of many thousands of people, perhaps one strives for Truth. Of those few who strive and even rise far, only one here and there truly knows Me as I really am.

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, life, mind, and the sense of individual self—these eight together make up My manifest appearance. But this is only My lower nature. Learn now of the higher, brave one, the principle of life by which this universe is produced, by which the visible worlds are born as from a womb. Know that I am that womb. I make and unmake this universe. There is no other Master beyond Me, Prince, no other Maker. All these worlds hang upon Me as pearls hang on a string.

I am the freshness in water, the silver of the moon, the gold of the sun, the sacred sound in the Vedas, the vibration that moves through the ether, the strength in the seed of man. I am the sweet fragrance of moist earth, the red light of fire, the breath of life in everything that breathes, the holiness of holy souls, the deathless root from which everything has sprung. I am the wisdom of the wise, the intellect of the learned, the greatness of the great, the splendor of the splendid, son of Kunti. These I am, yet free from passion and desire. Still, I am the rightful desire in all who yearn, chief of the Bharatas. All states of being—the truthful, the passionate, the ignorant—shaped by Nature, derive from Me; but all are gathered into Me, not I into them.

The world, fooled by these three qualities of being, fails to recognize Me, who am outside them all, above them all, eternal. It is hard to see through the divine veil of varied appearances that conceals Me; yet those who worship Me pierce through it and pass beyond.

I am not known to evildoers, nor to fools, nor to the low and crude, nor to those whose minds are deceived by appearances, nor to those who follow the path of the Asuras.

Four kinds of people come to know Me, Arjuna: the one who suffers, the one who longs to understand, the one who labors to help, and the one who sits in steady, enlightened certainty of Me. Of these four, Prince of India, the last is highest, nearest, and best—the devoted soul, wise, focused on the One. I am dearer to him than anything, and he is dearest to Me. All four are good, and all seek Me; but those who are truly Mine, the faithful of heart, resting on Me and holding Me as their highest joy—they are not just “Mine”; they are I, even I Myself. After many births they come to Me. Yet rare is that wise Mahatma, the one who says, “Everything is Vasudev.”

There are others whose knowledge is turned aside by one desire or another, so that they serve lesser gods through various rites, shaped by their own conditioning. To all such, no matter what shrine or form they worship in faith, it is I who give them faith. I am content. The heart that asks favor from its god, however dim its understanding, still ardent, receives the lesser blessing it craves—but I am the one who gives it. Yet the fruit they reap is quickly withered. Those small-minded ones who worship in this way go where their gods go, passing on with them. But those who are Mine come to Me.

Blind are the eyes that imagine the Unmanifest is manifest, failing to comprehend Me in My true Self. Imperishable, invisible, undeclared, hidden behind My magical veil of appearances, I am not seen by all; I am not known—unborn and changeless—to the heedless world. But I, Arjuna, know all that has been, all that is, and all that will be, though not one among them knows Me.

Through passion for the “pairs of opposites,” through the twin snares of liking and disliking, Prince, all creatures live in bewilderment—except a few who, free from sin, holy in action, informed, released from the opposites, and steady in faith, cling to Me.

Those who cling to Me, who seek refuge in Me from birth and death—they have the Truth. They know Me as Brahma, know Me as the Soul of Souls, the Adhyatman; they know karma, which is My work; they know I am Adhibhuta, Lord of Life, and Adhidaiva, Lord of all the gods, and Adhiyajna, Lord of Sacrifice. Worship Me well, with hearts of love and faith, and you will find and hold Me in the hour of death.

Here ends Chapter VII of the Bhagavad-Gita, titled “Vijnanayog,” or “The Book of Religion by Discernment.”