BG 7.1 - 30

I will tell you how you can know me without any doubt. Focus your mind on me and practice complete surrender.

[1]

When this wisdom I am revealing is fully known to you, nothing else will remain to be known.

[2]

Out of thousands of people, only one strives for perfection. Of those who strive for perfection, and even of those who have achieved perfection, only one knows the truth.

[3]

My material nature is divided eightfold - earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, and ego.

[4]

This is my lower nature. There is also my distinct higher nature, which forms the basis for life in this universe.

[5]

These two are the source of all living beings. I am the creator of the universe, and I am its dissolution.

[6]

There is nothing higher than me. All is strung on me like a row of beads on a thread.

[7]

I am the taste in the waters, the radiance of the sun and moon, the sacred syllable Om in the Vedas, the sound of space, and the vigor of mankind.

[8]

I am the fragrance of the earth, the brilliance of the fire, the life force in all beings, and the penance of the ascetics.

[9]

I am the seed of all beings, the intellect of the intelligent, and the splendor of the splendid.

[10]

I am the strength of the strong one who is free from passion and desire. In all beings, I am the desire for dharma.

[11]

I am the source of all that is pure, all that is passionate, and all that is ignorant. They are within me, but I am not within them.

[12]

Deluded by these three qualities of nature (purity, passion, and ignorance), the entire world fails to recognize the supreme and imperishable.

[13]

This divine illusion is difficult to overcome. Only those who surrender themselves entirely to me can accomplish it.

[14]

The evil doers, the ignorant, the hedonistic, and deprived, all do not surrender to me.

[15]

There are four kinds of people who worship me - the pious, the seekers of knowledge, the seekers of material gain, and the wise.

[16]

Of all these, the wise, ever steadfast in devotion, are most dear to me - and I am most dear to them.

[17]

All four are of noble mind, but those who are wise are a reflection of myself - steadfast in mind, with me as the ultimate goal.

[18]

After many lives, the wise one realizes that "all is God" and surrenders to me. Such a soul is very rare.

[19]

Those whose wisdom has been carried away by material desires, worship other Gods and practice whatever rites they prefer.

[20]

Whatever the form of worship, if the worshipper does so with faith, then I bestow steady faith upon them.

[21]

Endowed with that faith, their desire in worship will certainly be granted.

[22]

But the fruit gained by such people of limited insight is perishable. The worshippers of the celestial gods will go to the gods, while my devotees come to me.

[23]

The ignorant think of me, the formless, as having a personality and form. They do not understand my imperishable and supreme nature.

[24]

I am not visible to everyone, and remained veiled in illusion. This deluded world does not know me as the unborn and immutable.

[25]

I know all beings of the past, present, and future, but none know me.

[26]

Craving and aversion arise from the illusion of duality - a delusion that all living beings are born into.

[27]

But those whose sins have been completely eradicated by pious activities are freed from the illusion of duality, and worship me with determination.

[28]

Those who take refuge in me are liberated from old age and death, know Brahman as the nature of Karma and the self.

[29]

Those who see me as the law of physical nature, the nature of the gods, and the principles of sacrifice, know me even at the time of death.

[30]

Next chapter

8. Path of the Eternal God

Akṣhar Brahma Yog