- Chapter VII
- Krishna. Learn now, dear Prince! how, if thy soul be set
- Ever on Me- still exercising Yog,
- Still making Me thy Refuge- thou shalt come
- Most surely unto perfect hold of Me.
- I will declare to thee that utmost lore,
- Whole and particular, which, when thou knowest,
- Leaveth no more to know here in this world.
- Of many thousand mortals, one, perchance,
- Striveth for Truth; and of those few that strive-
- Nay, and rise high- one only- here and there-
- Knoweth Me, as I am, the very Truth.
- Earth, water, flame, air, ether, life, and mind,
- And individuality- those eight
- Make up the showing of Me, Manifest.
- These be my lower Nature; learn the higher,
- Whereby, thou Valiant One! this Universe
- Is, by its principle of life, produced;
- Whereby the worlds of visible things are born
- As from a Yoni. Know! I am that womb:
- I make and I unmake this Universe:
- Than me there is no other Master, Prince!
- No other Maker! All these hang on me
- As hangs a row of pearls upon its string.
- I am the fresh taste of the water; I
- The silver of the moon, the gold o' the sun,
- The word of worship in the Veds, the thrill
- That passeth in the ether, and the strength
- Of man's shed seed. I am the good sweet smell
- Of the moistened earth, I am the fire's red light,
- The vital air moving in all which moves,
- The holiness of hallowed souls, the root
- Undying, whence hath sprung whatever is;
- The wisdom of the wise, the intellect
- Of the informed, the greatness of the great.
- The splendour of the splendid. Kunti's Son!
- These am I, free from passion and desire;
- Yet am I right desire in all who yearn,
- Chief of the Bharatas! for all those moods,
- Soothfast, or passionate, or ignorant,
- Which Nature frames, deduce from me; but all
- Are merged in me- not I in them! The world-
- Deceived by those three qualities of being-
- Wotteth not Me Who am outside them all,
- Above them all, Eternal! Hard it is
- To pierce that veil divine of various shows
- Which hideth Me; yet they who worship Me
- Pierce it and pass beyond.
- I am not known
- To evil-doers, nor to foolish ones,
- Nor to the base and churlish; nor to those
- Whose mind is cheated by the show of things,
- Nor those that take the way of Asuras.
- Four sorts of mortals know me: he who weeps,
- Arjuna! and the man who yearns to know;
- And he who toils to help; and he who sits
- Certain of me, enlightened.
- Of these four,
- O Prince of India! highest, nearest, best
- That last is, the devout soul, wise, intent
- Upon "The One." Dear, above all, am I
- To him; and he is dearest unto me!
- All four are good, and seek me; but mine own,
- The true of heart, the faithful- stayed on me,
- Taking me as their utmost, blessedness,
- They are not "mine," but I- even I myself!
- At end of many births to Me they come!
- Yet hard the wise Mahatma is to find,
- That man who sayeth, "All is Vasudev!"
- There be those, too, whose knowledge, turned aside
- By this desire or that, gives them to serve
- Some lower gods, with various rites, constrained
- By that which mouldeth them. Unto all such-
- Worship what shrine they will, what shapes, in faith-
- 'Tis I who give them faith! I am content!
- The heart thus asking favour from its God,
- Darkened but ardent, hath the end it craves,
- The lesser blessing- but 'tis I who give!
- Yet soon is withered what small fruit they reap:
- Those men of little minds, who worship so,
- Go where they worship, passing with their gods.
- But Mine come unto me! Blind are the eyes
- Which deem th' Unmanifested manifest,
- Not comprehending Me in my true Self!
- Imperishable, viewless, undeclared,
- Hidden behind my magic veil of shows,
- I am not seen by all; I am not known-
- Unborn and changeless- to the idle world.
- But I, Arjuna! know all things which were,
- And all which are, and all which are to be,
- Albeit not one among them knoweth Me!
- By passion for the "pairs of opposites,"
- By those twain snares of Like and Dislike, Prince!
- All creatures live bewildered, save some few
- Who, quit of sins, holy in act, informed,
- Freed from the "opposites," and fixed in faith,
- Cleave unto Me.
- Who cleave, who seek in Me
- Refuge from birth and death, those have the Truth!
- Those know Me BRAHMA: know Me Soul of Souls,
- The ADHYATMAN: know KARMA, my work;
- 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 find and hold me in the hour of death.
- HERE ENDETH Chapter VII OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA,
- Entitled "Vijnanayog," Or "The Book of Religion by Discernment."
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