Bhagavad-gita 7 Explained

Invocation and opening mantras

3:02ISO 0.2ईशोपनिषद्ॐ पूर्णं अदः पूर्णं इदंपूर्णात् पूर्णं उदच्यतेपूर्णस्य पूर्णं आदायपूर्णं एव अवशिष्यतेoṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁpūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyatepūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāyapūrṇam evāvaśiṣyateThe Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.[Īśo Invocation] ISO 1ईशावास्यं इदं सर्वंयत् किञ्च जगत्यां जगत्तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथामा गृधः कस्य स्वित् धनम् || 1 ||īśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁyat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagattena tyaktena bhuñjīthāmā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanamEverything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.

3:51ISO 2कुर्वन्न् एव इह कर्माणिजिजीविषेत् शतं समाःएवं त्वयि न अन्यथा इतो अस्तिन कर्म लिप्यते नरे || 2 ||kurvann eveha karmāṇijijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥevaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'stina karma lipyate nareOne may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.ISO 3असुर्या नाम ते लोकाअन्धेन तमसा आवृताःताम् ते प्रेत्य अभिगच्छन्तिये के च आत्म हनो जनाः || 3 ||asuryā nāma te lokāandhena tamasāvṛtāḥtāṁs te pretyābhigacchantiye ke cātma-hano janāḥThe killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.

4:04ISO 4अनेजत् एकं मनसो जवीयोन एनत् देवा आप्नुवन् पूर्वम् अर्षत्तत् धावतो अन्यन् अत्येति तिष्ठत्तस्मिन् अपो मातरिश्वा दधाति || 4 ||anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyonainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣattad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhattasminn apo mātariśvā dadhātiAlthough fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence.ISO 5तत् एजति तत् न एजतितत् दूरे तत् व अन्तिकेतत् अन्तर अस्य सर्वस्यतत् उ सर्वस्य अस्य बाह्यतः || 5 ||tad ejati tan naijatitad dūre tad v antiketad antar asya sarvasyatad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥThe Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.

4:19ISO 6यः तु सर्वाणि भूतानिआत्मनि एव अनुपश्यतिसर्व भूतेषु च आत्मनंततो न विजुगुप्सते || 6 ||yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmany evānupaśyatisarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁtato na vijugupsateHe who sees systematically everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all living entities as His parts and parcels, and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or any being.ISO 7यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूतानिआत्म एव अभूत् विजानतःतत्र को मोहः कः शोकःएकत्वं अनुपष्यतः || 7 ||yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūd vijānataḥtatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śokaekatvam anupaśyataḥOne who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?

4:32ISO 8स पर्यगात् शुक्रम् अकायम् अव्रणम्अस्नाविरं शुद्दं अपाप विद्धंकविः मानिसी परिभूः स्वयंभूःयथा तथ्यतो अर्थान् व्यदधात् शाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः || 8 ||sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇamasnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddhamkavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūryāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥSuch a person must factually know the greatest of all, the Personality of Godhead, who is unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated, the self-sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone's desire since time immemorial.

4:40Prabhupāda: Again repeat. Next verse. ISO 9अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्तिये अविद्याम् उपासतेततो भूय इव ते तमोय उ विद्यायां रताः || 9 ||andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśantiye 'vidyām upāsatetato bhūya iva te tamoya u vidyāyām ratāḥThose who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so-called knowledge.Chant. Again. Again. Now this verse, verse number 7,

Oneness and diversity of energies

6:16ISO 7यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूतानिआत्म एव अभूत् विजानतःतत्र को मोहः कः शोकःएकत्वं अनुपष्यतः || 7 ||yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūd vijānataḥtatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śokaekatvam anupaśyataḥOne who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?

6:32This is the perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Ekatvam anupaśyataḥ. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person sees oneness. All living entities, they see one.

7:00Just like fire and the sparks, although there are different types of illuminating properties, the whole thing is seen as one. Similarly, these diversities in unity.

7:27Diversities means the expansion of different energies of Kṛṣṇa. That is diversity. Otherwise, the one: Kṛṣṇa, only Kṛṣṇa. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ tathaiva akhilaṁ jagat [Viṣṇu Purāṇa].

7:50The whole universe, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śakti... Parasya, the Supreme Brahman, Parameśvara, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1], His energy. The example is just like fire.

8:19Fire has got many energies, especially heat and light. Wherever there is fire, there is heat and there is light.

8:32Now this heat is not different from the fire, and the light is not different from the fire, but still, heat and light is not fire. The... From the fire, there is heat.

8:56So if you are heated, if you are getting warmth from the fire, fireplace, that does not mean you are sitting on the fire.

9:08But at the same time, that warmth of the fire, the heat of the fire, is not different from the fire. In this way you have to understand the whole universe.

9:22Nothing is different from Kṛṣṇa, but still, Kṛṣṇa is not everywhere.

Categories of divine manifestation

9:32This philosophy... Therefore this very word is used here, vijānataḥ. Vijānataḥ means one who knows, knower of things, how things are manifested.

9:48When one understands that things are manifested in this system exactly like the fire, heat and light... Fire is the original cause of heat and light.

10:05Similarly, whatever we see within this universe, within material world and spiritual world, the spiritual world is expansion of Kṛṣṇa's internal energy, and this material world is Kṛṣṇa's expansion of external energy, and we living entities, we are expansion of marginal energy.

10:34So three energies. He has got multi-energies.

10:44All the multi-energies grouped in three headings: antaraṅga-śakti, bahiraṅga-śakti, taṭasthā-śakti. Antaraṅga-śakti means internal energy; bahiraṅga śakti means external energy; and taṭasthā-śakti means these living entities.

11:11We are śakti. We are energy. We are not the energetic.

Philosophical perspectives on reality

11:18The Māyāvādī philosopher says that because the energies are not outside Brahman, therefore they're all the same. This is monism. Our Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that energy [is] simultaneously one and different.

11:44When you perceive heat, we understand, "Oh, there is fire." But that does not mean that because I am getting some heat, I am on the fire. Try to understand this philosophy. Therefore here it is said vijānataḥ.

12:06So their ekatvam, Māyāvāda philosophy's ekatvam, oneness, and our ekatvam of oneness—a little different. They say that the energy's false; the Brahman is real. Brahmā satyaṁ jagan mithyā [Śaṅkarācārya].

12:34We say that because Brahman is truth, therefore His energy's also truth. That is the difference between Vaiṣṇava philosophy and Māyāvāda philosophy. We cannot say that energy is false. Energy is temporary.

12:59This external energy is temporary, not false. Although... Suppose we have got some trouble. There are so many kinds of troubles pertaining to the body, mind, external affairs. But that trouble comes and go.

13:25But when the trouble is there, it is true. We feel the consequence. We cannot say it is false. The Māyāvādī philosophers say that it is false. But when he's troubled, why he's so much disturbed? So that is not false.

Spiritual vision and emotional freedom

13:53Therefore this very word is used: vijānataḥ, "one who knows." Perfect knowledge must be there, vijānataḥ. When one is actual knower of the things, tatra ko mohaḥ, then there is no illusion.

14:13Illusion is for him who does not know things. But one who knows, there is no illusion. Tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka [Īśo mantra 7]. No lamentation.

14:29When you are perfectly in conviction that there is nothing except Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa's energy, the same, then there is no moha—moha means illusion—and śoka.

14:54Moha and śoka, this is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati Bg. 18.54. We were very much anxious to get things which we haven't got.

15:12That is kāṅkṣati, hankering after. And when things are lost, we lament. But if we know that Kṛṣṇa is the central point, so anything received, gained, profited, that is Kṛṣṇa's desire. Kṛṣṇa has given; accept.

15:39And if it is taken away by Kṛṣṇa, then what is the lamentation? Kṛṣṇa liked to take it away from me. Oh, why should I lament? Because ekatvam, the Supreme One, He's the cause of all causes. He's taking; He's also giving.

16:04So when you have got something, engage it in Kṛṣṇa's service. And we have no..., nothing to offer Kṛṣṇa, then whatever you get, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam [Bg. 9.26], Kṛṣṇa is satisfied in every way.

16:23This is the meaning of vijānataḥ. One must be in the full knowledge. Then there will be no more lamentation and no more hankering. That is the stage of spiritual platform.

16:40BG 18.54ब्रह्मभूतः प्रसन्नात्मा न शोचति न काङ्क्षति ।समः सर्वेषु भूतेषु मद्भक्तिं लभते पराम् ॥५४॥brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmāna śocati na kāṅkṣatisamaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣumad-bhaktiṁ labhate parāmOne who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.

16:47Then you can see everyone on the same platform, that everyone is a spiritual spark. Na vijugupsate. Then you do not say, "Oh, he's lower; he's higher.

17:03He's intelligent; he is fool." That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ Bg. 5.18*. Paṇḍitāḥ* means learned. He's vijānataḥ, one who knows.

17:17So in the Vedic literature you won't find something different in Bhagavad-gītā and some things different in Īśopaniṣad or something is different in the Vedas. No.

17:30They are the same thing is explained in different languages in different scriptures. But one has to know the art, how to understand them. Thank you very much.

17:51Devotees: All glories to Your Divine Grace.

17:51Prabhupāda: Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

17:51Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa. [kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [end]