Chapter 7 Summary of Seventh Discourse By Swami Sivananda (Jnana Yoga) - The Yoga of Wisdom and Realization
SRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA SVADHYAYA
(Jnana Yoga)
Summary of Seventh
Discourse
By Swami Sivananda
Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that the
supreme Godhead has to be realized in both its transcendent and immanent aspects.
The Yogi who has reached this summit has nothing more to know.
This complete union with the Lord
is difficult of attainment. Among many thousands of human beings, very few
aspire for this union, and even among those who aspire for it, few ever reach
the pinnacle of spiritual realization.
The Lord has already given a clear
description of the all-pervading static and infinite state of His. Now He
proceeds to explain His manifestations as the universe and the power behind it.
He speaks of these manifestations as His lower and higher Prakriti. The lower
Prakriti is made up of the five elements, mind, ego and intellect. The higher
Prakriti is the life-element which upholds the universe, activates it and
causes its appearance and final dissolution.
Krishna says that whatever exists
is nothing but Himself. He is the cause of the appearance of the universe and
all things in it. Everything is strung on Him like clusters of gems on a
string. He is the essence, substance and substratum of everything, whether
visible or invisible. Although everything is in Him, yet He transcends
everything as the actionless Self. Prakriti or Nature is made up of the three
Gunas or qualities—Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. These three qualities delude the
soul and make it forget its true nature, which is one with God. This delusion,
termed Maya, can only be removed by the Grace of the Lord Himself.
Thus far Arjuna has been taught the
highest form of devotion, which leads to union with God in His static aspect as
also with His dynamic Prakriti. Krishna tells him that there are also other
forms of devotion which are inferior as they are performed with various
motives. The distressed, the seeker of divine wisdom, and he who desires
wealth, worship Him, as also the wise. Of these the Lord deems the wise as
dearest to Him. Such a devotee loves the Lord for the sake of pure love alone.
Whatever form the devotee worships, the ultimate goal is the Lord Himself. The
Lord accepts such worship,
knowing that it is directed to Him only.
Chapter VII
THE YOGA OF WISDOM
(Jnana Yoga)
Bhagavadgita
for Busy People
by Swami Sivananda
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-thus 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 sapidity in waters,
O son of Kunti. I am the light in the moon, and the sun; I am the syllable OM
in all the 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, realising 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 know 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).
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