Jñāna Vijñāna Yoga

The Blessed Lord said: O Partha, hear how you shall know Me completely and without doubt, with your mind attached to Me, practicing yoga and taking refuge in Me.

I shall declare to you in full this knowledge combined with realization, knowing which nothing further remains to be known in this world.

Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection; and among those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows Me in truth.

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and ego - thus is My material nature divided eightfold.

This is My lower nature. But know My other, higher nature - the life-principle, O mighty-armed one, by which this entire universe is sustained.

Know that all beings have these two natures as their source. I am the origin and dissolution of the entire universe.

There is nothing whatsoever higher than Me, O Dhananjaya. All this is strung on Me, as clusters of gems on a thread.

I am the taste in water, O son of Kunti, the radiance in the moon and sun, the sacred syllable Om in all the Vedas, sound in ether, and ability in men.

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

Know Me, O Partha, as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the intelligence of the intelligent and the splendor of the splendid.

I am the strength of the strong, devoid of desire and attachment. I am desire in beings that is not contrary to dharma, O best of the Bharatas.

Know that all states of being - whether sattvic, rajasic, or tamasic - proceed from Me alone. Yet I am not in them; they are in Me.

Deluded by these three states composed of the gunas, this entire world does not recognize Me, who am above them and imperishable.

This divine maya of Mine, consisting of the three gunas, is difficult to overcome. But those who surrender unto Me alone cross beyond this maya.

The evil-doers, the deluded, the lowest of men, whose knowledge is stolen by maya, and who partake of a demonic nature - they do not surrender unto Me.

Four kinds of virtuous people worship Me, O Arjuna: the distressed, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of wealth, and the man of wisdom, O best of the Bharatas.

Of these, the wise one who is ever united with Me in single-pointed devotion is the best. For I am exceedingly dear to the wise, and he is dear to Me.

All these are indeed noble, but the wise one I regard as My very Self. For with mind steadfast, he is established in Me alone as the supreme goal.

At the end of many births, the man of wisdom surrenders unto Me, realizing that Vasudeva is all. Such a great soul is very rare.

Those whose knowledge is carried away by various desires surrender to other gods, following various rules and disciplines, driven by their own nature.

Whatever form a devotee wishes to worship with faith, I make that faith of his steady and unwavering.

Endowed with that faith, he engages in the worship of that form and obtains his desires, which are indeed granted by Me alone.

But the fruit gained by those of small understanding is finite. The worshippers of the gods go to the gods; My devotees come to Me.

The unintelligent think of Me, the unmanifest, as having come into manifestation, not knowing My supreme nature which is imperishable and unsurpassed.

Veiled by My yoga-maya, I am not revealed to all. This deluded world does not know Me, the unborn and imperishable.

I know all beings of the past, present, and future, O Arjuna, but no one knows Me.

By the delusion of the pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion, O Bharata, all beings fall into delusion at birth, O scorcher of foes.

But those persons of virtuous deeds whose sins have come to an end, freed from the delusion of pairs of opposites, worship Me with firm resolve.

Those who strive for liberation from old age and death, taking refuge in Me, come to know Brahman in its entirety, the Self, and all about action.

Those who know Me as the governing principle of the material realm, the divine realm, and of sacrifice - they, with minds united in Me, know Me even at the time of death.