The Bhagavad Gita · 1 of 2 · tr. Kashinath Trimbak Telang
Chapter VII, Section 1a
CHAPTER VII.
The Deity said: O son of P ri thâ!
now hear how you can without doubt know me fully, fixing your mind on me, and resting in me, and practising devotion.
I will now tell you exhaustively about knowledge together with experience; that being known, there is nothing further left in this world to know.
Among thousands of men, only some work for perfection ; and even of those who have reached perfection, and who are assiduous, only some know me truly.
Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, understanding, and egoism , thus is my nature divided eightfold.
But this is a lower (form of my) nature.
Know (that there is) another (form of my) nature, and higher than this, which is animate, O you of mighty arms!
and by which this universe is upheld.
Know that all things have these (for their) source .
I am the producer and the destroyer of the whole universe.
There is nothing else, O Dhanañ g aya!
higher than myself; all this is woven upon me, like numbers of pearls upon a thread .
I am the taste in water, O son of Kuntî!
I am the light of the sun and moon.
I am 'Om ' in all the Vedas, sound in space, and manliness in human beings; I am the fragrant smell in the earth, refulgence in the fire; I am life in all beings, and penance in those who perform penance.
Know me, O son of P ri thâ!
to be the eternal seed of all beings; I am the discernment of the discerning ones, and I the glory of the glorious .
I am also the strength, unaccompanied by fondness or desire , of the strong.
And, O chief of the descendants of Bharata!
I am love unopposed to piety among all beings.
And all entities which are of the quality of goodness, and those which are of the quality of passion and of darkness, know that they are, indeed, all from me; I am not in them, but they are in me .
The whole universe deluded by these three states of mind, developed from the qualities, does not know me, who am beyond them and inexhaustible; for this delusion of mine, developed from the qualities, is divine and difficult to transcend.
Those cross beyond this delusion who resort to me alone.
Wicked men, doers of evil (acts), who are deluded, who are deprived of their knowledge by (this) delusion, and who incline to the demoniac state of mind , do not resort to me.
But, O Ar g una!
doers of good (acts) of four classes worship me: one who is distressed, one who is seeking after knowledge, one who wants wealth, and one, O chief of the descendants of Bharata!
who is possessed of knowledge.
Of these, he who is possessed of knowledge, who is always devoted, and whose worship is (addressed) to one (Being) only, is esteemed highest.
For to the man of knowledge I am dear above all things, and he is dear to me.
All these are noble.
But the man possessed of knowledge is deemed by me to be my own self.
For he with (his) self devoted to abstraction, has taken to me as the goal than which there is nothing higher.
At the end of many lives, the man possessed of knowledge approaches me, (believing) that Vâsudeva is everything.
Such a high-souled man is very hard to find.
Those who are deprived of knowledge by various desires approach other divinities, observing various regulations , and controlled by their own natures .
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The Deity claims to be the producer and destroyer of the whole universe and the source by which it is upheld, indicating active ordering.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage explicitly distinguishes between a 'lower nature' (eightfold elements) and a 'higher nature' (the animate source), describing a structural division of the divine into levels of reality.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage emphasizes that 'knowledge together with experience' is the supreme path, distinguishing the 'man possessed of knowledge' as the highest form of worshiper.
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The Deity speaks in the first person as an active agent who produces, destroys, upholds the universe, and possesses personal attributes like love and strength.
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
The passage instructs the listener to know the Deity by 'fixing your mind on me' and 'resting in me,' which are core meditative practices.