Storied Sounds: The Bhagavad Gita & A Windy Forest (8 Hr)

No earbuds or headphones required. 5 REM cycles. Drift off to sleep to actual field recordings of a windy forest while hearing a bedtime reading of an iconic spiritual text. These natural soundtracks are more effective than standard noise tracks because they include isochronic tone brainwave entrainment frequencies that match the timing and the frequencies associated with a scientifically demonstrated optimal 8 hours of sleep.

Perfectly timed square waves spanning 10Hz to 1Hz (Alpha - Theta - Delta) influence your brain, giving you the best REM cycles and groggy-free waking.

Nature meets science: the Frequency-Following Response (FFR) is the natural tendency of the brain’s electrical activity (brainwaves) to synchronize with the rhythm of external, repetitive stimuli. When the brain is exposed to consistent auditory (isochronic tones) stimulus, the neural ensembles in the cerebral cortex adjust their own electrical oscillations to match the frequency of that stimulus.

Transcript

And now,

A reading of a translation of the Bhagavad Gita,

Followed by a fictional story based on the Gita.

Chapter 1.

Observing the armies on the battlefield of Kuruknetra.

Skipping some of the first translations,

Getting into the action.

O King,

At that time Arjuna,

The son of Payo,

Who was seated in his chariot,

His flag marked with Hanuman,

Took up his bow and prepared to shoot his arrows,

Looking at the sons of Dottarajora.

O King,

Arjuna then spoke to Hayakka these words.

Arjuna said,

O infallible one,

Please draw my chariot between the two armies so that I may see who is present here,

Who is desirous of fighting,

And with whom I must contend in this great battle attempt.

Let me see those who have come here to fight,

Wishing to please the evil-minded son of Dottarajora.

Saijaya said,

O descendant of Bharata,

Being thus addressed by Arjuna,

Lord Konya drew up the fine chariot in the midst of the armies of both parties.

In the presence of Bhajma,

Droya,

And all other chieftains of the world,

Konya-kesha,

The Lord,

Said,

Just behold,

Partha,

All the Kurus who are assembled here.

There Arjuna could see,

Within the midst of the armies of both parties,

His fathers,

Grandfathers,

Teachers,

Maternal uncles,

Brothers,

Sons,

Grandsons,

Friends,

And also his father-in-law and well-wishers,

All present there.

When the son of Kunti,

Arjuna,

Saw all these different grades of friends and relatives,

He became overwhelmed with compassion and spoke thus.

Arjuna said,

My dear Konya,

Seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit,

I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up.

My whole body is trembling and my hair is standing on end.

My bhu-geo-eva is slipping from my hand and my skin is burning.

I am now unable to stand here any longer.

I am forgetting myself and my mind is reeling.

I foresee only evil,

O killer of the Khetse demon.

I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle,

Nor can I,

My dear Konya,

Desire any subsequent victory,

Kingdom,

Or happiness,

O Govinda,

Of what avail to us our kingdoms,

Happiness,

Or even life itself when all those for whom we may desire them are now arrayed in this battlefield.

O Madhusudana,

When teachers,

Fathers,

Sons,

Grandfathers,

Maternal uncles,

Fathers-in-law,

Grandsons,

Brothers-in-law,

And all relatives are ready to give up their lives and properties and are standing before me,

Then why should I wish to kill them,

Though I may survive?

O maintainer of all creatures,

I am not prepared to fight with them,

Even in exchange for the three worlds,

Let alone this earth.

Sin will overcome us if we slay such aggressors.

Therefore,

It is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dottarajora and our friends.

What should we gain,

O Konya,

Husband of the goddess of fortune,

And how could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen?

O Yanadana,

Although these men,

Overtaken by greed,

See no fault in killing one's family or quarreling with friends,

Why should we,

With knowledge of the sin,

Engage in these acts?

With the destruction of dynasty,

The eternal family tradition is vanquished,

And thus the rest of the family becomes involved in irreligious practice.

When irreligion is prominent in the family,

O Konya,

The women of the family become corrupt,

And from the degradation of womanhood,

O descendant of Vanya,

Comes unwanted progeny.

When there is increase of unwanted population,

A hellish situation is created,

Both for the family and for those who destroy the family tradition.

In such corrupt families,

There is no offering of oblations of food and water to the ancestors.

Due to the evil deeds of the destroyers of family tradition,

All kinds of community projects and family welfare activities are devastated.

O Konya,

Maintainer of the people,

I have heard by disciplic succession that those who destroy family traditions dwell always in hell.

Alas,

How strange it is that we are preparing to commit greatly sinful acts,

Driven by the desire to enjoy royal happiness.

I would consider it better for the sons of Dottarajora to kill me unarmed and unresisting rather than fight with them.

Saijaya said,

Arjuna,

Having thus spoken on the battlefield,

Cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot,

His mind overwhelmed with grief.

Chapter 2.

Contents of the Geta Summarized.

Saijaya said,

Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful,

His eyes brimming with tears,

Madhusudana Konya spoke the following words.

The Supreme Person said,

My dear Arjuna,

How have these impurities come upon you?

They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life.

They do not lead to higher planets,

But to infamy.

O son of Potha,

Do not yield to this degrading impotence.

It does not become you.

Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise,

O chastiser of the enemy.

Arjuna said,

O killer of Madhu,

How can I counter-attack with arrows and battle men like Penyma and Droya,

Who are worthy of my worship?

It is better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my teachers.

Even though they are avaricious,

They are nonetheless superiors.

If they are killed,

Our spoils will be tainted with blood.

Nor do we know which is better,

Conquering them or being conquered by them.

The sons of Dottarajora,

Whom if we killed we should not care to live,

Are now standing before us on this battlefield.

Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness.

In this condition,

I am asking you to tell me clearly what is best for me.

Now I am your disciple and a soul surrendered unto you.

Please instruct me.

I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses.

I will not be able to destroy it even if I win an unrivaled kingdom on the earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.

Saijaya said,

Having spoken thus,

Arjuna,

Chastiser of enemies,

Told Konya,

Govinda,

I shall not fight,

And fell silent.

O descendant of Bharata,

At that time,

Konya,

Smiling,

In the midst of both the armies,

Spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.

The blessed lord said,

While speaking learned words,

You are mourning for what is not worthy of grief.

Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead,

No?

Never was there a time when I did not exist,

Nor you,

Nor all these kings,

Nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

As the embodied soul continually passes in this body from boyhood to youth to old age,

The soul similarly passes into another body at death.

The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.

O son of Kunti,

The non-permanent appearance of happiness and distress and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons.

They arise from sense-perception,

O scion of Bharata,

And one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

O best among men,

The person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.

Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the non-existent there is no endurance and of the existent there is no cessation.

This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both.

No that which pervades the entire body is indestructible.

No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.

Only the material body of the indestructible,

Immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction.

Therefore fight,

O descendant of Bharata.

He who thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that he is slain does not understand.

One who is in knowledge knows that the self slays not nor is slain.

For the soul there is never birth nor death.

Nor,

Having once been,

Does he ever cease to be.

He is unborn,

Eternal,

Ever existing,

Undying and primeval.

He is not slain when the body is slain.

O Partha,

How can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible,

Unborn,

Eternal and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?

As a person puts on new garments,

Giving up old ones.

Similarly,

The soul accepts new material bodies,

Giving up the old and useless ones.

The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon.

Nor can he be burned by fire,

Nor moistened by water,

Nor withered by the wind.

This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble and can be neither burned nor dried.

He is everlasting,

All-pervading,

Unchangeable,

Immovable and eternally the same.

It is said that the soul is invisible,

Inconceivable,

Immutable and unchangeable.

Knowing this,

You should not grieve for the body.

If,

However,

You think that the soul is perpetually born and always dies.

Still,

You have no reason to lament,

O mighty-armed.

For one who has taken his birth,

Death is certain.

And for one who is dead,

Birth is certain.

Therefore,

In the unavoidable discharge of your duty,

You should not lament.

All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning,

Manifest in their interim state and unmanifest again when they are annihilated.

So what need is there for lamentation?

Some look on the soul as amazing,

Some describe him as amazing and some hear of him as amazing.

While others,

Even after hearing about him,

Cannot understand him at all.

O descendant of Bharata,

He who dwells in the body is eternal and can never be slain.

Therefore,

You need not grieve for any creature.

Considering your specific duty as a kñāriya,

You should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting on religious principles.

And so,

There is no need for hesitation.

O Partha,

Happy are the kñātriyas to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought,

Opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets.

If,

However,

You do not fight this religious war,

Then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.

People will always speak of your infamy,

And for one who has been honored,

Dishonor is worse than death.

The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only,

And thus they will consider you a coward.

Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability.

What could be more painful for you?

O son of Kunte,

Either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets,

Or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom.

Therefore,

Get up and fight with determination.

Do thou fight for the sake of fighting,

Without considering happiness or distress,

Loss or gain,

Victory or defeat?

And,

By so doing,

You shall never incur sin.

Thus far,

I have declared to you the analytical knowledge of Sākhya philosophy.

Now listen to the knowledge of yoga,

Whereby one works without fruitive result.

O son of Pothā,

When you act by such intelligence,

You can free yourself from the bondage of works.

In this endeavor,

There is no loss or diminution,

And a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.

Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose,

And their aim is one.

O beloved child of the Kurus,

The intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.

Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas,

Which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets,

Resultant good birth,

Power,

And so forth.

Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life,

They say that there is nothing more than this.

In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence,

And who are bewildered by such things,

The resolute determination of devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.

The Vedas mainly deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature.

Rise above these modes,

O Arjuna.

Be transcendental to all of them.

Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety,

And be established in the Self.

All purposes that are served by the small pond can at once be served by the great reservoirs of water.

Similarly,

All the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them.

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty,

But you are not entitled to the fruits of action.

Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities,

And never be attached to not doing your duty.

Be steadfast in yoga,

O Arjuna.

Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure.

Such evenness of mind is called yoga.

O Dhanaijaya,

Rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service,

And surrender fully to that consciousness.

Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.

A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions,

Even in this life.

Therefore,

Strive for yoga,

O Arjuna,

Which is the art of all work.

The wise engaged in devotional service take refuge in the Lord and free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world.

In this way they can attain that state beyond all miseries.

When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion,

You shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard.

When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas,

And when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization,

Then you will have attained the divine consciousness.

Arjuna said,

The Blessed Lord said,

Then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.

One who is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries,

Who is not elated when there is happiness,

And who is free from attachment,

Fear and anger,

Is called a sage of steady mind.

He who is without attachment,

Who does not rejoice when he obtains good,

Nor lament when he obtains evil,

Is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects as the tortoise draws his limbs within the shell,

Is to be understood as truly situated in knowledge.

The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment,

Though the taste for sense objects remains.

But,

Ceasing such engagements,

By experiencing a higher taste,

He is fixed in consciousness.

The senses are so strong and impetuous,

O Arjuna,

That they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.

One who restrains his senses and fixes his consciousness upon me is known as a man of steady intelligence.

While contemplating the objects of the senses,

A person develops attachment for them,

And from such attachment,

Lust develops,

And from lust,

Anger arises.

From anger,

Delusion arises,

And from delusion,

Bewilderment of memory.

When memory is bewildered,

Intelligence is lost,

And when intelligence is lost,

One falls down again into the material pool.

One who can control his senses by practicing the regulated principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord and thus become free from all attachment and aversion.

For one who is so situated in the divine consciousness,

The threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer.

In such a happy state,

One's intelligence soon becomes steady.

One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence,

Without which there is no possibility of peace.

And how can there be any happiness without peace?

As a boat on the water is swept away by a strong wind,

Even one of the senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man's intelligence.

Therefore,

O mighty-armed,

One whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence.

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled,

And the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage,

A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still,

Can alone achieve peace,

And not the man who strives to satisfy such desires,

A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification,

Who lives free from desires,

Who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego,

He alone can attain real peace.

That is the way of the spiritual and godly life,

After attaining which a man is not bewildered.

Being so situated,

Even at the hour of death,

One can enter into the kingdom of God.

Arjuna said,

O Janardana,

O Kacchava,

Why do you urge me to engage in this ghastly warfare if you think that intelligence is better than fruitive work?

My intelligence is bewildered by your equivocal instructions.

Therefore,

Please tell me decisively what is most beneficial for me.

The Blessed Lord said,

O sinless Arjuna,

I have already explained that there are two classes of men who realize the Self.

Some are inclined to understand Him by empirical philosophical speculation,

And others are inclined to know Him by devotional work.

Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction,

Nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection.

All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature.

Therefore,

No one can refrain from doing something,

Not even for a moment.

One who restrains the senses and organs of action,

But whose mind dwells on sense objects,

Certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender.

On the other hand,

He who controls the senses by the mind and engages his active organs in works of devotion,

Without attachment,

Is by far superior.

Perform your prescribed duty,

For action is better than inaction.

A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work.

Work done as a sacrifice for vinyā has to be performed,

Otherwise work binds one to this material world.

Therefore,

O son of Kuntī,

Perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction,

And in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.

In the beginning of creation,

The Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods,

Along with sacrifices for vinyū,

And blessed them by saying,

Be thou happy by this yajīyā,

Sacrifice,

Because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things.

The demigods,

Being pleased by sacrifices,

Will also please you.

Thus nourishing one another,

There will reign general prosperity for all.

In charge of the various necessities of life,

The demigods,

Being satisfied by the performance of sacrifice,

Supply all necessities to man.

But he who enjoys these gifts without offering them to the demigods in return is certainly a thief.

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice.

Others,

Who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment,

Verily eat only sin.

All living bodies subsist on food grains which are produced from rain.

Rains are produced by performance of yajīyā,

Sacrifice,

And yajīyā is born of prescribed duties.

Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas,

And the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme,

Personality of Godhead.

Consequently,

The all-pervading transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.

My dear Arjuna,

A man who does not follow this prescribed Vedic system of sacrifice certainly leads a life of sin for a person delighting only in the senses lives in vain.

One who is,

However,

Taking pleasure in the self,

Who is illumined in the self,

Who rejoices in and is satisfied with the self only,

Fully satiated,

For him there is no duty.

A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties,

Nor has he any reason not to perform such work,

Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.

Therefore,

Without being attached to the fruits of activities,

One should act as a matter of duty,

For,

By working without attachment,

One attains the Supreme.

Even kings like Janaka and others attain the perfectional stage by performance of prescribed duties.

Therefore,

Just for the sake of educating the people in general,

You should perform your work.

Whatever action is performed by a great man,

Common men follow in his footsteps.

And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts,

All the world pursues.

O son of Potha,

There is no work prescribed for me within all the three planetary systems.

Nor am I in want of anything,

Nor have I need to obtain anything.

And yet I am engaged in work.

For,

If I did not engage in work,

O Partha,

Certainly all men would follow my path.

If I should cease to work,

Then all these worlds would be put to ruination.

I would also be the cause of creating unwanted population,

And I would thereby destroy the peace of all sentient beings.

As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results,

Similarly the learned may also act but without attachment for the sake of leading people on the right path.

Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to fruitive action.

They should not be encouraged to refrain from work,

But to engage in work in the spirit of devotion.

The bewildered spirit-soul,

Under the influence of the three modes of material nature,

Thinks himself to be the doer of activities which are in actuality carried out by nature.

One who is in knowledge of the absolute truth,

O mighty-armed,

Does not engage himself in the senses and sense gratification,

Knowing well the differences between work in devotion and work for fruitive results.

Bewildered by the modes of material nature,

The ignorant fully engage themselves in material activities and become attached.

But the wise should not unsettle them.

Although these duties are inferior due to the performer's lack of knowledge.

Therefore,

O Arjuna,

Surrendering all your works unto me,

With mind intent on me,

And without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy,

Fight.

One who executes his duties according to my injunctions and who follows this teaching faithfully,

Without envy,

Becomes free from the bondage of fruitive actions.

But those who,

Out of envy,

Disregard these teachings and do not practice them regularly,

Are to be considered bereft of all knowledge,

Befooled and doomed to ignorance and bondage.

Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature,

For everyone follows his nature.

What can repression accomplish?

Attraction and repulsion for sense objects are felt by embodied beings.

But one should not fall under the control of senses and sense objects because they are stumbling blocks on the path of self-realization.

It is far better to discharge one's prescribed duties even though they may be faulty than another's duties.

Destruction in the course of performing one's own duty is better than engaging in another's duties,

For to follow another's path is dangerous.

Arjuna said,

O descendant of Vanya,

By what is one impelled to sinful acts even unwillingly,

As if engaged by force?

The Blessed Lord said,

It is lust only,

Arjuna,

Which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.

As fire is covered by smoke,

As a mirror is covered by dust,

Or as the embryo is covered by the womb,

Similarly,

The living entity is covered by different degrees of this lust.

Thus,

A man's pure consciousness is covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust,

Which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.

The senses,

The mind,

And the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust,

Which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.

Therefore,

O Arjuna,

Best of the Bharatas,

In the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin by regulating the senses and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.

The working senses are superior to dull matter.

Mind is higher than the senses.

Intelligence is still higher than the mind.

And he,

The soul,

Is even higher than the intelligence.

Thus,

Knowing oneself to be transcendental to material senses,

Mind,

And intelligence,

One should control the lower self by the higher self and thus,

By spiritual strength,

Conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.

CHAPTER FOUR TRANSCENDENTAL KNOWLEDGE The Blessed Lord said,

I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun god,

Vivasvan,

And Vivasvan instructed it to Manu,

The father of mankind,

And Manu,

In turn,

Instructed it to Iknveku.

This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession,

And the saintly kings understood it in that way.

But in course of time the succession was broken,

And therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.

That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by me to you because you are my devotee as well as my friend.

Therefore,

You can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.

Arjuna said,

The sun god Vivasvan is senior by birth to you.

How am I to understand that in the beginning you instructed this science to him?

The Blessed Lord said,

Many,

Many births both you and I have passed.

I can remember all of them,

But you cannot,

O subduer of the enemy.

Although I am unborn and my transcendental body never deteriorates,

And although I am the lord of all sentient beings,

I still appear in every millennium in my original transcendental form.

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice,

O descendant of Bharata,

And a predominant rise of irreligion,

At that time I descend myself in order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants as well as to reestablish the principles of religion.

I advent myself millennium after millennium.

One who knows the transcendental nature of my appearance and activities does not,

Upon leaving the body,

Take his birth again in this material world,

But attains my eternal abode,

O Arjuna.

Being freed from attachment,

Fear and anger,

Being fully absorbed in me and taking refuge in me,

Many,

Many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of me,

And thus they all attain transcendental love for me.

All of them,

As they surrender unto me,

I reward accordingly.

Everyone follows my path in all respects,

O son of Potha.

Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities and therefore they worship the demigods.

Quickly,

Of course,

Men get results from fruitive work in this world.

According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them,

The four divisions of human society were created by me.

And although I am the creator of this system,

You should know that I am yet the non-doer,

Being unchangeable.

There is no work that affects me,

Nor do I aspire for the fruits of action.

One who understands this truth about me also does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work.

All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding and so attained liberation.

Therefore,

As the ancients,

You should perform your duty in this divine consciousness.

Even the intelligent are bewildered in determining what is action and what is inaction.

Now I shall explain to you what action is,

Knowing which you shall be liberated from all sins.

The intricacies of action are very hard to understand.

Therefore,

One should know properly what action is,

What forbidden action is,

And what inaction is.

One who sees inaction inaction and action in inaction is intelligent among men and he is in the transcendental position,

Although engaged in all sorts of activities.

One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification.

He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge.

Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities,

Ever satisfied and independent,

He performs no fruitive action,

Although engaged in all kinds of undertakings.

Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled,

Gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions and act only for the bare necessities of life.

Thus working,

He is not affected by sinful reactions.

He who is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord,

Who is free from duality and does not envy,

Who is steady both in success and failure,

Is never entangled.

Although performing actions,

The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence.

A person who is fully absorbed in Kunyaya consciousness is sure to attain the spiritual kingdom because of his full contribution to spiritual activities,

In which the consummation is absolute and that which is offered is of the same spiritual nature.

Some yogis perfectly worship the demigods by offering different sacrifices to them and some of them offer sacrifices in the fire of the supreme Brahman.

Some of them sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of the controlled mind and others sacrifice the objects of the senses,

Such as sound,

In the fire of sacrifice.

Those who are interested in self-realization in terms of mind and sense control offer the functions of all the senses as well as the vital force as oblations into the fire of the controlled mind.

There are others who,

Enlightened by sacrificing their material possessions in severe austerities,

Take strict vows and practice the yoga of eightfold mysticism and others study the Vedas for the advancement of transcendental knowledge.

And there are even others who are inclined to the process of breath restraint to remain in trance and they practice stopping the movement of the outgoing breath into the incoming and incoming breath into the outgoing and thus at last remain in trance,

Stopping all breathing.

Some of them,

Curtailing the eating process,

Offer the outgoing breath into itself as a sacrifice.

All these performers who know the meaning of sacrifice become cleansed of sinful reaction and,

Having tasted the nectar of the remnants of such sacrifice,

They go to the supreme eternal atmosphere.

O best of the Kuru dynasty,

Without sacrifice one can never live happily on this planet or in this life.

What then of the next?

All these different types of sacrifice are approved by the Vedas and all of them are born of different types of work.

Knowing them as such,

You will become liberated.

O chastiser of the enemy,

The sacrifice of knowledge is greater than the sacrifice of material possessions.

O son of Potha,

After all,

The sacrifice of work culminates in transcendental knowledge.

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master.

Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him.

The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.

And when you have thus learned the truth,

You will know that all living beings are but part of me and that they are in me and are mine.

Even if you are considered to be the most sinful of all sinners,

When you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge,

You will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries.

As the blazing fire turns firewood to ashes,

O Arjuna,

So does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.

In this world,

There is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge.

Such knowledge is the mature fruit of all mysticism.

And one who has achieved this enjoys the self within himself in due course of time.

A faithful man who is absorbed in transcendental knowledge and who subdues his senses quickly attains the supreme spiritual peace.

But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God-consciousness.

For the doubting soul,

There is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.

Therefore,

One who has renounced the fruits of his action,

Whose doubts are destroyed by transcendental knowledge and who is situated firmly in the self,

Is not bound by works,

O conqueror of riches.

Therefore,

The doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge.

Armed with yoga,

O Bharata,

Stand and fight.

Chapter 5 Karma Yoga Action in Konyaya Consciousness Arjuna said,

O Konyaya,

First of all you ask me to renounce work and then again you recommend work with devotion.

Now,

Will you kindly tell me definitely which of the two is more beneficial?

The Blessed Lord said,

The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation.

But of the two,

Work in devotional service is better than renunciation of works.

One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced.

Such a person,

Liberated from all dualities,

Easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated,

O mighty-armed Arjuna.

Only the ignorant speak of karma yoga and devotional service as being different from the analytical study of the material world.

Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both.

One who knows that the position reached by means of renunciation can also be attained by works in devotional service and who therefore sees that the path of works and the path of renunciation are one,

Sees things as they are,

Unless one is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord,

Mere renunciation of activities cannot make one happy.

The sages,

Purified by works of devotion,

Achieve the supreme without delay.

One who works in devotion,

Who is a pure soul and who controls his mind and senses,

Is dear to everyone and everyone is dear to him.

Though always working,

Such a man is never entangled.

A person in the divine consciousness,

Although engaged in seeing,

Hearing,

Touching,

Smelling,

Eating,

Moving about,

Sleeping and breathing,

Always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all because while speaking,

Evacuating,

Receiving,

Opening or closing his eyes,

He always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them.

One who performs his duty without attachment,

Surrendering the results unto the Supreme God,

Is not affected by sinful action as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.

The yogis,

Abandoning attachment,

Act with body,

Mind,

Intelligence and even with the senses only for the purpose of purification.

The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me.

Whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine,

Who is greedy for the fruits of his labor,

Becomes entangled.

When the embodied living being controls his nature and mentally renounces all actions,

He resides happily in the city of nine gates,

The material body,

Neither working nor causing work to be done.

The embodied spirit,

Master of the city of his body,

Does not create activities nor does he induce people to act nor does he create the fruits of action.

All this is enacted by the modes of material nature nor does the Supreme Spirit assume anyone's sinful or pious activities.

Embodied beings,

However,

Are bewildered because of the ignorance which covers their real knowledge.

When,

However,

One is enlightened with the knowledge by which nescience is destroyed,

Then his knowledge reveals everything as the sun lights up everything in the daytime.

When one's intelligence,

Mind,

Faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme,

Then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.

The humble sage,

By virtue of true knowledge,

Sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmayeya,

A cow,

An elephant,

A dog and a dog-eater.

Those whose minds are established in sameness and equanimity have already conquered the conditions of birth and death.

They are flawless like brahman and thus they are already situated in brahman.

A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant,

Who is self-intelligent,

Unbewildered and who knows the science of God is to be understood as already situated in transcendence.

Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense-pleasure or external objects but is always in trance,

Enjoying the pleasure within.

In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness for he concentrates on the Supreme.

An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery which are due to contact with the material senses.

O son of Kunti!

Such pleasures have a beginning and an end and so the wise man does not delight in them.

Before giving up this present body if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger he is a yogi and is happy in this world.

One whose happiness is within,

Who is active within,

Who rejoices within and is illumined within is actually the perfect mystic.

He is liberated in the Supreme and ultimately he attains the Supreme.

One who is beyond duality and doubt,

Whose mind is engaged within,

Who is always busy working for the welfare of all sentient beings and who is free from all sins achieves liberation in the Supreme.

Those who are free from anger and all material desires,

Who are self-realized,

Self-disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfection are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.

Shutting out all external sense objects,

Keeping the eyes and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows,

Suspending the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils,

Thus controlling the mind,

Senses and intelligence,

The transcendentalist becomes free from desire,

Fear and anger.

One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.

The sages,

Knowing me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities,

The Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities,

Attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.

The Blessed Lord said,

One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life,

And he is the true mystic,

Not he who lights no fire and performs no work.

What is called renunciation is the same as yoga or linking oneself with the Supreme,

For no one can become a yogi unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification.

For one who is a neophyte in the eightfold yoga system,

Work is said to be the means,

And for one who has already attained to yoga,

Cessation of all material activities is said to be the means.

A person is said to have attained to yoga when,

Having renounced all material desires,

He neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in fruitive activities.

A man must elevate himself by his own mind,

Not degrade himself.

The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul and his enemy as well.

For him who has conquered the mind,

The mind is the best of friends,

But for one who has failed to do so,

His very mind will be the greatest enemy.

For one who has conquered the mind,

The Supersoul is already reached,

For he has attained tranquility.

To such a man,

Happiness and distress,

Heat and cold,

Honor and dishonor,

Are all the same.

A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a yogi or mystic when he is fully satisfied by virtue of acquired knowledge and realization.

Such a person is situated in transcendence and is self-controlled.

He sees everything,

Whether it be pebbles,

Stones or gold,

As the same.

A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all,

The honest well-wisher,

Friends and enemies,

The envious,

The pious,

The sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial,

With an equal mind.

A transcendentalist should always try to concentrate his mind on the Supreme Self.

He should live alone in a secluded place and should always carefully control his mind.

He should be free from desires and feelings of possessiveness.

To practice yoga,

One should go to a secluded place and should lay kucha grass on the ground and then cover it with a deer skin and a soft cloth.

The seat should neither be too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place.

The yogi should then sit on it very firmly and should practice yoga by controlling the mind and the senses,

Purifying the heart and fixing the mind on one point.

One should hold one's body,

Neck and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose.

Thus,

With an unagitated,

Subdued mind,

Devoid of fear,

Completely free from sex life,

One should meditate upon me within the heart and make me the ultimate goal of life.

Thus practicing control of the body,

Mind and activities,

The mystic transcendentalist attains to the kingdom of God by cessation of material existence.

There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi,

O Arjuna,

If one eats too much or eats too little,

Sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.

He who is temperate in his habits of eating,

Sleeping,

Working and recreation can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.

When the yogi,

By practice of yoga,

Disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in transcendence,

Devoid of all material desires,

He is said to have attained yoga.

As a lamp in a windless place does not waver,

So the transcendentalist,

Whose mind is controlled,

Remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent self.

The stage of perfection is called trance,

Or samadhi,

When one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga.

This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self.

In that joyous state,

One is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses.

Established thus,

One never departs from the truth and upon gaining this,

He thinks there is no greater gain.

Being situated in such a position,

One is never shaken,

Even in the midst of greatest difficulty.

This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.

One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with undeviating determination and faith.

One should abandon,

Without exception,

All material desires born of false ego and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind.

Gradually,

Step by step,

With full conviction,

One should become situated in trance by means of intelligence and thus the mind should be fixed on the self alone and should think of nothing else.

From whatever and wherever the mind wanders,

Due to its flickering and unsteady nature,

One must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the self.

The yogi whose mind is fixed on me verily attains the highest happiness.

By virtue of his identity with Brahman,

He is liberated,

His mind is peaceful,

His passions are quieted and he is freed from sin.

Steady in the self,

Being freed from all material contamination,

The yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of happiness in touch with the Supreme Consciousness.

A true yogi observes me in all beings and also sees every being in me.

Indeed,

The self-realized man sees me everywhere.

For one who sees me everywhere and sees everything in me,

I am never lost,

Nor is he ever lost to me.

The yogi who knows that I am the Supersoul within all creatures are one worships me and remains always in me in all circumstances.

He is a perfect yogi who,

By comparison to his own self,

Sees the true equality of all beings,

Both in their happiness and distress,

O Arjuna.

Arjuna said,

O Madhusudana,

The system of yoga which you have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me,

For the mind is restless and unsteady.

For the mind is restless,

Turbulent,

Obstinate and very strong,

O Kunyaya.

And to subdue it is,

It seems to me,

More difficult than controlling the wind.

The Blessed Lord said,

O mighty-armed son of Kunti,

It is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind,

But it is possible by constant practice and by detachment.

For one whose mind is unbridled,

Self-realization is difficult work.

But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by right means is assured of success.

That is my opinion.

Arjuna said,

What is the destination of the man of faith who does not persevere,

Who in the beginning takes to the process of self-realization,

But who later desists due to worldly-mindedness and thus does not attain perfection in mysticism?

O mighty-armed Kunyaya,

Does not such a man,

Being deviated from the path of transcendence,

Perish like a riven cloud,

With no position in any sphere?

This is my doubt,

O Kunyaya,

And I ask you to dispel it completely.

But for yourself,

No one is to be found who can destroy this doubt.

The Blessed Lord said,

Son of Potha,

A transcendentalist engaged in auspicious activities does not meet with destruction,

Either in this world or in the spiritual world.

One who does good,

My friend,

Is never overcome by evil.

The unsuccessful yogi,

After many,

Many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities,

Is born into a family of righteous people or into a family of rich aristocracy,

Or he takes his birth in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom.

Verily,

Such a birth is rare in this world.

On taking such a birth,

He again revives the divine consciousness of his previous life,

And he tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success,

O son of Kuru.

By virtue of the divine consciousness of his previous life,

He automatically becomes attracted to the yogic principles,

Even without seeking them.

Such an inquisitive transcendentalist,

Striving for yoga,

Stands always above the ritualistic principles of the scriptures.

But when the yogi engages himself with sincere endeavor in making further progress,

Being washed of all contaminations,

Then ultimately,

After many,

Many births of practice,

He attains the supreme goal.

A yogi is greater than the ascetic,

Greater than the empiricist,

And greater than the fruitive worker.

Therefore,

O Arjuna,

In all circumstances,

Be a yogi.

And of all yogis,

He who always abides in me with great faith,

Worshiping me in transcendental loving service,

Is most intimately united with me in yoga,

And is the highest of all.

Chapter 7 Knowledge of the Absolute Now hear,

O son of Arjuna,

How by practicing yoga in full consciousness of me,

With mind attached to me,

You can know me in full,

Free from doubt.

I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge both phenomenal and noumenal,

By knowing which there shall remain nothing further to be known.

Out of many thousands among men,

One may endeavor for perfection,

And of those who have achieved perfection,

Hardly one knows me in truth.

Earth,

Water,

Fire,

Air,

Ether,

Mind,

Intelligence,

And false ego,

Altogether these eight comprise my separated material energies.

Besides this inferior nature,

O mighty-armed Arjuna,

There is a superior energy of mine,

Which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.

Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world,

Know for certain that I am both its origin and dissolution.

O conqueror of wealth,

There is no truth superior to me.

Everything rests upon me as pearls are strung on a thread.

O son of Arjuna,

I am the taste of water,

The light of the sun and the moon,

The syllable OM in the Vedic mantras.

I am the sound in ether and ability in man.

I am the original fragrance of the earth,

And I am the heat in fire.

I am the life of all that lives,

And I am the penances of all ascetics.

O son of Potha,

Know that I am the original seed of all existences,

The intelligence of the intelligent,

And the prowess of all powerful men.

I am the strength of the strong,

Devoid of passion and desire.

I am sex-life,

Which is not contrary to religious principles,

O lord of the Arjuna.

All states of being,

Be they of goodness,

Passion or ignorance,

Are manifested by my energy.

I am,

In one sense,

Everything,

But I am independent.

I am not under the modes of this material nature,

Deluded by the three modes,

Goodness,

Passion and ignorance.

The whole world does not know me who am above the modes and inexhaustible.

This divine energy of mine,

Consisting of the three modes of material nature,

Is difficult to overcome.

But those who have surrendered unto me can easily cross beyond it.

Those miscreants who are grossly foolish,

Lowest among mankind,

Whose knowledge is stolen by illusion,

And who partake of the atheistic nature of demons,

Do not surrender unto me.

O best among the Bharatas,

Arjuna,

Four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto me,

The distressed,

The desirer of wealth,

The inquisitive,

And he who is searching for knowledge of the absolute.

Of these,

The wise one who is in full knowledge in union with me,

Through pure devotional service,

Is the best.

For I am very dear to him,

And he is dear to me.

All these devotees are undoubtedly magnanimous souls,

But he who is situated in knowledge of me,

I consider verily to dwell in me.

Being engaged in my transcendental service,

He attains me.

After many births and deaths,

He who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto me,

Knowing me to be the cause of all causes and all that is.

Such a great soul is very rare.

Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.

I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul.

As soon as one desires to worship the demigods,

I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular deity.

Endowed with such a faith,

He seeks favors of a particular demigod and obtains his desires.

But in actuality,

These benefits are bestowed by me alone.

Men of small intelligence worship the demigods,

And their fruits are limited and temporary.

Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods,

But my devotees ultimately reach my supreme planet.

Unintelligent men,

Who know me not,

Think that I have assumed this form and personality.

Due to their small knowledge,

They do not know my higher nature,

Which is changeless and supreme.

I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent.

For them I am covered by my eternal creative potency,

Yogamaya,

And so the deluded world knows me not,

Who am unborn and infallible.

O Arjuna,

As the supreme personality of Godhead,

I know everything that has happened in the past,

All that is happening in the present,

And all things that are yet to come.

I also know all living entities,

But me no one knows.

O scion of Arjuna,

O conqueror of the foe,

All living entities are born into delusion,

Overcome by the dualities of desire and hate.

Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life,

Whose sinful actions are completely eradicated,

And who are freed from the duality of delusion,

Engage themselves in my service with determination.

Intelligent persons who are endeavoring for liberation from old age and death,

Take refuge in me in devotional service.

They are actually Brahman,

Because they entirely know,

Know everything about transcendental and fruitive activities.

Those who know me as the Supreme Lord,

As the governing principle of material manifestation,

Who know me as the one underlying all the demigods,

And as the one sustaining all sacrifices,

Can,

With steadfast mind,

Understand and know me even at the time of death.

Arjuna inquired,

O my lord,

O supreme person,

What is Brahman?

What is the self?

What are fruitive activities?

What is this material manifestation?

And what are the demigods?

Please explain this to me.

How does this lord of sacrifice live in the body,

And in which part does he live,

O Madhusudana?

And how can those engaged in devotional service know you at the time of death?

The Supreme Lord said,

The indestructible,

Transcendental living entity is called Brahman,

And his eternal nature is called the self.

Action pertaining to the development of these material bodies is called karma,

Or fruitive activities.

Physical nature is known to be endlessly mutable.

The universe is the cosmic form of the Supreme Lord,

And I am that Lord represented as the Supersoul,

Dwelling in the heart of every embodied being.

And whoever,

At the time of death,

Quits his body,

Remembering me alone,

At once attains my nature.

Of this there is no doubt.

Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body,

That state he will attain without fail.

Therefore,

Arjuna,

You should always think of me in the form of Konya,

And at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting.

With your activities dedicated to me,

And your mind and intelligence fixed on me,

You will attain me without doubt.

He who attains me,

The Supreme Personality of Godhead,

His mind constantly engaged in remembering me,

Undeviated from the path,

He,

Arjuna,

Is sure to reach me.

One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything,

As he who is the oldest,

Who is the controller,

Who is smaller than the smallest,

Who is the maintainer of everything,

Who is beyond all material conception,

Who is inconceivable,

And who is always a person.

He is luminous like the sun,

And,

Being transcendental,

Is beyond this material nature.

One who,

At the time of death,

Fixes his life air between the eyebrows,

And in full devotion,

Engages himself in remembering the Supreme Lord,

Will certainly attain the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Persons learned in the Vedas,

Who utter Omkara,

And who are great sages in the renounced order,

Enter into Brahman.

Desiring such perfection,

One practices celibacy.

I shall now explain to you this process by which one may attain salvation.

The yogic situation is that of detachment from all sensual engagements,

Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind on the heart and the life air at the top of the head,

One establishes himself in yoga.

After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable Om,

The supreme combination of letters,

If one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body,

He will certainly reach the spiritual planets.

For one who remembers Me without deviation,

I am easy to obtain,

O son of Pota,

Because of his constant engagement in devotional service.

After attaining Me,

The great souls,

Who are yogis in devotion,

Never return to this temporary world,

Which is full of miseries because they have attained the highest perfection.

From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest,

All are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place.

But one who attains to My abode,

O son of Kunte,

Never takes birth again.

By human calculation,

A thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahma's one day,

And such also is the duration of his night.

When Brahma's day is manifest,

This multitude of living entities comes into being and at the arrival of Brahma's night they are all annihilated.

Again and again the day comes and this host of beings is active,

And again the night falls,

O Partha,

And they are helplessly dissolved.

Yet there is another nature which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter.

It is supreme and is never annihilated.

When all in this world is annihilated,

That part remains as it is.

That supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible,

And it is the supreme destination.

When one goes there,

He never comes back.

That is My supreme abode,

The supreme personality of Godhead,

Who is greater than all,

Is attainable by unalloyed devotion.

Although He is present in His abode,

He is all-pervading,

And everything is situated within Him.

O best of the Bharatas,

I shall now explain to you the different times at which,

Passing away from this world,

One does or does not come back.

Those who know the Supreme Brahman pass away from the world during the influence of the fiery God,

In the light,

At an auspicious moment,

During the fortnight of the moon and the six months when the sun travels in the north.

The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke,

The night,

The moonlight fortnight,

Or in the six months when the sun passes to the south,

Or who reaches the moon planet,

Again comes back.

According to the Vedas,

There are two ways of passing from this world,

One in light and one in darkness.

When one passes in light,

He does not come back,

But when one passes in darkness,

He returns.

The devotees who know these two paths,

O Arjuna,

Are never bewildered.

Therefore,

Be always fixed in devotion.

A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas,

Performing austere sacrifices,

Giving charity,

Or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities.

At the end,

He reaches the supreme abode.

The Supreme Lord said,

My dear Arjuna,

Because you are never envious of me,

I shall impart to you this most secret wisdom,

Knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.

This knowledge is the king of education,

The most secret of all secrets.

It is the purest knowledge,

And because it gives direct perception of the self by realization,

It is the perfection of religion.

It is everlasting,

And it is joyfully performed.

Those who are not faithful on the path of devotional service cannot attain me,

O conqueror of foes,

But return to birth and death in this material world.

By me,

In my unmanifested form,

This entire universe is pervaded.

All beings are in me,

But I am not in them,

And yet everything that is created does not rest in me.

Behold my mystic opulence.

Although I am the maintainer of all living entities,

And although I am everywhere,

Still myself is the very source of creation.

As the mighty wind,

Blowing everywhere,

Always rests in ethereal space,

Know that in the same manner all beings rest in me.

O son of Kunti,

At the end of the millennium,

Every material manifestation enters into my nature,

And at the beginning of another millennium,

By my potency I again create.

The whole cosmic order is under me.

By my will,

It is manifested again and again,

And by my will,

It is annihilated at the end.

O Dhanayjaya,

All this work cannot bind me.

I am ever detached,

Seated,

As though neutral.

This material nature is working under my direction,

O son of Kunti,

And it is producing all moving and unmoving beings.

By its rule,

This manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.

Fools deride me when I descend in the human form.

They do not know my transcendental nature and my supreme dominion over all that be.

Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and atheistic views.

In that deluded condition,

Their hopes for liberation,

Their fruitive activities,

And their culture of knowledge are all defeated.

O son of Potha,

Those who are not deluded,

The great souls,

Are under the protection of the divine nature.

They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know me as the supreme personality of Godhead,

Original and inexhaustible,

Always chanting my glories,

Endeavoring with great determination,

Bowing down before me.

These great souls perpetually worship me with devotion.

Others,

Who are engaged in the cultivation of knowledge,

Worship the supreme Lord as the one without a second,

Diverse in many,

And in the universal form.

But it is I who am the ritual,

I the sacrifice,

The offering to the ancestors,

The healing herb,

The transcendental chant.

I am the butter and the fire and the offering.

I am the father of this universe,

The mother,

The support,

And the grandsire.

I am the object of knowledge,

The purifier and the syllable OM.

I am also the oak,

The sema,

And the vedas.

I am the goal,

The sustainer,

The master,

The witness,

The abode,

The refuge,

And the most dear friend.

I am the creation and the annihilation,

The basis of everything,

The resting place,

And the eternal seed.

O Arjuna,

I control heat,

The rain,

And the drought.

I am immortality,

And I am also death personified.

Both being and non-being are in me.

Those who study the vedas and drink the soma juice,

Seeking the heavenly planets,

Worship me indirectly.

They take birth on the planet of Indra,

Where they enjoy godly delights.

When they have thus enjoyed heavenly sense pleasure,

They return to this mortal planet again.

Thus,

Through the Vedic principles,

They achieve only flickering happiness.

But those who worship me with devotion,

Meditating on my transcendental form,

To them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.

Whatever a man may sacrifice to other gods,

O son of Kunti,

Is really meant for me alone,

But it is offered without true understanding.

I am the only enjoyer and the only object of sacrifice.

Those who do not recognize my true transcendental nature fall down.

Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods.

Those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings.

Those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors.

And those who worship me will live with me.

If one offers me,

Offer me with love and devotion,

A leaf,

A flower,

Fruit or water,

I will accept it.

O son of Kunti,

All that you do,

All that you eat,

All that you offer and give away,

As well as all austerities that you may perform,

Should be done as an offering unto me.

In this way,

You will be freed from all reactions to good and evil deeds.

And by this principle of renunciation,

You will be liberated and come to me.

I envy no one,

Nor am I partial to anyone.

I am equal to all.

But whoever renders service unto me in devotion is a friend,

Is in me,

And I am also a friend to him.

Even if one commits the most abominable actions,

If he is engaged in devotional service,

He is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated.

He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace.

O son of Kunti,

Declare it boldly that my devotee never perishes.

O son of Potha,

Those who take shelter in me,

Though they be of lower birth,

Women,

Merchants,

As well as workers,

Can approach the supreme destination.

How much greater,

Then,

Are the brahmiyas,

The righteous,

The devotees and saintly kings who in this temporary miserable world engage in loving service unto me.

Engage your mind always in thinking of me.

Offer obeisances and worship me.

Being completely absorbed in me,

Surely you will come to me.

Chapter 10 The Opulence of the Absolute The Supreme Lord said,

My dear friend,

Mighty-armed Arjuna,

Listen again to my supreme word,

Which I shall impart to you for your benefit and which will give you great joy.

Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know my origin.

For,

In every respect,

I am the source of the demigods and the sages.

He who knows me as the unborn,

As the beginningless,

As the supreme lord of all the worlds,

He,

Undiluted among men,

Is freed from all sins.

Intelligence,

Knowledge,

Freedom from doubt and delusion,

Forgiveness,

Truthfulness,

Self-control and calmness,

Pleasure and pain,

Birth,

Death,

Fear,

Fearlessness,

Non-violence,

Equanimity,

Satisfaction,

Austerity,

Charity,

Fame and infamy are created by me alone.

The seven great sages and before them,

The four other great sages and the Manas,

Progenitors of mankind,

Are born out of my mind and all creatures in these planets descend from them.

He who knows,

In truth,

This glory and power of mine,

Engages in unalloyed devotional service.

Of this there is no doubt.

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds.

Everything emanates from me.

The wise who know this perfectly engage in my devotional service and worship me with all their hearts.

The thoughts of my pure devotees dwell in me.

Their lives are surrendered to me and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about me.

To those who are constantly devoted and worship me with love,

I give the understanding by which they can come to me.

Out of compassion for them,

I,

Dwelling in their hearts,

Destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.

Arjuna said,

You are the supreme Brahman,

The ultimate,

The supreme abode and purifier,

The absolute truth and the eternal divine person.

You are the primal God,

Transcendental and original,

And you are the unborn and all-pervading beauty.

All the great sages such as Narada,

Asita,

Devala and Vyasa proclaim this of you and now you yourself are declaring it to me.

O Konya,

I totally accept as truth all that you have told me.

Neither the gods nor demons,

O Lord,

Know thy personality.

Indeed,

You alone know yourself by your own potencies.

O origin of all,

Lord of all beings,

God of gods,

O supreme person,

Lord of the universe,

Please tell me in detail of your divine powers by which you pervade all these worlds and abide in them.

How should I meditate on you?

In what various forms are you to be contemplated,

O blessed Lord?

Tell me again in detail,

O Konya,

Of your mighty potencies and glories,

For I never tire of hearing your ambrosial words.

The blessed Lord said,

Yes,

I will tell you of my splendorous manifestations,

But only of those which are prominent,

O Arjuna,

For my opulence is limitless.

Of the Vedas,

I am the Self,

O Guakecha,

Seated in the hearts of all creatures.

I am the beginning,

The middle,

And the end of all beings.

Of the Adityas,

I am Vinyu.

Of lights,

I am the radiant sun.

I am Maresi,

Of the Maruts.

And among the stars,

I am the moon.

Of the Vedas,

I am the Sama Veda.

Of the demigods,

I am Indra.

Of the senses,

I am the mind.

And in living beings,

I am the living force.

Of all the Rudras,

I am Lord Shiva.

Of the Yajnas and Raknasas,

I am the lord of wealth,

Kuvera.

Of the Vasus,

I am fire,

Agni.

And of the mountains,

I am Meru.

Of priests,

O Arjuna,

Know me to be the chief,

O Haspati,

The lord of devotion.

Of generals,

I am Skanda,

The lord of war.

And of bodies of water,

I am the ocean.

Of the great sages,

I am Bhogu.

Of vibrations,

I am the transcendental Aum.

Of sacrifices,

I am the chanting of the holy names.

And of immovable things,

I am the Himalayas.

Of all trees,

I am the holy fig tree.

And amongst sages and demigods,

I am Narada.

Of the singers of the gods,

I am Citraratha.

And among perfected beings,

I am the sage Kapila.

Of horses,

Know me to be Ukayutrave,

Who rose out of the ocean,

Born of the elixir of immortality.

Of lordly elephants,

I am Aravata.

And among men,

I am the monarch.

Of weapons,

I am the thunderbolt.

Among cows,

I am the surabhi,

Givers of abundant milk.

Of procreators,

I am Kandarpa,

The god of love.

And of serpents,

I am Vizuki,

The chief.

Of the celestial nega snakes,

I am Ananta.

Of the aquatic deities,

I am Barwea.

Of departed ancestors,

I am Aryama.

And among the dispensers of law,

I am Yama,

Lord of death.

Among the Deitya demons,

I am the devoted Prahlada.

Among subduers,

I am Time.

Among the beasts,

I am the Lion.

And among birds,

I am Garwoa,

The feathered carrier of Inyo.

Of purifiers,

I am the wind.

Of the wielders of weapons,

I am Rema.

Of fishes,

I am the shark.

And of flowing rivers,

I am the Ganges.

Of all creations,

I am the beginning and the end,

And also the middle,

O Arjuna.

Of all sciences,

I am the spiritual science of the self.

And among logicians,

I am the conclusive truth.

Of letters,

I am the letter A.

And among compounds,

I am the dual word.

I am also inexhaustible time.

And of creators,

I am Brahma,

Whose manifold faces turn everywhere.

I am all-devouring death.

And I am the generator of all things yet to be.

Among women,

I am fame,

Fortune,

Speech,

Memory,

Intelligence,

Faithfulness,

And patience.

Of hymns,

I am the bohatsama,

Sung to the lord Indra.

And of poetry,

I am the Gayatri verse,

Sung daily by Brahmas.

Of months,

I am November and December.

And of seasons,

I am flower-bearing spring.

I am also the gambling of cheats.

And of the splendid,

I am the splendor.

I am victory.

I am adventure.

And I am the strength of the strong.

Of the descendants of Vaunye-I,

I am Vesudeva.

And of the Peovas,

I am Arjuna.

Of the sages,

I am Vyasa.

And among great thinkers,

I am Ukhana.

Among punishments,

I am the rod of chastisement.

And of those who seek victory,

I am morality.

Of secret things,

I am silence.

And of the wise,

I am wisdom.

Furthermore,

O Arjuna,

I am the generating seed of all existences.

There is no being,

Moving or unmoving,

That can exist without me.

O mighty conqueror of enemies,

There is no end to my divine manifestations.

What I have spoken to you is but a mere indication of my infinite opulences.

Know that all beautiful,

Glorious,

And mighty creations spring from but a spark of my splendor.

But what need is there,

Arjuna,

For all this detailed knowledge?

With a single fragment of myself,

I pervade and support this entire universe.

Chapter 11.

The Universal Form.

Arjuna said,

I have heard your instruction on confidential spiritual matters,

Which you have so kindly delivered unto me,

And my illusion is now dispelled.

O lotus-eyed one,

I have heard from you in detail about the appearance and disappearance of every living entity,

As realized through your inexhaustible glories.

O greatest of all personalities,

O supreme form,

Though I see here before me your actual position,

I yet wish to see how you have entered into this cosmic manifestation.

I want to see that form of yours.

If you think that I am able to behold your cosmic form,

O my lord,

O master of all mystic power,

Then kindly show me that universal self.

The blessed lord said,

My dear Arjuna,

O son of Pothe,

Behold now my opulences,

Hundreds of thousands of very divine forms,

Multicolored like the sea.

O best of the Bharatas,

See here the different manifestations of Adityas,

Rudras,

And all the demigods.

Behold the many things which no one has ever seen nor heard before.

Whatever you wish to see can be seen all at once in this body.

This universal form can show you all that you now desire,

As well as whatever you may desire in the future.

Everything is here completely,

But you cannot see me with your present eyes.

Therefore I give to you divine eyes by which you can behold my mystic opulence.

Saijaya said,

O king,

Speaking thus,

The supreme,

The lord of all mystic power,

The personality of godhead,

Displayed his universal form to Arjuna.

Arjuna saw in that universal form unlimited mouths and unlimited eyes.

It was all wondrous.

The form was decorated with divine dazzling ornaments and arrayed in many garbs.

He was garlanded gloriously and there were many scents smeared over his body.

All was magnificent,

All expanding,

Unlimited.

This was seen by Arjuna.

If hundreds of thousands of suns rose up at once into the sky,

They might resemble the effulgence of the supreme person in that universal form.

At that time,

Arjuna could see in the universal form of the lord the unlimited expansions of the universe situated in one place,

Although divided into many,

Many thousands.

Then,

Bewildered and astonished,

His hair standing on end,

Arjuna began to pray with folded hands,

Offering obeisances to the supreme lord.

Arjuna said,

My dear lord Konya,

I see assembled together in your body all the demigods and various other living entities.

I see Brahma sitting on the lotus flower as well as lord Shiva and many sages and divine serpents.

O lord of the universe,

I see in your universal body many,

Many forms,

Bellies,

Mouths,

Eyes,

Expanded without limit.

There is no end,

There is no beginning,

And there is no middle to all this.

Your form,

Adorned with various crowns,

Clubs and discs,

Is difficult to see because of its glaring effulgence,

Which is fiery and immeasurable like the sun.

And now,

A reading of a fictional story based on the Bhagavad Gita.

Part 1.

The Field of Being Long ago,

Before the world you know,

Before the turning of this night,

There was a field,

A vast field stretching beneath an open sky,

A field called Kurukshetra,

The field of action,

The field of choice,

The field where all human hearts must one day stand.

On this field were gathered two great armies.

Their banners moved slowly in the morning air.

Conch shells rested in patient hands.

Horses breathed softly,

Their hooves pressed into the earth.

Yet beneath all this movement,

There was a deeper stillness,

As though the earth itself were holding its breath.

At the center of the field stood a chariot.

Its wheels were firm,

Its banner bore the sign of the great bird,

Garuda.

Upon it stood Arjuna,

A warrior without equal,

A student of discipline,

A protector of his people.

But now his hands trembled.

He looked across the field and saw not enemies,

But teachers,

Uncles,

Friends,

Brothers,

Sons of his own blood.

His bow slipped from his fingers,

His mouth grew dry,

His breath came shallow and uneven.

The world he had understood all his life,

Duty,

Honor,

Victory,

Began to dissolve like mist in the sun.

Krishna,

He said softly,

His voice breaking like a wave that cannot return to shore.

I cannot do this.

And beside him stood Krishna,

The charioteer,

The friend,

The presence beyond all form.

Krishna did not rush to answer.

The universe does not hurry.

He stood in silence,

Holding the reins lightly as the wind passed over the field and the sky watched patiently above.

Arjuna sank down upon the seat of the chariot.

His strength left him.

His mind raced,

Then collapsed into sorrow.

What joy can come from this,

He asked.

What victory is worth such loss?

His words drifted into the air and settled into the earth and faded.

And then,

From the stillness itself,

From the depth beneath all sound,

Krishna began to speak,

Not as a man,

Not as a warrior,

But as the eternal voice that has always been.

Arjuna,

The word did not move through the air.

It moved through being itself.

You grieve for what does not deserve grief.

As Krishna spoke,

Time slowed.

The battlefield softened.

The noise of the world grew distant.

The wise do not sorrow for the living,

Nor for the dead.

For what you truly are,

Krishna revealed,

Has never been born and will never die.

The body comes and goes,

Like seasons passing through a field.

But the self,

The one who sees,

The one who knows,

The one who rests behind the eyes,

That remains,

Uncut by weapons,

Unburned by fire,

Unwet by water,

Unmoved by wind,

Eternal,

Still,

Unchanging.

As Krishna spoke,

The weight in Arjuna's chest began to loosen,

Not vanish,

But soften,

Like a tight knot slowly learning it can rest.

You have stood in many bodies,

Krishna said.

You will stand in many more.

But you are not the body that stands today,

The field before you.

This moment of decision is not a punishment.

It is a doorway,

A doorway into Dharma,

The deep order of the universe,

Where each being moves according to its nature,

Without fear,

Without attachment.

And as the voice of Krishna continued,

The stars themselves seemed to listen.

Part Two The Path of Action and the Still Center The voice of Krishna did not rise.

It did not fall.

It simply was,

Steady as the turning of the stars,

Calm as the space between breaths.

Arjuna,

The voice continued,

You stand at the meeting place of two worlds.

One world pulls you toward action,

Toward movement,

Duty,

Consequence.

The other pulls you toward withdrawal,

Toward silence,

Escape,

And rest.

But hear this truth,

Spoken from the heart of the universe.

No one remains still,

Not for a moment.

Even in sleep,

The breath moves,

The blood flows,

The mind drifts.

Action arises from nature itself.

To refuse action is not freedom.

It is only confusion wearing the shape of peace.

You were born with hands made to move,

With breath made to flow,

With a place in the great weaving of things.

To abandon your nature is to step out of harmony with the whole.

But there is another way to act,

A way untouched by fear,

A way that leaves no stain upon the heart.

Krishna paused,

And the field seemed to widen,

As though the horizon itself leaned closer.

Act,

The voice said,

But release your claim upon the fruit.

Let the arrow fly,

Without asking where it will land.

Let the seed be planted,

Without demanding the harvest.

You are not the maker of outcomes.

You are the keeper of intention.

When action is offered without attachment,

It becomes clear,

Light,

And free.

This is karma yoga,

The path of action that leads beyond action.

Arjuna listened,

His breath slowly deepening,

His shoulders easing.

What of wisdom?

He asked.

What of those who seek only knowledge,

Who turn away from the world?

Krishna's voice carried a gentle knowing.

Wisdom is not found by fleeing the world,

The universe replied.

It is found by seeing clearly while standing within it.

True knowledge does not separate you from life,

It unites you with it,

The one who sees the same self.

In the learned and the simple,

In the gentle and the fierce,

In friend and foe,

That one has begun to awaken.

As Krishna spoke,

The edges of the battlefield softened further.

The clash of armies seemed distant,

Like a memory belonging to another life.

When the mind rests in balance,

The voice said,

Pleasure and pain lose their power,

Success and failure become passing clouds.

Action continues,

But the heart remains still.

This stillness is not dullness,

It is clarity.

Like a lamp protected from the wind,

The flame does not flicker,

And from this steady flame arises devotion,

Not devotion bound to ritual or fear,

But devotion born of recognition.

To know me,

Krishna said,

Is to love me.

To love me is to move with me.

Offer each action as you would offer a breath,

Naturally,

Without effort,

Without pride,

A leaf placed gently on water,

Floats without struggle.

So too can a life.

Arjuna felt something settle within him,

A quiet confidence,

Not loud,

Not forceful,

But sure.

The universe continued,

When you release attachment,

You are no longer bound by what you do.

Work becomes worship,

Movement becomes meditation,

And in this way,

Even the battlefield becomes a place of awakening.

The chariot stood still,

Yet everything within Arjuna had begun to move,

Not toward violence,

But toward understanding.

Krishna's voice softened further,

As though preparing the world itself for something vast.

There is more for you to see,

The universe whispered.

When you are ready,

I will show you what has always been.

The air shimmered faintly,

The sky seemed deeper,

The moment stretched wide and luminous,

And Arjuna waited.

Part Three The Vision of the Eternal Form The field grew quiet,

Not the silence of absence,

But the silence of fullness,

As though all sound had gently folded itself away.

The wind slowed,

The sky deepened,

Even time seemed to pause,

Listening.

Arjuna stood upon the chariot,

His heart steady now,

Open and ready.

Krishna,

He said,

His voice no longer shaking,

You have spoken of the self,

Of action,

Of balance and devotion.

You have shown me the path of living,

Without bondage.

But if you will,

If it is possible,

Let me see you as you truly are.

There was no surprise in Krishna,

The universe had been waiting for this moment,

Since before moments existed.

Behold,

The voice said,

Not with the eyes of the body,

But with the eyes that know,

And then,

The form of Krishna began to change,

Not suddenly,

Not violently,

But like dawn unfolding from a single point of light.

Arjuna's sight widened beyond sight,

Before him appeared a presence,

With countless faces,

Countless eyes,

Countless arms,

Reaching in every direction.

Stars shone where skin had been,

Galaxies turned where breath once flowed.

All worlds arose within this form,

Past,

Present,

And yet to come.

Mountains rested there,

Rivers flowed there,

Creatures of every kind moved within this vastness.

Creation and dissolution danced together without conflict,

Without fear.

Arjuna saw warriors entering this form,

Not as punishment,

But as completion,

Like rivers returning to the sea.

The terror he felt was not of harm,

But of immensity.

He back-hauled.

His heart opened so wide it felt as though it might dissolve entirely.

Now you see,

Krishna said,

The voice echoing everywhere at once,

I am time.

I am becoming.

I am the stillness beneath all motion.

I am the fire that transforms and the ash that remains.

I am never absent.

Arjuna trembled,

Not with fear,

But with awe.

He understood now that nothing had ever been outside this presence.

Every choice,

Every loss,

Every joy,

All held.

Slowly,

Gently,

The vision softened.

Your task is simple.

Act in harmony.