This chapter and the next deal with the monist nature of the divinity in its immanent aspect. Paving the way for the mystical transcendent vision of the divinity, accessible through a path of knowledge through devotion.
1- Brahma-Jnana is the best Religion. (1-3)
I. To thee who dost not cavil, I shall now declare this, the greatest secret, knowledge combined with experience, which having known thou shalt be liberated from evil.
2- The Universe (4-10)
All beings rest in the Lord. (4-6)
Having prepared Arjuna (to listen to the Doctrine) by extolling it, the Lord says:
4. By Me all this world is pervaded, My form unmanifested. All beings dwell in Me; and I do not dwell in them. All this world is pervaded by My Highest Being, My form being invisible to the senses.
In Me, of unmanifested form, dwell all beings from Brahma down to the plant. No being devoid of the Self can ever become an object of experience. Wherefore they dwell in Me, i. e., they are self-existent (or have an individual existence) through Me, the Self, (i. e., they are what they are in virtue of Me, the Self, underlying them all.) 'Since I am the Self of all those beings, it would seem to the deluded as though I dwell in them. Wherefore I say : I do not dwell in those beings, because of the absence of contact with others, unlike corporeal things. I am, certainly, the innermost essence even of the akasa. That which is unconnected with any object cannot I indeed be contained anywhere as though in a receptacle. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)
5. Nor do those beings dwell in Me ; behold My Divine Yoga! Sustaining all beings, but not dwelling in them, is My Self, the cause of beings. The Lord is the source and the end of all beings.
The ancient teaching which Krishna once more enunciates is that all forms of every kind proceed from One Universal Source; the life of each is hidden in and sustained by that Source—the One Life. The power to perceive and expand its range of perception and expression is the same in all beings and forms; the degrees of perception and expression are shown in the innumerable classes of beings it is this power that is behind all evolution— the unfolding from within outwards. (Crosbie, Essays on the Gita, 158)
The Lord is the source and the end of all beings. (7-8)
7. All beings, O son of Kunti, go into My Prakriti at the end of a kalpa. I send them forth again at the beginning of (the next) kalpa.
This living and non-living universe is created by Me only through the establishment of Prakriti therefore with this logic I am the cause of its creation. Therefore understand in the light of Knowledge the Divine principle that all living things are in Me but I am not in them or (going still further), all living things are not in Me and I am not in them. Do not forget this fundamental thing which is My most guarded secret which you should enjoy through Meditation after shutting of your sense-organs. Nobody can understand My true nature unless this is understood. Normally, it is thought that this principle is understood through logic but it is useless unless it is experienced. (Dnyaneshwari; 9:132-140, transl. M.R. Yardi)
The Lord is not bound by His acts. (9-10)
10. By Me presiding, Prakriti produces the moving and the unmoving; because of this, O son of Kunti, the world revolves.
Similarly, all the knowledge and behaviour of those who have no control on their mind becomes useless. They are caught in the grips of Prakriti thus getting entangled in worldly affairs and their mind gets afflicted by the Tama attribute affecting their reason and discrimination. Desire and violence generate dissatisfaction in them leading to unrighteous behaviour. Knowledge is destroyed by hate. Persons with materialistic thinking are specially victims of Prakriti and are affected by delusion. Affected by Tama attribute they cannot be saved by righteous thinking and are lost. (Dnyaneshwari; 9:178- 185, transl. M.R. Yardi)
3- Different kinds of worshippers (11-26)
The life of the impious. (11-12)
12. Of vain hopes, of vain actions, of vain knowledge, devoid of discrimination, partaking only of the delusive nature of Rakshasas and Asuras.
The ways of the faithful devotees. (13-15)
13. The Mahatmans, O son of Pntha, partaking of the nature of the Devas, worship Me with mind turned to no other, knowing (Me) as the imperishable source of all beings.
All worship goes to the Lord. (16-18)
18. I am the Goal, the Sustainer, the Lord, the Witness, the Abode, the Shelter and the Friend, the Origin, Dissolution and Stay ; the Treasure-house, the Seed imperishable.
The fruits of interested acts of Vedic ritual. (20-21)
20. Men of the three Vedas, the soma-drinkers, purified from sin, worshipping Me by sacrifices, pray for the goal of heaven ; they reach the holy world of the Lord of the Gods and enjoy in heaven the heavenly pleasures of the Gods.
This Yajna of knowledge is as follows. The original thought that I am one but I desire to be many is the pole for tying the sacrificial animal and dualism is that animal. The five elements are the pandal (temporary enclosed shelter), the special attributes of the five elements namely the five organs and the five types of vital breaths (Pranas) are the material to be used in the yajna and ignorance is the ghee (clarified butter used in Indian households for cooking and for lamps) to be burnt in it.
In this Yajna, the mind and the intellect are the two pits in which the fire of knowledge is ignited. The feeling of equanimity towards pleasure and pain is the altar. The dexterity of the intellect to discriminate is the Mantras in the yajna. Peace is the pair of vessels sruka and sruva used in the yajna. The seeker is the host who performs the yajna. Using the vessels of experience, the mantra of discrimination and rituals of Knowledge, he sacrifices the dualism and destroys the ignorance and then what remains is only the host and the rituals. And when the seeker gets the purifying bath by the water of Self-realisation then he does not find the elements, organs and their objects to be separate from each but considers all of them to be one. When he experiences Brahman in the entire universe the talk of his being an individual living being ends and he believes that from Brahmadeo downwards the Supreme Soul has pervaded everything. Thus some people worship Me by attaining Brahman through the yajna of Knowledge. (9:239- 248)
The Supreme watching over His devotees' interests. (22)
22. Those men who, meditating on Me as nonseparate, worship Me all around,—to them who are ever devout, I secure gain and safety.
I serve those who have completely surrendered to Me, who think there is nothing better than Me, consider that their whole life belongs to Me and thus, with extreme faith meditate on Me and worship Me. When they accepted the path of My worship, at that time itself the responsibility of taking their care in all respects fell on Me and I was compelled to do what they should have done for themselves. Just as mother bird takes complete care of her babies who have not yet developed wings and lives only for them, I also take care of My devotees who have kept complete faith in Me. If they want moksha (liberation) leading to oneness with Me, I take them towards it and if they like to serve Me then I offer them My love. I give them whatever they want and having given, I guard it also for them. I provide maintenance to all those who give themselves to Me completely. (Dnyaneshwari, 9:335-343, transl. M.R. Yardi)
Other devotees do but worship the Supreme in ignorance. (23-25)
23. Even those who, devoted to other Gods, worship Them with faith, worship Myself, O son of Kunti, in ignorance.
Facility in Devotion to the Supreme. (26-28)
27. Whatever thou doest, whatever thou eatest, whatever thou sacrificest, whatever thou givest, in whatever austerity thou engagest, do it as an offering to Me.
Whatever thou doest of thy own accord [i.e., not enjoined in the sistra) and whatever thou offerest in sacrifice as enjoined in the sruti or the smriti, whatever thou givest — such things as gold—to the brahmanas and others, ...do all that as an offering to Me. (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)
28. Thus shalt thou be liberated from the bonds of actions which are productive of good and evil results; equipped in mind with the Yoga of renunciation, and liberated, thou shalt come to Me.
Then, just as a roasted seed does not germinate, the actions offered to Me do not bear fruit. Arjuna, it is only when Karma remains that it gives rise to fruits of happiness and sorrow and leads to rebirth in order to go through them. On the other hand, if the action is offered to Me then immediately the rebirth is avoided and one is saved from the pains accompanying it. Therefore Arjuna, avoid getting trapped into the bonds of the body and thus getting drowned in the ocean of happiness and sorrow and so by following this easy path become one with Me. (Dnyaneshwari; 9:402-406, transl. M.R. Yardi)
The impartiality of the Supreme. (29)
29. The same I am to all beings ; to Me there is none hateful or dear ; but whoso worship Me with devotion, they are in Me, and I am also in them.
Even the Low-born attain salvation by Devotion. (30-32)
32. For, finding refuge in Me, they also who, O son of Pritha, may be of a sinful birth—women, vaisyas as well as siidras,—even they attain to the Supreme Goal.
The Yoga of Devotion. (33-34)
34. Fix thy mind on Me, be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me, bow down to Me. Thus steadied, with Me as thy Supreme Goal, thou shalt reach Myself, the Self.
The real “worship”, is devotion to an ideal. Here “the Self of All” is the ideal, and the action indicated is to think and act for, and as, the One Self in all things, without self-interest in the results. We are not attached to results by our acts, but by our thoughts; freedom comes from a renunciation of self-interest in the fruit of actions. (Crosbie, Essays on the Gita, 163)
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