In this way, the knowledge of Self gets solely confined to the body and because of its smallness it appears as a part of myself. When a ripple is formed on the sea as a result of a breeze, it appears to be a part of the sea. In the same way, though I give consciousness and egoism to the inert body, I appear as the individual Self in this body (341-345). The activity that appears to go round due to the intellect of the embodied Self is known as the world of the living (jivaloka). Where birth and death are regarded as real, I call that the world of the living or mundane existence. Just as the moon, though different from water, is reflected in the water, so I exist in this world of the living. If a crystal is placed on red- powder, it appears red but in reality it is not so. In the same way my original nature as beginningless and inactive remains unaffected.

If I appear to be the doer and the experience, know that it is due to delusion (346-350). In short, this pure Self coming into conjunction with the Prakriti attributes its properties to himself. Then he regards the mind and the senses, which are the products of the Prakriti, as his own and becomes involved in worldly affairs. Just as a monk becomes his own family in a dream and, becoming infatuated, exerts himself to maintain it, so the Self, forgetting his essential nature, takes himself to be the body, and dances attendance on it. Then he rides in the chariot of the mind and passing out through the ears, he enters the woods of speech (351-355). When he holds on to the apron of Prakriti, he goes through the door of skin into the thick forest in the form of touch. Sometimes he comes out through the door of the eyes, and roams freely on the mountain of form. O warrior, he passes out through the passage of the tongue and wanders in the valley of taste. Or when this part of myself comes out through the exit of the nose, he roves in the dense forest of smell. In this way taking the help of the mind, the embodied Self, who is the lord of the body and the senses, enjoys the sense-objects such as the sound (356-360).

8.      When the Lord (the Self) acquires a body and also when he abandons it, he departs taking these with him as the wind (carries) fragrance from its source.

When this embodied Self enters the body, he thinks that he is the doer and experiencer. Just as, O winner of wealth, a rich and pleasure-loving person is recognised when he settles down in the capital city, so when the embodied Self takes on his body, his ego gains strength and his senses and their objects become turbulent. Or when he departs from the body, he takes along with him the retinue of the senses. Just as a dishonoured guest carries with him the merit of his host, or with the snapping of the string the movements of the puppets cease (361-365), or when the sun sets he takes away the vision of the people or when the wind blows it carries away the fragrance, so O Dhananjaya, when the embodied Self discards the body, he takes with himself the five organs of knowledge and the sixth organ, the mind.

9.      Preciding over the organs of hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell and the mind, this (embodied Self) enjoys the objects of the senses.

Whether he remains in this world or goes to the next world after assuming a body, he takes with himself this group of senses including the mind. O Arjuna, when a lamp is extinguished, it takes away the light, but when it is relit, it brings back the light and spreads it; the ignorant think that this is what happens in the case of the embodied Self (366-370). They think that the Self really entered the body and left after enjoying the sense-objects. But coming and going, doing and enjoying are all the properties of Prakriti; but men ascribe them to the Self.

10.  The deluded do not see him departing or staying (in the body) or enjoying, as he is endowed with gunas; but those with the eye of wisdom see him.

11.  The yogis, exerting themselves, see him existing in themselves; but the thoughtless do not see him, being of unformed minds, even if they try very hard.

When the embodied Self begins his movements, then we say that the Self has entered his body and that he is born. When the senses, through their association with the embodied Self, savour of the sense-objects, this is called his experience. When the child grows old and the body becomes emaciated and lifeless, then the people lament that the Self has departed (371-375). Should one understand that the wind blows only if a tree is fluttering and that it does not exist where there is no tree? Should a person think that he exists only when he sees his reflection in the mirror and not before? And when the mirror is set aside and the reflection is gone, should he decide that he has ceased to exist? Even though the sound is a property of the akasha, people ascribe the thunder of lightning to the clouds or they attribute the movement of the cloud to the moon.

So persons blinded by infatuation superpose the birth and death of the body upon the Self (376-380). But there are some persons who know that the Self abides in the body and witnesses only the functions of the body. They regard the body with the eye of wisdom as the mere sheath of the Self and not get entangled in it. Such men of knowledge in whom the discrimination has spread like the scorch4ng rays of the sun in the summer are enlightened as regards the essential nature of the Self. When the sky studded with stars becomes reflected in the sea, then surely it has not dropped down into the sea.

The sky remains where it is and its reflection in the sea is a mere illusion. So that which abides in the body is the Self only (381-385).

Though the reflection of the moonlight oscillates in the roaring currents of water and gives the impression of a being divided into parts, the light remains in the moon all the same. The sun's reflection appears in the puddle and disappears when it becomes dry; yet the sun remains unaffected where it is. In the same way, men of knowledge know that the Self abides when the body remains or ceases to exist. Even when an earthen pot and a hermitage are constructed and destroyed, the space in it remains as it is; in the same way, the Self remains changeless. The enlightened men know that the bodies conceived through ignorance come into being and perish. The Self does not increase or diminish, he does not do work nor get it done. In this way the men of knowledge know me truly.

But even if a man attains this knowledge, possesses keen intellect to penetrate through atom and becomes proficient in all lores, but is lacking in non-attachment, he will not attain to me, the all-pervading one. Even if he talks glibly about discrimination, but at the same time entertains thoughts of sense-objects in his mind, he will definitely not attain to me. By repeating in sleep the texts read by him, will he ' able to break the bonds of worldly existence? Can one be said to have read a book, if he merely touches it? Or if one's eyes are bandaged, will one be able to assess the worth of a set of pearls by putting it to one's nose (391-395)? In that way, even if one has all the scriptures at the tip of one's tongue, one will never attain to me, so long as one's heart is full of egoism. Now, I shall explain how, though single, I pervade the whole universe.

12.  That light pertaining to the sun, which illumines the entire world, and that which is in the moon and in the fire know that the light is Mine.

Know that all that light which illumines the world, inclusive of the sun's, belongs to me and remains with me from the beginning to the end of the world. When the sun dries up the world (through the process of' evaporation), the moon-light that provides moisture to the world is also mine. And the intense heat in the Are, which burns and cooks etc., also belongs to me (396-400).

13.  Entering the earth, I sustain all beings with My power and I nourish all the herbs, becoming soma (moon) full of juices.

I permeate the earth, so that even though it is a mass of clay, it does not dissolve in the waters of the ocean. I also enter the earth and uphold the countless beings, both animate and inanimate, sustained by it. I have become the moving lake of nectar in the form of the moon in the sky. And when the moon-beams come down from the sky, I turn them into channels of nectar and nourish the plants. In this way, by providing food crops in abundance, I sustain the life of all beings (401- 405). Even after the food is produced, it has to be digested otherwise how could the living being get satisfaction after eating it?

14.  Having become the abdominal fire, I live in the bodies of all creatures; and united with the inward and outward breaths, I digest the four kinds of food.

Therefore, O Arjuna, I become the digestive fire which is kindled at - the region of the navel. By blowing the bellows in the form of inward and outward breath, I consume unlimited quantities of food. I digest four kinds of food viz., dry, oily, cooked and half- cooked. In this way, I am the entire world of beings, also the food which sustains them and I am also the Are, which is the principal means of digestion (406-410). How much more can I describe to you the novelty of my pervasion? There is nothing in this world without me and I have pervaded the whole of it.

Now you will ask me why some beings in this world are happy and some are afflicted with misery. If the lamps in a town are lit by one' and the same lamp will it happen that some of them give light and some not? If you entertain such doubts, I shall clear them completely. See I am everywhere and there is nothing without me. But I appear different to living beings according to their discerning power (411-415). Even if sound is the quality of the sky, we hear different tunes from different musical instruments. The sun rises and helps the people to go about their different occupations. The seeds with different properties grow into different trees. In the same way, my essential nature is transformed into differing beings. If an ignorant and a wise person both see a double-braided necklace of sapphires, the ignorant one takes it to be a serpent, while the wise one feels happy with the knowledge that it is a necklace. The raindrop turns into a pearl when it falls into an oyster under the asterism of Swati, but it becomes poison when it falls into the mouth of a serpent. In the same way, -I become the cause of happiness to the wise, but the cause of misery to the ignorant (416-420).

15.  I dwell in the hearts of all; from Me spring memory, knowledge and reason. I alone am the object of knowledge of all the Vedas; I am the author of Vedanta and also the knower of the Vedas.

The consciousness that "I am somebody" which throbs day and night in the heart of everyone is myself. But when his ignorance is removed by the company of saints, the pursuit of yoga and knowledge and the service of the preceptor with non-attachment, his egoism becomes merged in the Self. Such a person comes to know me thoroughly and becomes happy with that knowledge. What other reason can he have except myself in attaining that state? O Dhananjaya, just as the sun can be perceived only when the sun rises, so I am myself the cause of my own knowledge (42l-425). On the other hand, those who are engrossed in pampering the body and in hearing the praise of worldly affairs, and whose egoism is, therefore, bound with the body. they pursue the path of action in order to attain happiness here as also in heaven and have misery as their lot. But, O Arjuna, I am also the cause of this state of theirs, just as what we see in the wakeful state becomes the cause of dreams in the state of sleep. Just as the cloudy sky, which makes the light dim, is also seen in that light, so the diversion of their attention to the sense objects on account of their ignorance of me also arises from me.

O winner of wealth, as ignorance is the cause of the wakeful state and sleep, so I am the root cause of the knowledge and ignorance of living beings (426- 430). Just as the rope is the cause of its illusory appearance as the serpent or its true knowledge, so I am the root cause of knowledge and ignorance which is the basis of worldly existence. Therefore, O Dhananjaya, not knowing my essential nature, the Vedas made an attempt to know me, giving rise to a number of different schools. Yet they all impart knowledge in regard to myself, as all rivers going East or West ultimately join the sea. Just as the fragrant breeze stops in the sky, so the Vedas are reduced to nonplus when they come across the great utterance, 'I am myself the great Brahman'. In this way, when the scriptures become dumb out of shame, I help them to reveal the nature of Brahman (431-435).

I am the knower of that pure knowledge, in which the world along with the scriptures becomes merged. Just as when a person wakes up from sleep, he knows that all things which he saw in a dream were not different from him but that he himself had become them, so I know My non-dual nature, which is free from the limiting conditions of the world and I am myself the cause of its realisation. O Arjuna, when the camphor gets burnt, it leaves neither soot nor fire, so the knowledge after destroying ignorance ceases and no one can definitely say that it exists or ceases (436-440). Who can trace the thief and where, who takes away the universe without leaving any trail? Then what remains is the state. which is myself. In this way, while describing how he had pervaded the animate and inanimate world, the Lord, the giver of salvation, preached his pure state which is free from limiting conditions. Just as on the rise of the moon in the sky, its full reflection appears in the sea, so the teaching of the Lord became impressed on the mind of Arjuna. As the picture on a wall becomes reflected in the opposite wall, which has been polished and made glossy, so the knowledge, which was imparted by Lord Krishna, penetrated the mind of Arjuna. It is a wonder that the more one attains knowledge of the Supreme Self, the more he feels attracted to it (441-445).

Then Arjuna, the prince among those who have realised the Self, said, "O Lord, please repeat fully whatever description you gave of the formless Supreme in the course of explaining your pervasive nature". Then the king of Dvaraka said, "You have asked a pertinent question. O Arjuna, I also like to speak on this subject but what can I do? One seldom comes across someone who asks questions like this. But you questioned me on this point freely. So you have fulfilled my desire and brought me happiness arising from the experience of non-dualism (446-450). I have found in you as a good conversationalist as myself, like seeing my own form reflected in the mirror. O dear Arjuna, you never ask a question in ignorance so that I shall explain this thing in a way, which will convince you. Saying this, the ' Lord embraced Arjuna and viewing him with favour said, "Although there are two lips, the speech which comes out of them is the same. Although there are two pairs of feet, yet the act of walking is the same. Of the same type is your question to me, and my reply to you. In fact, both of us should have the same purpose, as both of us, one who asks and one who replies are one and the same (451-455).

" While speaking this, the Lord became infatuated with affection and clasping Arjuna to his heart remained still. Then with some trepidation he said to himself, " Such an affection on my part is not proper. While preparing jaggery from sugarcane juice, salt is added to it to prevent it from being spoiled, so if I do not maintain this distinction between us, then we shall miss this pleasure of conversation. As it is, there is no distinction between us, as we were formerly Nara and Narayana and so I must allow this effusion of affection to subside". Thinking thus, he asked, "O Arjuna, what did you ask me?" Hearing these words, Arjuna, who was on the point of merging his personality into that of the Lord, regained his consciousness and became ready to hear his reply (456-460). With a choked throat (through an excess of emotion), he said, "O Lord, tell me about your attributeless form."

The Lord began his reply by describing two kinds of limiting conditions (upadhis). You may wonder as to why the Lord talked about the limiting conditions, when he was requested to explain the attributeless form. It is like this. One cannot recover butter without separating the buttermilk from milk, or get pure gold without burning its alloy. One cannot reach pure water without setting aside the moss or get a clear sky without the scattering away of clouds (461-465). Is there any difficulty in recovering the grain once the husk is removed? In the same way, it hardly needs telling that what remains after removing the limiting conditions is the attributeless form of the Self. Just as a lady from a good family indicates by keeping quiet that the name uttered by a person is the name of her husband, so where the scriptures remain mute, that is the indescribable pure form of the Supreme Self. In order to indicate that this form is inexpressible, the Lord of goddess Lakshmi has started with a description of the limiting conditions. Just as one has to point out the tiny moon's arc on the first day after the new moon night against the background of a branch of a tree, one has to discuss the limiting conditions in order to explain the attributeless form of the Supreme Self (466-470).

16.  There are two purusha in the world, the perishable and the imperishable. The perishable comprises all creatures, the changeless is the imperishable (Self).

Then the Lord said, O ambidextrous Arjuna, the population of this town in the form of mundane existence consists of only two purusha. Both these live in the capital of the world as both light and darkness dwell in the sky. There is also a third purusha, but he does not tolerate these two and when he arrives he immediately devours both of them along with the world. Leave this for the time being.

First, hear about those two who have come to dwell in this town in the form of worldly existence. One of them is blind, crazy and lame, and the other has all his organs fully developed. They come into close association with one another-, as they dwell in the same city (471-475). One of them is known as 'perishable' and other is 'imperishable.' The worldly existence is entirely filled .by these two.

Now, I shall explain to you what this 'perishable' entity is and what the characteristics are of the 'imperishable '. O winner of wealth, that which is great and small right from the Great Principle to the blade of grass, which is animate and the inanimate, which is comprehended by the mind and the body, which springs from the five gross elements and takes on name and form, which issues from the mint of the three gunas (476-480), which is the metal from which the coins in the form of beings are minted, which is the money with which the Time (Kala) gambles, which is known through false knowledge, which comes into being and becomes dissolved every moment, which enters the forest of delusion and produces the form of creation, in short, that is known as the 'World'. This has been described as the eightfold prakriti (in the Seventh Chapter) and as the Field (in the Thirteenth Chapter), made up of thirty-six principles. What is the sense in repeating what has already been stated? I have now described it to you in the form of a tree (481-485).

Conscious Self regards this world as its dwelling place and takes on its form. Just as a lion after seeing his reflection in the well mistakes it for another lion and leaps into the well in anger, or the sky, remaining where it is, throws its reflection in water, so this conscious Self although non-dual, becomes enveloped by dualism. In this way, the conscious Self takes a fancy for this city in the form of the world and forgetful of its original nature, goes to sleep therein. Just as one sees a bed and sleeps on it in a dream, so the Self goes to sleep in that city (486-490). Then he says while snoring that he is happy or miserable and raves about with words such as 'me' and 'mine'. He says, "this is my father, this my mother, I am fair, I am dark, I am perfect; this son, riches and wife, are they not mine?" When the Self dreams like this and roams in the forest of the earth and heaven, he is known as the perishable purusha.

Now when the one who is called as the owner of the Field (Kshetrajna) remains in the state of the embodied Self {jiva) and forgetting his essential nature as Self behaves like other beings, he is known as the perishable purusha (491-495). For since his Selfhood is not affected (by his assumption of the body), he gets properly the name of purusha. As he abides in the body (which is like a town) he is called purusha and since he becomes associated with the limiting conditions (upadhi), he is falsely accused of being non- eternal. Just as the moon appears to be moving when reflected in the ripples of water, so the self appears to be perishable because of his association with the limiting conditions. But when that water dries up, the reflection of the moon disappears and in the same way with the destruction of the limiting conditions, the Self remains in his pristine form. It is because of his association with the transitory limiting conditions, he got the name kshara i.e. perishable (496-500). In this way, all embodied selves should be called 'perishable.'

Now, I shall disclose to you the characteristics of the imperishable Self. O Arjuna, this other imperishable Self is situated in the middle and does not get involved in either knowledge or ignorance, as the Meru mountain stands perpetually in the three worlds, the earth, the nether world and heaven. True knowledge does not affect his unity nor does he suffer dualism because of false knowledge.

The state of unknowing which is in between these two states is his nature. When the particles of earth change into a lump of wet clay, it ceases to be earth, but has not yet assumed the form of a pitcher. pot etc; so this imperishable purusha stands midway like this wet lump (501-505).

O Partha, know that his nature is like the formless state of the sea, which becomes dried and has neither waves nor water or like the drowsy state which is in between the wakeful and dreamy states. This state of unknowing which is midway between the disappearance of the illusory world and the dawn of the knowledge of the Self is called the imperishable purusha. There is total absence of knowledge in this state like the moon, which is stripped of all its phases on the New Moon night. With the ripening of the fruit, the tree is contained in it in the seed form (506-510); in the same way when all the limiting conditions are destroyed, that state in which the embodied Self along with his limiting conditions becomes merged is known as the 'Unmanifest' (avyakta).

In the state of deep sleep (sushupti), there is total ignorance and so this state is known as the seed-state (bijabhava) and the states of wakefulness and dream are known as the fruit-state (bijaphalabhava). That which is known as the seed-state in Vedanta is the abode of that imperishable purusha. It produces false knowledge, which giving rise to wakeful and dream states, roams in the forest of many fancies. O Arjuna, that state from which consciousness creates the entire world and where its manifest and unmanifest states meet is the imperishable Self (511-515). The perishable Self assumes a body and experiences the states of wakeful and dreaming states. That from which these two states originate is the state full of ignorance known as the state of deep sleep (sushupti), which is only lacking in the knowledge of Brahman. O great warrior if this state of deep sleep had not given rise to the wakeful state and dream, then it would have been designated as the state of Brahman. But two clouds in the form of prakriti and purusha come in the sky in the form of deep sleep, which witnesses the Field and the knower of the Field in the state of dream. This imperishable Self is the root cause of this expanding tree in the form of this mundane existence (516-520). But why is this perfect Self known as purusha? Because he goes to sleep in the city of Maya. That state of his in which one does not experience the whirls of emotions, which are forms of ignorance is the state of deep sleep. That is why this imperishable purusha does not perish except through knowledge. Therefore, it is well-known in the philosophy of Vedanta as the doctrine of the imperishable purusha. In this way, the form of the embodied Self, which is assumed by consciousness through the limiting condition of Maya, is the imperishable Self. (521-525)

17.  But different from these two is the Supreme Person called the Supreme Self, the immutable Lord who sustains these worlds after pervading them.

In this way the states of wakefulness and dream, which spring from false knowledge become dissolved in ignorance. Like fire, which is extinguished after burning firewood, this knowledge, after destroying ignorance, experiences the Supreme Self and vanishes. That which remains behind after knowledge ceases to exist is the Supreme Person. This is the third purusha different from the other two purusha. This is the ultimate truth of the doctrine of purusha. O Arjuna, just as the wakeful state, which gives knowledge of the world is entirely different from the states of deep sleep and dream (526-530) or the sun's disc is different from the sun's rays and mirage, so this Supreme Person is distinct from the two purusha.

Just as the fire latent in firewood is different from it, this Supreme Person is distinct from the perishable and imperishable purusha. In a deluge the oceans transgress their limits and the whole world becomes a mass of water, leaving no trace of the separate existence of rivers and rivulets; in the same way, the states of dream, deep sleep and wakefulness cease to exist. Just as the conflagration at the time of world-dissolution consumes day and night, all empirical knowledge, along with monism and dualism, ceases to exist and one does not know whether there is existence or non-existence (531-535).

Know this state to be the supreme purusha, who is also known in this world as the Supreme Self. Speech, which returns without touching him is possible only while one remains in the state of embodied existence. Just as standing safe on the bank of a river one can talk about a person getting drowned, so the Vedas talk about matters relating to this or the yonder shore. The Vedas think of the perishable and imperishable purusha on this shore as inferior and speak of the purusha who is on a higher plane as the Supreme Self. Please know, O Partha, that the term Supreme Self suggests this Supreme Person (536-540). That state where not to talk is to talk, not to know is to know, nothing happening is happening, is the Supreme Self. In that state, even the notion 'I am Brahman' ceases, the teller becomes what is told, and the seer vanishes along with object to be seen.

Can we say that the light ceases to exist, when the sun's disc and its reflection in water ceases to exist? We cannot say that the fragrance does not exist, because the fragrance standing between the flower and nostril cannot be perceived. In the same, way, can one ask, 'What is it that remains, when both the person who sees and the object to be seen cease to exist ?' Whatever comes to be experienced in that state is its form (541-545). That which illumines in the absence of the object to be illumined, which regulates in the absence of the thing to be regulated, abides in his pristine stage. It is he who is the inarticulate sound, which gives the power of hearing sound, the original flavour, which gives the power of taste. the bliss which gives the power of enjoyment. It is he who is the Supreme Person among the purusha, the acme of perfection, the resting place of rest, the joy of happiness, the splendour of the splendid and the great void in the void. He is beyond the expansion or the dissolution of the world, and is the greatest among all great things (546-550). As the mother-of-pearl, even without becoming silver, seems like silver to the ignorant or the gold assumes the form of the ornament without ceasing to be gold, so he supports the universe without assuming the form of the universe. Just as there is no distinction between water and the wave, so the universe is not different from the Supreme Self. O great warrior, he is the cause of the contraction and the expansion of the world, as the moon is the cause of the contraction and expansion of its reflection in water. He does not undergo any change when he assumes the form of the universe and does not disappear when the universe disappears. Just as the sun does not assume two different forms during the day and the night, (551-555) so he does not perish in any state. He can be compared only with himself.

18.  Since I transcend the perishable and am also superior to the imperishable (Self), therefore, I am, in the world and the Veda, renowned as the Supreme Person.

O winner of wealth, I am that Self free from limiting conditions, who illumines himself and is free from duality. Since, I am single and alone, superior to the perishable and imperishable purusha, the World and the Vedas proclaim me as the Supreme Person.

19.  He, who knows Me thus as the Supreme Person, knows all and worships Me with his whole heart, O Bharata.

O Arjuna, the sun of knowledge dawns upon him, who knows me as the Supreme Person. Just as the dream disappears after one wakes up, so with the dawn of knowledge the whole world appears to him as senseless (556-560). When one takes the wreath in his hand, he gets rid of the false imputation of a snake upon it, so when he attains to my knowledge, he is not deceived by the false appearance of the world. He who knows that the ornament is really gold knows that the ornament is only a , false imputation on gold. Therefore, when he comes to know my real nature, he becomes free from all notions of distinctions. Then he knows that I am the self-evident Existence-Consciousness Bliss pervading everywhere and does not entertain the idea that he is different from me. To say that he knows all does not do him full justice, because the notion of duality does not exist in him. So he alone is fit for my devotion, as the sky is fit to hug itself (561-565). Just as the ocean of milk should be given the feast of milk or a thing which becomes like nectar should be mixed with nectar, or as when pure gold is mixed with pure gold, the mixture also becomes pure, so when a person becomes one with me, he offers me true devotion. If the river Ganges were entirely different from the sea, how could it have joined the sea? So there is mutual connection between unity with me and devotion for me. Just as the waves of the sea are not different from it, so there is no duality between me and my devotee. Just as the sun and his splendour are intimately related, so is the relation between me and my devotee (566-570).

20.  Thus this most secret scripture has been told by Me, O sinless one. By knowing this, one becomes an enlightened man with his work accomplished, O Bharata.

In this way from the beginning of this Chapter, the doctrine of the Gita was culled from the scriptures like fragrance from lotus petals. The Gita is the essence churned out of the Vedas by the talent of the great Sage Vyasa. It is the Ganga of ambrosial knowledge or the seventeenth phase of the moon in the form of bliss or goddess of wealth churned out of the sea of milk in the form of right thinking. The Gita, therefore, does not hold anything dear except myself in words, letter and interpretation. Though the perishable and imperishable purusha had stood before her, the Gita rejected them and surrendered her body and soul to me, the Supreme Person (571-575). So this Gita, which you heard, is my devoted spouse. The Gita is not like a scripture which could be explained through spoken words. It is verily a weapon to conquer worldly existence. The words of the Gita are so many incantations (mantras) conducive to self-realisation. In this discourse on the Gita, I have taken out and laid before you my secret treasure. You have become a second sage Gautama to draw out the Ganga in the form of Gita from the matted hair of Lord Shankara in the form of myself as consciousness. O winner of wealth, you have indeed become a mirror in which I could see my essential nature (576-580). Just as the sea brings down the stormy vault to its bosom in the form of reflection, you have given me, together with the Gita, a place in your heart. By sweeping out from your heart the dirt of the three gunas, you have made your heart a fit abode for myself and the Gita. This Gita, to say the least, is the creeping plant of knowledge, and whoever knows it becomes free from delusion. When a person takes a sip of nectar, he becomes immune to disease and immortal. Is there any wonder then that one who attains full knowledge of the Gita, gets rid of delusion? Through this knowledge of Self one attains union with the Supreme Self (581-585) and all activity comes to a stop, knowing that its life's work is fulfilled. O great warrior, just as with the recovery of the missing article, the search comes to an end, so when the dome of knowledge is built on the temple of activity, all actions cease. So said Lord Krishna, friend of the forlorn.

So this ambrosial discourse of Lord Krishna, which filled the heart of Partha, became available to Sanjaya through the grace of Sage Vyasa. Sanjaya offered it to Dhritarashtra, so that the king ceased to feel that life was a burden (586-590). Even though a person may be considered unqualified to hear the teaching of the Gita, he attains spiritual progress in the end. If a person pours milk at the foot of a vine, it seems such a waste, but he reaps in the end an abundant crop of grapes. So when Sanjaya narrated the teaching of Lord Krishna to Dhritarashtra with great respect, the king became happy. I have recounted to you this tale in a clumsy way according to my limited ability. One who lacks an aesthetic sense does not appreciate the chrysanthemum flower, and yet a connoisseur like a black bee carries away its fragrance (591-595). So you may kindly accept whatever appeals to you and return to me whatever is not good enough. Ignorance is a common trait of a child, but the parents, seeing it, fondle it with happiness, which overflows their heart. You are like my parents, and so I am lisping these fond words in the form of the Gita to you. Jnanadeva says, may my omniform Master, Shri Nivrittinatha, be pleased with this homage of mine (596-599).

[ Top ]