SREE Bhagavan said;
"Now I shall tell thee who art free from malice
The most secret truth about My Transendental
Knowledge and Love Divine.
Listen to this, Arjuna ! and rid thyself of every ill.
The knowledge pertaining to the soul
And its elevation is naturally secret;
But the devotional conception of My Sovereignty
Supreme
Is infinitely higher and more esoteric,
While the knowledge of Kevala-Bhakti,
Which I shall tell thee now
Is the most secret and esoteric.
He who knows this is freed for ever from the evils
Of the triple qualities
Which are impediment to pure devotion.
THIS knowledge is called Raja-Vidya, the Prince
of knowledge.
It is the most secret of all secret truths;
Most holy is this in character;
It leads to the veritable understanding
Of thine own true self as well as the Self Supreme.
By the performance of this Raja-Vidya
All other rites are fully practised;
It is the climax of all religions;
Easily accessible; free from the troubles due to
Karma and to Jnana;
And it transcendes the triple qualities of Maya.
Faith is the fundamental basis of this knowledge;
Because the love and pure devotion which is
essentially this knowledge,
First awakens in the heart of fallen souls as faith
in Me.
O thou destroyer of thine enemies !
Those whose faith and confidence in Me-
Which is the first step in the ladder of religious life,
Has not begun to spread,
Are unable to acquire this knowledge
And therefore are deprived of true attachment for
Me
And subsequently enter the whirlpool of this world.
I have no mundane form.
My Reality is Transcendental and Eternal
Beyond the comprehension of the human mind.
Thus in My Unmanifest Existence I do pervade
the universe,
And all sentient and insentient beings exist in
Me.
I dwell not in them as the clay lives in the pots
Or gold in golden bracelets.
It is not true that this world is a transformation of
My Self.
I am the Absolute Whole-
I am the Divinity possessed of all the potencies.
The world has emanated from Mine Own External
Potency which is its working agent;
Thus I am not concerned directly with phenomena
made manifest.
Though I am the Efficient Cause of all existences,
I, as the Absolute. am independent of My world's
concerns;
Albeit My universal Love and My Divine Compas-
sion encompass all My creatures.
When I say: "All beings exist in Me"
I do not mean they dwell within My Real Self,
But they exist in My External Cosmic Potency.
This is incomprehensible to human understanding.
Know then it as My super-human godly Power
Supreme.
Know also that the work of this My Potency is
after all My work
For I am the background of all Potencies,
Through whose agency I work.
Know Me hence as the Supporter, Indweller and
Preserver of all entities.
My real Self and My true Form are one
And therefore dissociated from worldly things
though all-pervading.
WORLDLY analogy is far below the level of an
explanation of such relativities.
They are beyond the present comprehension of all
fallen souls.
But to allow thee a clearer conception approaching
the truth
I tell thee here for thine own understanding.
The sky or ether is all-pervading;
In it the air, the minutest atoms and electrons are in motion.
Though the sky is the receptacle of every element
It is yet detached from all.
Likewise, though phenomena have all been caused
by Maya-Potency,
I am independent of them all,
As the sky is independent of the elements that
move in it.
O son of Kunti ! when a Kalpa expires,
All beings enter into My External Potency of triple
qualities,
And yet again when a new Kalpa dawns,
I bring them into being through the agency of that
same Potency.
THIS universe is subject to My External Potency.
Under the influence of this, all beings are
dependent
On the law of Karma, and therefore are subject to
rebirths and deaths.
I am the Self-willed, and through My Mayic Potency
Create them again and yet again.
But, O Dhanajaya ! those actions bind Me not.
I am detached from them and non-chalant.
Though unattached to earth's affairs
I am ever attached to spiritual bliss.
My Maya-the External Potency
And the Jiva-Potency-the Marginal Potency,
Help Me in My blissful attachments
And to cause the creation of material phenomena
and individual souls.
My Own Self is never thereby affected.
My Real Entity is transcendental.
Whatever is done within the sentient and insen-
tient worlds
By Marginal and Maya Potencies,
They therefore only help Me indirectly in My Spiri-
tual Occupations.
My personal aloofness from the world's affairs is
easily discernable.
O son of Kunti ! the Cosmic Energy belongs to
Me;
Acts under My direction;
Palpable is My predominance o'er her and all her
actions.
When I desire to manifest, My wishes I express
By glancing at her, and in response
She does create all mobile and immobile objects in
the atmosphere.
For this reason, there are births and rebirths,
And repeated cosmic changes,
My desires are carried out by my External Potency
While My Spiritual Occupations are conducted
By My Internal Ecstatic Energy.
Between the two, exists My Marginal or Jiva
Potency
From whom all individual souls do emanate.
FROM all that I have said, thou must conclude
That My Real Self is the complete embodiment
Of Sat-Chit-Ananda-All-Existence, All-Knowledge
and All-Bliss,
And that My Potencies work through My grace,
While I am independent of such action.
That I am manifest and seen by people in the
material world
Is also possible only by My Grace and My prerogative.
I am transcendental, hence above all mundane laws
Which do compel created beings.
I am by divine prerogative free to manifest My
Transcendental Self
Before the eyes of all the universe.
My coming thus unto the world
Would never make of Me an object of the cosmic
region.
I can and do maintain My Form Eternal and Divine
Both in the transcendental and the worldly planes.
It is but through Mine Own Exclusive Grace
That people of the world can see My Spiritual Form
Even in the worldly atmosphere
In special circumstances of Divine Descent.
To ascribe to Me that which is infinitesimal
Or the vastness of the non-manifest, is but confusion
Due to crippled understanding of the fallen souls,
Bound by Maya to the limitations of time and space.
My Nature Most Supreme is not in either of them.
On the other hand, My Real Form is transcendental
And for ever adolescent.
I am simultaneously greater than the greatest
In My All-comprising macroscopic Aspect,
And smaller than the smallest atom
In My All-pervading microscopic Aspect.
Comprehension of this My Real and Eternal Adoles-
cent Form
Is only possible by grace of My Ecstatic Potency,
Which otherwise is inconceivable to human minds.
The deluded ignorant can never understand how this
My godly Eternal Adolescent Figure can be mani-
fested in the world
Without being born like any human being
Influenced by the cosmic laws.
And they fallaciously imagine that I must accept
A human body in order to reveal Myself
In this world before the eyes of all.
They do not realise that I am the Supreme
Lord of all the macrocosm and the microcosm.
Thus infatuated by deceptive and empiric knowledge,
They impute a narrow view to My divine capacities
and Form,
Which the enlightened devotees regard and realise
to be Sat-Chit-Ananda.
IF thou wouldst know whence originates
This wrong and perverted perception,
Listen then to what I say.
Allured by a demoniac nature and lust and malice,
The ignorant and fallen are frustrated in their high
hopes of salvation;
And their penances of Karma and laborious studies
of the Scriptures
In quest of Jnana, bring them naught.
Their mind is then diverted into Karma in expecta-
tion of the fruits of pleasure's region;
They are thus debarred from purest knowledge
Owing to their fruitive acts.
When they are in search of knowledge,
The purity of knowledge is over-clouded
By mistaken theories of at-one-ness with Brahman,
the Great.
They then at this stage often think
That this My Transcendental Form is born of Maya
That I am but Iswara, a god, and therefore inferior
to Brahman !-
And when the heart is purified by worship,
An individual attains to Brahman, the End Supreme !
The result of such delusion is that their mentality,
So lustful and malicious,
Intensifies the darkness of their ignorance.
O Partha ! Blessed are those, who are possessed
of transcendental knowledge.
Resort they to My Potency Divine,
And being indifferent to fruitive actions' rind
And to the seed of dry wisdom which aims at union
with the Absolute,
They serve with all attention My All-blisful Form,
In which I now appear before thee,
And know Me to be primordial and everlasting.
Those great souls who possess this transcendental
knowledge
Ever chant the glories of My Name, My Form, My
Attributes,
My Entourage and My Activities
Which are identical with one another.
They do observe the nine methods of practices
devotional
By way of hearing, chanting, meditating,
Serving the Divine Feet, worshipping and praying,
Acting as a servant, friend and being self-dedicating.
In order to gain the blessed privilege of rendering
eternal services
Or unalloyed devotion to My Transcendental
Personality,
Perform they all their physical and mental,
Social and moral obligations
With steadfast dedication unto Me.
That their mind may not be alienated
From Me while performing these their worldly
duties,
Surrender they themselves to Me by following the
path of Bhakti-Yoga.
Just as a pauper calls at the doors of the opulent
Begging for the wherewithal to live
So My devotees keep constant company
With saints forever freed for practices devotional.
They learn from them with genuine intention
The process of the chanting of My Name,
How to surrender to Me and to read the
Scriptures in their truest light.
Strictly do they adhere to spiritual practices,
Vows and devotional worship.
They love to chant My Name incessantly
With yearnings for My endless loving service.
SO far in diverse ways I have explained to thee
The greatness and superiority of truest devotees
Over those four classes who do worship Me when
in distress
Or for want of wealth or out of intellectual Jnana-
interest.
Now I shall tell thee of three other classes
Who are inferior to the above.
The sages have designated them as Ahangrahopasaka,
Pratikopasaka and Viswarupopasaka.
Of these, the first group is superior to the other two.
In this, man rates himself as Godhead;
This is also a sort of Yajna,
In which I am but indirectly worshipped as in the
Non-differentiated Brahman.
Next come the Pratikopasaka,
Who realising they are different from Godhead,
Worship the minor gods Indra, Sun and others,
Knowing them to be superior entities
Qualified with glorious capacities from Me.
Worse than the Pratikopasaka are the wretched
Viswarupopasaka
Who worship the Aggregate Universe,
Fancying it to be the Body of the Godhead.
Such are the three classes who worship Me in
Jnana-Yajna,
Either as Brahman, with Whom they misidentify
themselves,
Or as one among the minor gods,
Or as the Aggregate Universe.
I am the Kratu-the Vedic sacrifices
Such as Agnistoma
Which are offered to the Fire-god;
I am the Yajna-the sacrificial rites
Such as Vaiswadeva of the henotheists;
I am the Scriptural Word-Swadha,
Uttered in offering oblations to the departed forbears;
I am the Medicinal Alleviation of all Sacrifices;
I am Myself the sacrificial butter poured in the holy
fire of Yajna;
I Myself the Holy Fire of Yajna and likewise the
offering itself;
I am the Father of both the unit and of the aggre-
gate worlds;
I am the Mother of the Universe for holding it
within My bosom;
I am the Supporter of the Universe providing it
with sustenance;
I am the Grandsire, being the Originator
Of the Brahma, Creator of the Universe;
I am the knowable Subject;
I am the sacred "OM" and the Vedas three :
Rik, Sama and Yajus;
I am the Highest End of all;
I am the Lord, Controller and Observer of all good
and evil,
The Abode, the Saviour from all danger, the
causeless Well-wisher;
I am the Origin, the Maintenance and Dissolution;
I am the Primal Cause eternal;
I am the Heat in summer and the Showers in the
rainy seasons;
I hold back water and send forth rain;
I am the Nectar of salvation, and I am the Death;
Arjuna, I am the gross and the subtle.
Knowing thou that all these and many more are My
Forms and My Names,
The third class of these worshippers yet worship Me
As the Viswa-Rupa-the Godhead
Whose Form is the Universe !
IF these three forms of worship are intinged with
true devotion unto Me,
Then those same worshippers by coming unto Me
as the Supreme Lord,
Can gradually grow more eligible for salvation
In the form of pure devotion,
Casting aside all stigma of their former impious
worship.
One who worships himself as the Godhead in
Ahangrahopasaka
May rid himself of this grave wrong
And merit blessing by cultivating unalloyed devotion.
Though the henotheists and the polytheists
misidentify the other gods with Me,
These errors may be rectified to understanding true
of My Supreme
And Transcendental Personality,
By their association with My truest devotees.
That woeful early misconception of the Immanent
God in Viswarupa-worship
May finally develop into a realisation
Of My Eternal Adolescent Transcendental Form
With their soul's awakening.
But if on the contrary these worshippers are more
inclind to Karma or to Jnana,
They are deprived of pure devotion-
The limpid spring of human well-being.
THE monists become entangled in the net of dry
polemic arguments
Of an illusory theory, owing to their errantry from
God-head.
The Pratika-worshippers become enmeshed within
the bonds of Karma,
Enjoined by the afore-said Vedas-
Rik, Sama and Yajus,
And having aquired the knowledge of the Vedas,
Are cleansed of sin
By drinking the Soma as the residue of their offer-
ings to diverse gods,
Thinking them to be My only different forms;
They worship Me thus inditrectly by making
sacrifices
And pray for the celestial pleasures
Which they enjoy in Heaven after death-
The realm of the gods,
Attainable by dint of pious acts.
AFTER enjoying the wide range of celestial
pleasures
In the Kingdom of the gods, as a result of piety
They must again return to this poor mortal world
When Heaven's term expires.
The seekers of reward of Karma,
Enraptured by the nectar of the Vedas,
Are hurled into the vortex of births and deaths
time after time.
DO not believe, Arjuna ! that the followers of the
Vedas enjoy the pleasures,
And that My devotees do suffer pains.
My devotees think ever of Me alone with firm
fidelity;
Accepting all those objects
Which are not detrimental to their love of Me.
Absolutely selfless these worshippers are,
And offer all they have to Me alone.
I therefore send them all that they may need
And foster them with tender care.
Though there is a similarity in the phenomenal
acceptances of things
Between My devotees and lesser Karmins,
Yet a great gulf exists
Between the fundamental objects of their aim in
life
My devotees surrender all to Me,
And since they do not ask for anything from Me,
I grant them all without request and I maintain them.
Despite their temporal enjoyments,
My devotees are ultimately blessed with Bliss
Eternal.
The pious Karmins. on the contrary, though they
experience celestial joys
Must come again into this world of sorrow
And have to move within the cycle of their Karma.
They have no lasting happiness.
Though I am aloof from all things,
Yet I feel a great delight
In helping devotees out of My tender love for them.
In thus accepting My relief
They are not guilty of offence
For they ask naught of Me.
I am indeed the Lord Supreme of All-Being,
All-Intelligence, and All-Bliss.
There is none else superior or equal to Me-
No god is independent of Me.
I am the Reality Eternal beyond the bounds of time
and space.
Some worship the Sun and other gods ;
In this cosmic region the fallen souls
Worship My various forms of diverse and specific
powers,
Which reflected in Maya,
Are thought to be forms of independent gods.
But on deliberation it is found
That those gods are distant indirect manifesta-
tions
Of My different powers, reflected through the Maya
And are thus entirely dependent upon Me.
Those who worship them as such
With clear conception of their real nature
As well as of My Transcendental and Supreme
Reality
Are on the right path, and are eligible
To make great progress in their spiritual march;
But those who worship these gods ardently
Thinking them to be eternal and as independent of
Me,
Worship them without authority.
They are thus deprived of the eternal and the
highest End.
I am the sole Enjoyer and Lord of all the sacrifices,
Those who worship other gods as independent of
Me
Are called polytheists or henotheists;
They ignore the truth about Me.
Therefore they degrade themselves, departing from
Truth Absolute.
If the Sun and other gods they worship as emana-
tions of My power,
They may attain to bliss at last.
Those who worship any other god as Godhead,
Attain the non-reality of that especial god
Which is the object of their adoration.
The votaries of the deceased ancestors go to their
transitory realm;
But those who worship Me the Ever-living Reality,
Realise Me on the great Plane of Transcendence
With increasing perfect bliss.
I am impartial in bestowing fruits on men
According to their deeds-
My law inviolable is dispensation of reward
Resulting from man's actions.
WHATEVER My devotees of loving heart and
cleanly body offer Me
Out of a naturally loving attitude towards Me-
Be it a leaf, or a flower or a fruit or water-
I accept with great affection,
Poor though the offering may seem to be;
But I refuse the richest offerings
When these are made to Me with importunity
And not with faith and love.
O son of Kunti ! I have explained to thee
How four classes of people gradually qualify
For the life devotional :
The sore distressed, enquirers after truth,
The seekers of favour and the wise;
Before they step into the Realm of Bhakti,
Their worship takes three different forms :
Monism, henotheism and pantheism.
I have likewise explained to thee
How at the threshold of Bhakti or practices
devotional
An individual resorts to four preliminary stages:
Fruitive Karma, selfless Karma-Yoga, Jnana-Yoga
And Astanga-Yoga in relation to the world.
Having said all that,
I have at last informed thee of the nature of pure
Bhakti.
Now, O Arjuna ! determine thou accordingly thine
own position.
THOU art a hero of righteousness
And hast come into the world along with Me
To add harmonious development to My
Transcendental Occupations.
Thou canst not therefore be regarded
As one among the neutral or fruit-seeking devotees.
Devotion mixed with selfless Karma and Jnana
Should therefore be observed by thee.
The duty thus incumbent on thee is:
Whatever thou seest, whatever thou mayst enjoy,
Whatever sacrifice or penance and austerities thou
mayst observe-
Consecrate them one and all to Me.
Worldly minded men perform their work with other
motives;
When their purpose has been served,
They finally and formally present their actions
unto Me.
All that I rate as nothing.
Thou, on the other hand, dedicating thine actions
unto Me
From the beginning, perform them as a matter of
devotion.
Thou shalt thereby free thyself from bondage of all
good and evil
Resulting from thy Karma, and from fighting in
this battle;
Equipped thou with the spirit of renunciation
By relinqishing thine actions unto Me,
Thou shalt be blessed with loving service to My
Form Divine.
ONE mystery with Me is that I treat all equally-
None is an object of hatred of or special love
to Me-
This is the general law with Me.
I am beyond all mundane relativities.
But it is My special feature
That I love and am attached to those
Who are attached to Me and
Serve Me lovingly and devotedly.
He who worships Me with single-minded faith, and
none else,
Should be regarded as a saint or sadhu,
Because his resolution is a perfect one,
Even though he pursues 'undesirable habits.'
"UNDESIRABLE habits" must be rightly
understood.
The manners and demeanour of a fallen soul
Are twofold-relative and truly personal.
All conduct of life such as cleanliness and piety
And all those habits respecting healthy and
nutritious diet
And activities providing wants-
All things that are conducive
To the furtherance of mental, physical and social
growth, are relative;
While habits of the function of loving service to Me,
Which is innate in every pure soul, is personal.
This is known as one-pointed unalloyed devotion.
In the engrossed state of existence,
The Kevala-Bhakti of an individual maintains a link
With the relative conduct of his life.
Even when undeviated true and single-minded love
Be awakened in a fallen soul, his habits relative
Will still continue while he inhabits the mortal coil.
But with the flash of pure devotion,
The wrong propensities are soon dispelled.
Worldly attachment will relax in just proportion to
increasing love for Me.
As long as worldly predelictions be not burnt out to
the root,
Mundane appetites may sometimes force the bounds
of decency in life.
But such profanities are curbed ere long
By loving devotion shown to Me.
THE effort of those who have climbed the steps
Of pure devotion are wholesome and praise-
worthy.
If mortal turpitude should creep into the life of such
a saint,
It would soon be rectified by cultivating the attitude
devout
Which cannot be contaminated or destroyed by
temporary violation.
Because of his past immoral habits,
A genuine devotee, should not be classified with
the non-devotees ;
With the awakening of unflinching love for Me
Transgressions of the past shall be obliterated by My
grace;
Such a person should not then be scorned as a great
sinner,
But be revered as a saint.
O Son of Kunti !
Be thou assured then of My promise
That My devotee possessing steadfast love for Me
Shall never know perdition.
The natural shortcomings due to birth
As well as elements ungodly in his character
Will be dispelled by fires of his immaculate
devotion.
Ere long he will attain most perfect and abiding bliss
By following the path of unalloyed devotion
And practising the normal ways
That are the innate functions of the pure soul,
Carefully avoiding those of either pious or the sinful
Karmins
Or the abnegations of the Jnanins.
Promise Me, therefore, O Arjuna ! that My devotee
is not to be destroyed;
Thy promises shall be observed more strictly even
than Mine Own,
For I may break My promes for the sake of devotees,
But the promises by them are never unredeemed.
O Son of Pritha ! Even the wild barbarians,
The fallen women, the Vaishya-Sudras and
other lower castes
May soon attain the highest bliss when they
completely
And unflinchingly resort to Me with firm devotion.
Restrictions of caste and creed, colour or community
Are no barrier on the Path of Bhakti.
When the savage and the low-born are thus entitled
To lead a life of pure devotion
And all their evil habits and sinful life
Do not prevent their spiritual progress,
What wonder then, that obstacles of piety
Following from worldly noble actions,
Of the higher castes,
The pious Brahmins and the holy royal sages,
May soon be overcome,
By wakening the innate normal conduct of the soul?
BOTH sin and piety are undesirable,
But they submit to true devotion.
Hence practise, O Arjuna ! unstinted loyalty to Me,
The Lord Supreme, whilst thou as pilgrim
Passest through this transitory and blissless world.
Engage thy body in thoughts of Me ;
Employ thy body in devoutest service unto Me ;
Offer thine obeisances to Me ;
Thus being absorbed in meditation and most
constantly attached to Me,
Thou shalt attain Me, the Lord Supreme,
Even after all thy present duties
Such as fighting are performed."
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