Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 11

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission

The excellence in Beings come from God 10-12

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 11

Yogi in meditation on the Lord

Balam valavatam asmi kama raga vivarjitam I

Dharma avirudhatah bhuteshu kamah asmi bharata rishabha II sloka 11

बलं बलवतां अस्मि काम राग विवर्जितं ।

धर्म अविरुधतः भूतेषु कामः अस्मि भरत ऋषभ ।। श्लोक ११

I am the strength of the strong devoid of desire and passion. In beings I am the desire, not contrary to dharma, O chief of the Bharatas.

Kama or desire is the hankering of the mind for objects that are invisible and not yet obtained, while raga or passion is the clinging and craving for the visible and obtained objects. That strength is abused which is directed towards the fulfillment of desire and passion. On the other hand, the strength utilised on noble and holy causes, gets sanctified. The doings of Ravana and Rama are examples of the abuse and proper use of strength.

Desire as such is not a vice. The desire to eat is a sanctioned one, when it is prompted by hunger. The desire for self- emulation is a virtue; the desire to excel another in good conduct is laudable. The keen desire to obtain the grace of the Lord is a divine gift and a prelude to God-vision.

Why does the mind deviate when one sits in meditation? It is due to base desires. A fly sits on sacramental food and next on filth. But the case of the bee is different. It sits on a blossom or in its hive and nowhere else. The worldly minded sadhakas are like the house fly and the paramahamsas  like the bee. The former are occasionally devoted and the latter are ever devoted to the Lord. 

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 10

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission

The excellence in Beings come from God 10-12

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 10

Mahavishnu as the source of all manifestation

Bijam mam sarva bhutanam viduhi partha sanatanam I

Budhtih buddhi matam asmi tejah tejasvinam aham II sloka १०

बीजं माम सर्व भूतानां विदुहि पार्थ सनातनम् ।

बुद्तिः बुद्धि मतां अस्मि तेजः तेजस्विनां अहं ।। श्लोक १०

Know Me, O Partha, as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the intelligence of the intelligent; the splendour of the splendid.

The constant source is otherwise known as the eternal seed. The ocean is the eternal seed of the clouds that appear and disappear. The Lord is this way the source of all beings. He being eternal, the varieties of beings coming into existence is inevitable and endless. Having a reverential attitude to all of them amounts to the adoration of their source, the Lord. 

Beings are classified as the high and the low in accordance with the intelligence evident in them. Clarification  of the intelligence is one of the noble purposes of life. As it gets clarified the cognizance of the atman becomes clear. In whomsoever there is intelligence, it has to be adored, even as the Lord is adored.

Tejas & Ojas  are both splendours born of the ethical and spiritual excellence. While the latter is internal and invisible, the former is patent on the body, particularly the face. Being endowed with this splendour is no accident, fluke or oddity of nature. It is the outcome of the divine life that one lives. The spiritual splendour is itself the presence of the Lord evoking adoration.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 9

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission

The Is-ness in the Elements and Beings is Iswara - 8-9

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 9

Punyah gandah prithivyam cha tejah cha asmi vibhavaso I

Jivanam sarva bhuteshu tapah asmi tapas vishu II sloka 9

पुण्यः गन्धः पृथिव्यां च तेजः च अस्मि  विभावसो ।
जीवनं सर्व भूतेषु तपः अस्मि तपस्विषु ।। श्लोक ९

I am the sweet fragrance in earth and the brilliance in fire; I am the life in all beings and the austerity in ascetics.

Odour in all its forms is characteristic of the element earth. But the sweet fragrance is specified because of aroma being associated with the ritualistic worship of the Lord. 

The brilliance in fire and sun is one and the same. While the former is handy and always available to man, the latter is to be beheld with reverence from where he is. But both of them are the physical representation of the undecaying splendour of the  Brahman. Meditation on sun and fire leads to the cognizance of the divine blaze within oneself. 

Self consciousness is concomitant with the manifestation of life and it persists, though in varying degrees in all beings. Meditation on the continuity of life is therefore equivalent to meditation on consciousness. There should be no difficulty for the sadhaka  in having recourse to either form of meditation.

It is one thing just to live and quite another to make a conscious attempt at intensifying the life that one lives. Ascetics are they who intensify life by subjective means. The process of their effecting this end is known as tapas -  austerity. The presence of the Lord is patent in this holy act. The sadhaka  ought to study the austerity of the successful ascetics so that he may follow in their wake. 

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 8

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission

The Is-ness in the Elements and Beings is Iswara - 8-9

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 8

Rasah aham apsu kaunteya prabha asmi shashi suryoh I

Pranavah sarva vedeshu shabdha paurusham trushu II sloka ८

रसः अहं अप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभा अस्मि शशी सुर्योः ।
प्रणवः सर्व वेदेषु शब्ध पौरुषं तृषु ।। श्लोक ८

I am the sapidity in water, O son of Kunti; I am the radiance in the moon and sun; I am the syllable Om in all the vedas; sound in ether and manliness in man.

The sweetness in eatables indicates the presence of sugar in them. Similarly the innate nature of Iswara reveals itself in all the modifications He has undergone.   It is imperative for the aspirant that he recognises the presence of Iswara in the varieties of His manifestations. Jnana  of this kind is conducive to vijnana.  Pure water is tasteless, but the power  it has to reveal the taste of things is really the power of Iswara. But for the indeterminate sapidity in water  the determinate difference in taste between teh stone and a candy cannot be made out by the tongue. Fire is another element represented by the sun and the moon the light of which when perceived by the eyes bring the knowledge of colour, form and beauty in them Ether similarly functions as the vehicle of sound, the midifications of which are the various languages and the synthesis of which is the syllable OM. The truths and facts in nature coneyed through languages are the vedas. This way, Iswara reveals himself as the five elements each of which has a distinctive feature in the revealations of jnana.

It is not sufficient for man to simply assume the human form and carry on human existence. He is verily man who exhibits human excellence in all of his doings. Man fulfils himself this way and this fulfilment is for the glory of the Lord. He adores God best who fulfils himself perfectly.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 7

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission

Prakriti - Low and High - 1-7

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 7

Death Time Thought

Mattah parataram na anyat kimchit asti dhanamjaya I

Mayi sarvam idam protam sutre manigana II sloka 7

मत्तः परतरं न आनयति किंचित् अस्ति धनंजय ।
मयि सर्वं इदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा ।। श्लोक ७

This being the truth about Iswara:
There is nothing whatsoever higher than Me, O Dhananjaya. All this is strung on Me, as rows of gems on a string. 

The producer, sustainer and the withdrawer of the universe is Iswara. There is no power, extraneous to him, to interfere with his work, great or small. The gems strung together may vary in colour and species. But the supporting string is the same all through. The universes sustained by the Lord, may in that fashion, vary in their appearances; but the sustainer of all of them is the same. Sutra  is the sanskrit word for string. The lord is therefore called Sutratman -  the string like supporter of the manifested worlds. The Pure Consciousness, which is the substratum of all beings  sentient and insentient, is the same.

Is it ever possible for us to behold Him as having become all these manifestations? The clue is given in the next sloka.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 6

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission

Prakriti - Low and High - 1-7

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 6

Udipi Krishna 

Etad yonini bhutani sarvani iti upadharaya I

Aham krtnasya jagatah prabhavah pralayah tatha II sloka 6

एतद् योनिनी भूतानि सर्वाणि इति उपधारय ।
अहं क्र्त्नस्य जगतः प्रभवः प्रलयः तथा ।। श्लोक ६

Know that these two are the womb of all beings. I am the origin and dissolution of the whole universe.

Life has its origin in the conjugation of the sentient and the insentient. The body bereft of life becomes a corpse; life without the instrument of the body becomes ineffective. The act of living  ensues from the union of the sentient and the insentient, the kshetrayagna  & the kshetra. The co-mingling of these two prakritis - the consciuos principle and the unconscious matter - is evident all over the universe. The cloud has its origin and sustenance in the Akasa, and ultimately dissolves itself in the Akasa. Likewise, Iswara is the source, support and destiny of His prakritis , high and low.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 5

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission

Prakriti - Low and High - 1-7

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 5

Krishna rescuing atmas

Apara iyam itah tu anyam prakritim viddhi me param I

Jiva bhutam mahabahi yatha idam dharyate jagat II sloka 5 

अपर इयं इतः तु अन्यं प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे परम् ।

जीव भूतं महाबहि यथा इदं धार्यते जगत ।। श्लोक ५

This is my lower prakriti, but different from it, know, O mighty armed one, My higher prakriti - the life element by which this universe is upheld. 


All the five elements and the three internal organs put together form the inferior constituent of the Lord. The cosmic life principle or the sum total of the  jivatman is his superior constituent. An example elucidates the truth. The smoke that emanates from the fire is its lower nature, and the spark its higher nature. The characteristics of the fire are in the sparks, while its action in the smoke. Technically put, the smoke is the tatastha lakshanam  - accidental definition of the fire and the spark, the swarupa lakshanam  - innate definition. Knowing of the spark is equivalent to knowing the fire. Pure consciousness which is the paramatman is inherent in the jivatman also. The spark is that which has separated itself from the fire. But the jivatman is not and cannot be dissociated from the parmatman. As a wave in the ocean, the individual soul is ever in the cosmic soul, though with its limiting adjuncts.

The jiva prakriti or the kshetrajna is utilising the jada prakriti  or the kshetra as its body and upholding it too. This act of conscious principle is like the Akasa containing in itself all the other four elements.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 4

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

Prakriti - Low and High - 1-7

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 4

Bhumih apah analah vayuh kham manah buddhih eva cha I

Aham karah iti iyam me bhinna prakritih ashtadha II Sloka 4

भूमिः आपः अनलः वायुः खं मनः बुद्धिः एव च ।

अहंकारः इति इयं मे भिन्न प्रकृतिः अष्टधा ।। श्लोक ४

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and egosim; thus is my prakriti divided eightfold. 

An element is defined in one way by the modern science and in quite another way by the Indian system of philosophy. According to the latter the five senses of perception are the means to take cognizance of the elements. The ear perceives sound which is characteristic of ether or Akasa. The skin all over the body is endowed with the sense of touch which is peculiar to air. The eye cognises form revealed by light or form. The tongue experiences the taste of things dissolved in water; but for the aid and agency of water nothing can be tasted. The nose contacts smell produced by the earth.  These five instruments of knowledge are thus recognised as the revealers of the five elements, of which the world is constituted. 

The faculty of feeling is designated as the mind. The intellect is that which distinguishes the good from the bad, the agreeable from the disagreeable. That which creates the sense of agency is the egoism, without which action is impossible. The individuality of one is based on the peculiarities of these three internal organs.

The eightfold prakriti  mentioned here is elaborated into twenty four categories by the sankhya system of philosophy.