Lesson IX

(Sanskrit terms and names can be clicked for explanation)

The Holy One said:

“But I shall declare to thee who carpest not, that most secret knowledge together with [its] discernment, by knowing which thou shall be freed from evil. (1)

“It is the royal science, the royal mystery. It is the best purifier; obvious to the apprehension, in accordance with right, pleasurable to practice, imperishable. (2)

“The men, O Harasser of foes! who disbelieve in this truth [dharmasyāya], not attaining unto me, return in the way of the deathcircuit [rebirth: mrityusamsāravartmani] (3)

“By me in my incorporeal [unmanifest: avyaktamūrtinā] form all this universe has been spread forth. All beings subsist from me; but I don’t exist from them. (4)

“And yet beings do not subsist from me. See my lordly union [yoga] ! Bearing beings and causing beings to be, yet my self is not in beings. (5)

“As the great air with goeth everywhere constantly abides in the ākāśa, thus consider all beings as subsisting from me. (6)

“All beings, O son of Kuntī, enter my nature [prakritim] at the end of the kalpa. At the beginning of a kalpa, I pour them forth again. (7)

“Relying on innate nature [prakritim svām] [or: having recourse to my own nature], from the necessity of nature [prakriteravaśat], I pour them forth again. (8)

“These acts do not ensnare me, O Dhanañjaya, who remain as one indifferent, and unattached to these acts. (9)

“By me exercising supervision, nature [prakritih] bringeth forth both the moving and the unmoving [animate and inanimate]. By this cause, O son of Kuntī, the world resolves. (10)

“The deluded contemn me [because I have] assumed a human from. They know not my highest being as the great lore of entities. (11)

“[They are] of vain hopes, vain acts, vain knowledge, stupid, stupid, wedded to the illusive nature of the rākshasas and asuras. (12)

“But they of great-self [mahātmānas], O son of Prithā, who incline to divine nature, choose me, with minds directed nowhere else, knowing me to be the imperishable origin of beings: (13)

“Ever celebrating me, self-controlled and firm of will; and making obeisance unto me with trust, they serve, constantly devoted. (14)

“Others again by making the offering of knowledge [by knowledge] serve me, as pervading all things [viśvatamukham] by unity, by division, in many ways. (15)

“I am the kratu, I am the sacrifice, I am the svadhā, I am the aushadha, I am the mantra, I also am the ājya, I am the fire, I am the offering. (16)

“I am the father of this universe, the mother, the arranger, the ancestor, the thing to be known, the means to purification, the syllable Om, the Rik, the Sāman, and the Yajus too. (17)

“I am the path, the supporter, the ruler, the witness, the dwelling, the refuse, the friend, the production [prabhavah: origin], the dissolution [pralayah], the continuance, the preservation, the undecaying seed. (18)

“I cause heat, I restrain and pour forth rain. I am immortality, and death as well; I am being and non-being, O Arjuna ! (19)

“They who possess the three branches of knowledge, who drink the soma, who are cleaned of their sins, who have strived for the world of the gods [svargatim] by sacrifices, desire me: these (indeed) having attained unto the holy region of the chief of the gods [surendralokam], partake of the celestial pleasures of the god in the celestial spheres [divi] (20)

“Having enjoyed that widespread celestial region, with the exhaustion of merit they re-enter the mortal sphere. Thus they who follow the rule of the three [branches of the law] [ and yet] are [full of] longing, obtain going and coming. (21)

“To those men, who, with thought directed solely to me reverence me, and who are constant in application thereto, I bring security in yoga [yogakshema]. (22)

“They who choosing other divinities venerate them with real trust, even these, O son of Kuntī, venerate me, albeit irregularly. (23)

“For I am the enjoyer and the lord too of all sacrifices. But they don’t understand me with truth. Hence they fall. (24)

“Those who are devoted to the gods [devavratā], go to the gods; those go to the pitris who are devoted to the pitris [pritivratāh], those go to the bhūtas who venerate bhūtas, and those who venerate me go to me. (25)

“He who offers me leaf, flower, fruit, water, with trust, such an offering made from one of controlled self, I accept. (26)

“Whatever thou doest, whatever thou offerest in sacrifice, whatever thou givest, whatever thou dost in penance, O son of Kuntī, commit it to me. (27)

“Thus thou shalt be freed from the bonds of action [karmabandhanaih], consisting of good and evil results. With self-intent on renunciation and union [yoga]. And free, thou shalt attain unto me. (28)

“I am the same in all beings. I have no foe and no friends. But they who choose with trust are in me, and I too am in them. (29)

“If even a man of very evil conduct chooses me, with no other choice in mind, even he is to be considered as good, for he has chosen properly. (30)

“He quickly becomes of upright nature [self], and entereth into lasting peace, O son of Kuntī ! Know thou that one devoted to me is never lost. (31)

“For even they, O son of Prithā, who may be in a stake of birth resulting from sin [pāpayonayah], women, vaiśyas, and śūdras, taking refuse in me, thread the highest path. (32)

“How then about holy brāhmanas and devoted royal rishis [rājarishayas] ? having, then, obtained this transient world of sorrow, choose thou me ! (33)

“Fix thy mind on me, be my devotee, my worshiper. Reverence me. Intent on me, and thus concentrating thyself, verily thou shalt go to me.” (34)

Thus in the Holy

Bhagavad-Gītā. The ninth

Address, by name —

Rājavidyārājaguhyayoga

(Union through Royal Knowledge and Royal Mystery).