Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9
Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
Lord Krishna said: I shall explain to you this most secret knowledge, as you are free from envy. By gaining this knowledge, along with its realization, you will be totally freed from all kinds of inauspiciousness.
A kingly knowledge, a kingly secret, this is the best purifier, directly experiential, the very law of being, comfortable to practise and imperishable too.
O scorcher of foes (Arjuna), those humans who are inattentive and averse to the pursuit of yoga-sādhanā, unable to reach Me (the Supreme), return to the worldly path of recurring deaths.
(Identifying himself with the Supreme, Krishna says:) This entire Universe is permeated by My unmanifest aspect. All beings inhere in Me, but I do not abide in them.
Lo, the beings verily do not abide in Me (the Supreme); see My Inscrutable Power. Though the Supreme creates and sustains the creation, It does not abide in it! (This is the wonder of the whole creational display.)
Know that just as the ever present, all-pervading, mighty air inheres in ākāśa (space), so too all beings inhere in Me, the Supreme.
All beings, O Kaunteya (Arjuna), attain to My nature at the end of the kalpa, and at the beginning of kalpa I release them again.
I, as the Supreme, by animating My Prakṛti (Nature), release this entire aggregate of beings helpless by the force of Prakṛti, again and again.
Those acts (of creation and dissolution) do not affect and bind Me, O Dhananjaya (Arjuna). For I am seated with lofty indifference, not clinging to those actions.
O Kaunteya, with My presidency, Nature gives birth to mobile and immobile creation. By this pro-creational process the world goes on cyclically.
Seeing Me, the Supreme, as having taken a human form, fools disregard Me, not knowing My superior state as the Great Lord of the entire Creation.
With vain desires, activities and knowledge, devoid of discrimination, they resort to a delusive demoniacal and fiendish nature.
On the other hand, O Partha, the high-souled ones graced with divine nature, worship Me, the Supreme, with exclusive mind, knowing that the imperishable Supreme is the source of all Creation.
Singing constantly about Me (the Supreme), striving steadfastly, prostrating regularly with devotion, they worship Me (the Supreme) ever anchored in Yoga.
Others worship Me (the Supreme) through knowledge-sacrifice, jñāna-yajña, contemplating upon Me as all-formed, also as singular, different and universal in expression.
I (the Supreme) am the kratu (a Vedic rite), I am the yajña (the smritis prescribe). I am the offering to departed souls, and all the herbs and medicinal plants. I am mantra (the invocational word) as well as the ghee offered to sacrificial fire. I am the fire into which oblations are made, as also the materials offered to sacrificial fire.
I (the Supreme) am the father of the world, the mother, sustainer and the grandfather; and also the one factor to be known, the most purifying, the auspicious monosyllable OM, the Rik, Sāma and Yajur vedas.
The Supreme is the goal, the sustainer, the Lord and the witness. It is the ultimate abode, refuge, benefactor friend, the source, terminus, substratum, the treasure-house, and the imperishable seed of all.
I (the Supreme) am the source of heat for the entire Universe. I release rain and also withhold it. I am immortality and death alike, O Arjuna, I am existence as well as non-existence.
Those following the three Vedas, purged of sins by propitiating Me through Yajñas and drinking the sacrificial soma juice, pray for heavenly life. Gaining virtue they reach Indra’s holy abode and enjoy the celestial delights.
After enjoying the vast heavenly abode, when the religious merit which took them there gets exhausted, they return to the fleeting human world. Thus, taking to the life envisaged in the three Vedas, those desirous of endless enjoyment, remain subjected to the cycle of life and death, going and coming.
Those who worship Me (the Supreme) in and through everything, considering Me non-different from themselves, remaining ever connected with Me, for them I ensure total welfare (yoga & kshema).
O Kaunteya, even those devotees who worship other deities with śraddhā (assiduousness), are also worshipping Me (the Supreme) alone, though improperly.
I (the Supreme) am the only enjoyer and Lord of all sacrifices. But people do not know Me essentially like this, and hence they fall away from Me.
Those given to worship heavenly deities attain to them, those taking to the manes, reach them. Worshippers of the spirits get to their abode. And those worshipping Me (the Supreme), attain Me.
Whoever offers to Me (the Supreme) a leaf, flower, fruit or even water, devotionally with a pure and disciplined mind, I consume (accept) that devotional offering with great relish.
O Kaunteya, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever oblation you offer to fire, whatever you give as dāna or gift, whatever austerity you perform, make it all a wholesome offering to Me (the Supreme).
Thus you will be freed from all bondages caused by the results of good and bad actions, virtue and vice. Anchored to the spirit of renunciation, feeling utterly free, you will attain Me (the Supreme).
(Revealing the Soul-identity, Krishna says:) I, the Supreme, reign equally in all beings. None is especially hatable or lovable for Me. However, those devoted heartily to Me, abide in Me, and I too in them.
Even if one given to extremely evil conduct, seeks Me (the Supreme) with unflinching devotion, he has to be regarded as noble; for, he is well resolved.
Very soon he becomes a righteous soul, and gets lasting peace. O Arjuna, swear on My behalf that My devotee (one devoted to the Supreme) never perishes.
By taking to the path of one-pointed devotion to Me (the Supreme), O Partha, even those of vicious wombs, women, vaiśyas and śūdras attain the Supreme.
What to speak then of holy brāhmaṇas, pious devotees and royal saints? Having come to this fleeting world, devoid of happiness, worship Me, the Supreme.
Fix the mind in Me (the Supreme), be My devotee, offer everything to Me, pay obeisance to Me. By dint of the resultant integration, making Me as the sole refuge, you will attain Me.
Om – the symbol of Brahman, tat – that singular Reality (Brahman), sat – the ever abiding presence (Brahman).
Thus ends the ninth chapter entitled Rāja-vidyā-rāja-guhya Yoga, during the Srikrishna-Arjuna dialogue in Śrīmad Bhagavad Gita, constituting Yoga-śāstra, which falls within Brahmavidya as presented in the Vedic Upanishads.
Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
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