The Bhagavad Gita

Intro

• “It will be seen that the loft doctrines of the Upanishads are doctrines for the few: the Himalayas of the Soul are not for all. Men want a simple concrete God, or even a graven image of a god. They want a rule of life, and above all they want love.”
• “’I am Brahman’ or ‘I am Atman’ or ‘I am God’ may sound strange unless we take it in the true meaning that only the I AM in me is: my little personality is practically nothing. On the other hand, TAT TVAM ASI can be interpreted in the sense that only God is, or ‘Only Thou art’. In both cases our little personality disappears, as indeed it does disappear in the fourth state of consciousness described in the Mundaka Upanishad. But if we wanted to retain our personality and adore a personal God, then we can imagine Him as a Master and imagine ourselves as servants.“
• “The first way is the way of the Upanishads and of the Vedanta; the second way is the way of love, of Mary in the Gospels; the third way is the way of service, of Martha. The three ways have in common that what is important is something above our little self, whether we call this I AM, or ‘Thou art’, or whether we say, ‘Thou art my Master.’ In the three ways there is an absolute forgetfulness of our lower personality, and a recognition of a higher Personality. The Brahman of the Upanishads is, however, beyond all conception: it includes all, but it is beyond all. To become one with Brahman means a process of deep thought, before we can transcend thought. Love and work are easier ways.”
• “In all true love there is the love of the Infinite in the person or thing we love.”
• “Scholars differ as to the date of the Bhagavad Gita; but as the roots of this great poem are in Eternity the date of its revelation in time is of little spiritual importance. … the value of a spiritual scripture is its value to us here and now, and the real problem is how to translate its light into life.”
• “This is the symphony of the Bhagavad Gita. There are in it several themes which rise above the rest. There is Yoga. It is obvious that the spiritual Yoga of the Gita is love; but Yoga also means ‘Samadhi’, a state of inner communion with the object of contemplation. When this contemplation is turned upon any being or object in creation, we have poetry: when it is turned towards the Source of all creation we have Light, spiritual vision.”
• “When you set your heart on anything, you cease to throw yourself into the all.” — St John of the Cross
• Through joy of the higher, pleasure of the lower disappears.
• “Love is the power that moves the universe, the day of life, the night of death, and the new day after death. The radiance of this universe sends us a message of love and says that all creation came from love, that love impels evolution and that at the end of their time love returns all things to Eternity. Even as the rational mind can see that all matter is energy, the spirit can see that all energy is love, and everything in creation can be a mathematical equation for the mind and a song of love for the soul.“
• “The Bhagavad Gita is a book of Light and Love, but it is above all a book of Life: after Jñana and Bhakti, we have Karma. The word Karma is connected with the Sanskrit root Kri which we find in the English words ‘create’ and ‘creation’. Karma is work, and work is life. The word Karma means also ‘sacred work’ and is connected with the sacrifice of the Vedas: the ritual of religion.“
• “All life is action, but every little finite action should be a surrender to the Infinite, even as breathing in seems to be the receiving of the gift of life, and the breathing out a surrender into the infinite Life. Every little work in life, however humble, can become an act of creation and therefore a means of salvation, because in all true creation we reconcile the finite with the Infinite, hence the joy of creation. When vision is pure and when creation is pure there is always joy.”
• “The poet sees things in an Eternity of beauty and joy, and the actors doing their work beautifully, in the joy of Eternity.”
• “The praise of work as a means of salvation is later expressed in the poem and we hear that all men attain perfection when they find joy in their work, and they find joy in their work when their work is worship of God, because God is joy.”
• “It is not enough to have more, or even to know more, but to live more, and if we want to live more we must love more. … And contrary to the law of matter where to give more means to have less, in the law of love the more one gives the more one has.”
• “Great poems in different languages have different values but they all are poetry, and the spiritual visions of man come all from One Light. In them we have Lamps of Fire that burn to the glory of God.”
• “The finite in man longs for the Infinite. The love that moves the stars moves also the heart of man and a law of spiritual gravitation leads his soul to the Soul of the universe. Man sees the sun by the light of the sun, and he sees the Spirit by the light of his own inner spirit. The radiance of eternal beauty shines over this vast universe and in moments of contemplation we can see the Eternal in things that pass away. This is the message of the great spiritual seers; and all poetry and art and beauty is only an infinite variation of this.”

Chapter 2

14 From the world of the senses, Arjuna, comes heat and comes cold, and pleasure and pain. They come and they go: they are transient. Arise above them, strong soul.

15 The man whom these cannot move, whose soul is one, beyond pleasure and pain, is worthy of life in Eternity.

16 The unreal never is: the Real never is not. This truth indeed has been seen by those who can see the true.

17 Interwoven in his creation, the Spirit is beyond destruction. No one can bring to an end the Spirit which is everlasting.

18 For beyond time he dwells in these bodies, though these bodies have an end in their time; but he remains immeasurable, immortal. Therefore, great warrior, carry on thy fight.

(2:14-18)

41 The follower of this path has one thought, and this is the End of his determination. But many-branched and endless are the thoughts of the man who lacks determination.

42 There are men who have no vision, and yet they speak many words. They follow the letter of the Vedas, and they say: ‘There is nothing but this.’

43 Their soul is warped with selfish desires, and their heaven is a selfish desire. They have prayers for pleasures and power, the reward of which is earthly rebirth.

44 Those who love pleasure and power hear and follow their words: they have not the determination ever to be one with the One.

(2:41-44)

53 When thy mind, that may be wavering in the contradictions of many scriptures, shall rest unshaken in divine contemplation, then the goal of Yoga is thine.

(2:54)

• A scripture undermining itself. Humility.

72 This is the Eternal in man, O Arjuna. Reaching him all delusion is gone. Even in the last hour of his life upon earth, man can reach the Nirvana of Brahman - man can find peace in the peace of his God.

(2:72)

• Similar notion in Christianity. Repent at the hour of death and salvation will be attained.

Chapter 3

26 Let not the wise disturb the mind of the unwise in selfish work. Let him, working with devotion, show the joy of good work.

(3:26)

• Show, don’t tell.

30 Offer to me all thy works and rest thy mind on the Supreme. Be free from vain hopes and selfish thoughts, and with inner peace fight thou thy fight.

(3:30)

42 They say that the power of the senses is great. But greater than the senses is the mind. Greater than the mind is Buddhi, reason; and greater than reason is He - the Spirit in man and in all.

43 Know Him therefore who is above reason; and let his peace give thee peace. Be a warrior and kill desire, the powerful enemy of the soul.

(3:42-43)

• Body—>Mind—>Spirit. All are essentially one, degrees of spirit.
• The allegory of the battle of the soul against attachment.
• ‘It is greedy desire and wrath, born of passion, the great evil, the sum of destruction: this is the enemy of the soul.” (3:37)

Chapter 4

14 In the bonds of works I am free, because in them I am free from desires. The man who can see this truth, in his work he finds his freedom.

(4:14)

• Paradox. In bonds freedom is found. But they are bonds of work without attachment to results, thus a bondage to freedom itself.

22 He is glad whatever God gives him, and he has risen beyond the two contraries here below…

24 Who in all his work sees God, he in truth goes unto God: God is his worship, God is his offering, offered by God in the fire of God.

(4:24)

• God as the object of worship, the offered to. God as worship, the offering. God as the worshipper, the offerer.

30 Others, through practice of abstinence, offer their life into Life. All those know what is sacrifice, and through sacrifice purify their sins.

Chapter 5

5 Because the victory won by the man of wisdom is also won by the man of good work. That man sees indeed the truth who sees that vision and creation are one.

…

7 No work stains a man who is pure, who is in harmony, who is master of his life, whose soul is one with the soul of all.

18 With the same evenness of love they behold a Brahmin who is learned and holy, or a cow, or an elephant, or a dog, and even the man who eats a dog.

Chapter 6

8 When, happy with vision and wisdom, he is master of his own inner life, his soul sublime set on high, then he is called a Yogi in harmony. To him gold or stones or earth are one.

9 He has risen on the heights of his soul. And in peace he beholds relatives, companions and friends, those impartial or indifferent or who hate him: he sees them all with the same inner peace.

10 Day after day, let the Yogi practise the harmony of soul: in a secret place, in deep solitude, master of his mind, hoping for nothing, desiring nothing.

…

19 Then his soul is a lamp whose light is steady, for it burns in a shelter where no winds come.

20 When the mind is resting in the stillness of the prayer of Yoga, and by the grace of the Spirit sees the Spirit and therein finds fulfilment;

21 Then the seeker knows the joy of Eternity: a vision seen by reason far beyond what senses can see. He abides therein and moves not from Truth.

…

29 He sees himself in the heart of all beings and he sees all beings in his heart. This is the vision of the Yogi of harmony, a vision which is ever one.

30 And when he sees me in all and he sees all in me, then I never leave him and he never leaves me.

31 He who in this oneness of love, loves me in whatever he sees, wherever this man may live, in truth this man lives in me.

32 And he is the greatest Yogi he whose vision is ever one: when the pleasure and pain of others is his own pleasure and pain.

**

Chapter 7

**

5 But beyond my visible nature is my invisible Spirit. This is the fountain of life whereby this universe has its being.

6 All things have their life in this Life, and I am their beginning and end.

10 And I am from everlasting the seed of eternal life. I am the intelligence of the intelligent. I am the beauty of the beautiful.

23 But these are men of little wisdom, and the good they want has an end. Those who love the gods go to the gods; but those who love me come unto me.

24 The unwise think that I am that form of my lower nature which is seen by mortal eyes: they know not my higher nature, imperishable and supreme.

25 For my glory is not seen by all: I am hidden by my veil of mystery; and in its delusion the world knows me not, who was never born and for ever I am.

• Cloud of unknowing.

Chapter 8

3 Braham is the Supreme, the Eternal. Atman is his Spirit in man. Karma is the force of creation, wherefrom all things have their life.

4 Matter is the kingdom of the earth, which in time passes away; but the Spirit is the kingdom of Light. In this body I offer sacrifice, and my body is a sacrifice.

21 This Invisible is called the Everlasting and is the highest End supreme. Those who reach him never return. This is my supreme abode.

22 This Spirit Supreme, Arjuna, is attained by an ever-living love. In him all things have their life, and from him all things have come.

Chapter 9

4 All this visible universe comes from my invisible Being. All beings have their rest in me, but I have not my rest in them.

5 And in truth they rest not in me: consider my sacred mystery. I am the source of all beings, I support them all, but I rest not in them.

• I rest not in them, for I am infinite. But the finite rest in me.

19 … I am life immortal and death; I am what is and what is not.

• The finite (is) and infinite (is not)

23 Even those who in faith worship other gods, because of their love they worship me, although not in the right way.

26 He who offers to me with devotion only a leaf, or a flower, or a fruit, or even a little water, this I accept from that yearning soul, because with a pure heart it was offered with love.

27 Whatever you do, or eat, or give, or offer in adoration, let it be an offering to me; and whatever you suffer, suffer it for me.

29 I am the same to all beings, and my love is ever the same; but those who worship me with devotion, they are in me and I am in them.

30 For even if the greatest sinner worships me with all his soul, he must be considered righteous, because of his righteous will.

31 And he shall soon become pure and reach everlasting peace. For this is my word of promise, that he who loves me shall not perish.

• He rests not in them, unless they worship him in fullness of heart. For worship in fullness of heart is Him himself.

Chapter 10

42 But of what help is it to thee to know this diversity? Know that with one single fraction of my Being I pervade and support the Universe, and know that I AM.

• After an immanent description of all he lies within.

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

7 all their works to me, and who with pure love meditate on me and adore me - these I very soon deliver from the ocean of death and life-in-death, because they have set their heart on me.

• Death is the immanent. Life is the transcendent-in-immanent.

16 He who is free from vain expectations, who is pure, who is wise and knows what to do, who in inner peace watches both sides, who shakes not, who works for God and not for himself - this man loves me, and he is dear to me.

17 He who feels neither excitement nor repulsion, who complains not and lusts not for things; who is beyond good and evil, and who has love - he is dear to me.

18 The man whose love is the same for his enemies or his friends, whose soul is the same in honour or disgrace, who is beyond heat or cold or pleasure or pain, who is free from the chains of attachments;

me.

20 But even dearer to me are those who have faith and love, and who have me as their End Supreme: those who hear my words of Truth, and who come to the waters of Everlasting Life.

Chapter 13

14 … [Brahman] is beyond all, and yet he supports all. He is beyond the world of matter, and yet he has joy in this world.

15 He is invisible: he cannot be seen. He is far and he is near, he moves and he moves not, he is within all and he is outside all.

16 He is ONE in all, but it seems as if he were many. He supports all beings: from him comes destruction, and from him comes creation.

17 He is the Light of all lights which shines beyond all darkness. It is vision, the end of vision, to be reached by vision, dwelling in the heart of all.

• Very Upanishadic. Also reminded of the psalm ‘by your Light do we see light.’

21 …When [man] binds himself to things ever-changing, a good or evil fate whirls him round through life-in-death.

22 But the Spirit Supreme in man is beyond fate. He watches, gives blessing, bears all, feels all. He is called the Lord Supreme and the Supreme Soul.

23 He who knows in truth this Spirit and knows nature with its changing conditions, wherever this man may be he is no more whirled round by fate.

26 Whatever is born, Arjuna, whether it moves or it moves not, know that it comes from the union of the field and the knower of the field.

27 He who sees that the Lord of all is ever the same in all that is, immortal in the field of mortality - he sees the truth.

28 And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others: then he goes indeed to the highest Path.

• Creation and vision as one. Whatever is born comes from union of subject (knower) and object (field), from metaphysical vision, attention.

30 When a man sees that the infinity of various beings is abiding in the ONE, and is an evolution from the ONE, then he becomes one with Brahman.

Chapter 14

26 And he who with never-failing love adores me and works for me, he passes beyond the three powers and can be one with Brahman, the ONE.

27 For I am the abode of Brahman, the never-failing fountain of everlasting life. The law of righteousness is my law; and my joy is infinite joy.

Chapter 15

5 Because the man of pure vision, without pride or delusion, in liberty from the chains of attachments, with his soul ever in his inner Spirit, all selfish desires gone, and free from the two contraries known as pleasure and pain, goes to the abode of Eternity.

6 There the sun shines not, nor the moon gives light, nor fire burns, for the Light of my glory is there. Those who reach that abode return no more.

7 A spark of my eternal Spirit becomes in this world a living soul; and this draws around its centre the five senses and the mind resting in nature.

Chapter 16

7 Evil men know not what should be done or what should not be done. Purity is not in their hearts, nor good conduct, nor truth.

8 They say: ‘This world has no truth, no moral foundation, no God. There is no law of creation: what is the cause of birth but lust?’

11 Thus they are beset with innumerable cares which last long, all their life, until death. Their highest aim is sensual enjoyment, and they firmly think that this is all.

17 In their haughtiness of vainglory, drunk with the pride of their wealth, they offer their wrong sacrifices for ostentation, against divine law.

18 In their chains of selfishness and arrogance, of violence and anger and lust, these malignant men hate me: they hate me in themselves and in others.

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

2 The renunciation of selfish works is called renunciation; but the surrender of the reward of all work is called surrender.

3 Some say that there should be renunciation of action - since action disturbs contemplation; but others say that works of sacrifice, gift and self-harmony should not be renounced.

…

5 Works of sacrifice, gift, and self-harmony should not be abandoned, but should indeed be performed; for these are works of purification.

6 But even these works, Arjuna, should be done in the freedom of a pure offering, and without expectation of a reward. This is my final word.

7 It is not right to leave undone the holy work which ought to be done. Such a surrender of action would be a delusion of darkness.

11 For there is no man on earth who can fully renounce living work, but he who renounces the reward of his work is in truth a man of renunciation.

12 When work is done for a reward, the work brings pleasure, or pain, or both, in its time; but when a man does work in Eternity, then Eternity is his reward.

• Working for a reward is to work in time, for we expect the reward in time. Working while renouncing the reward, however, is to work in Eternity and for Eternity, beyond time, beyond the bondage of time. And to Eternity the man of surrender goes.

16 If one thinks that his infinite Spirit does the finite work which nature does, he is a man of clouded vision and he does not see the truth.

• Man does the finite work. God does the infinite work (?)

17 He who is free from the chains of selfishness, and whose mind is free from any ill-will, even if he kills all these warriors he kills them not and he is free.

• Tanjiro killing Akuza in Demon Slayer

18 In the idea of a work there is the knower, the knowing and the known. When the idea is work there is the doer, the doing and the thing done.

• Father (knower), spirit (knowing), known (son)

20 When one sees Eternity in things that pass away and Infinity in finite things, then one has pure knowledge.

21 But if one merely sees the diversity of things, with their divisions and limitations, then one has impure knowledge.

22 And if one selfishly sees a thing as if it were everything, independent of the ONE and the many, then one is in the darkness of ignorance.

46 A man attains perfection when his work is worship of God, from whom all things come and who is in all.

47 Greater is thine own work, even if this be humble, than the work of another, even if this be great. When a man does the work God gives him, no sin can touch this man.

48 And a man should not abandon his work, even if he cannot achieve it in full perfection; because in all work there may be imperfection, even as in all fire there is smoke.

54 He is one with Brahman, with God, and beyond grief and desire his soul is in peace. His love is one for all creation, and he has supreme love for me.

55 By love he knows me in truth, who I am and what I am.

And when he knows me in truth he enters into my Being.

56 In whatever work he does he can take refuge in me, and he attains then by my grace the imperishable home of Eternity.

57 Offer in thy heart all thy works to me, and see me as the End of thy love, take refuge in the Yoga of reason, and ever rest thy soul in me.

58 lf thy soul finds rest in me, thou shalt overcome all dangers by my grace; but if thy thoughts are on thyself, and thou wilt not listen, thou shalt perish.

61 God dwells in the heart of all beings, Arjuna: thy God dwells in thy heart. And his power of wonder moves all things - puppets in a play of shadows - whirling them onwards on the stream of time.

62 Go to him for thy salvation with all thy soul, victorious man. By his grace thou shalt obtain the peace supreme, thy home of Eternity.

63 I have given thee words of vision and wisdom more secret than hidden mysteries. Ponder them in the silence of thy soul, and then in freedom do thy will.

64 Hear again my Word supreme, the deepest secret of silence...

65 Give thy mind to me, and give me thy heart, and thy sacrifice, and thy adoration. This is my Word of promise: thou shalt in truth come to me, for thou art dear to me.

…

67 These things must never be spoken to one who lacks self-discipline, or who has no love, or who does not want to hear or who argues against me.

68 But he who will teach this secret doctrine to those who have love for me, and who himself has supreme love, he in truth shall come unto me.

69 For there can be no man among men who does greater work for me, nor can there be a man on earth who is dearer to me than he is.

Arjuna’s final response:

73 By thy grace I remember my Light, and now gone is my delusion. My doubts are no more, my faith is firm; and now I can say ‘Thy will be done.’