CHAPTER 7: Jñānavijñāna Yogaḥ🔗

7.1 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, Pārtha (Arjuna), now listen to Me, you can know Me completely, without doubt, by practicing yoga in true consciousness of Me, With your mind attached to Me.

7.2 Let Me explain to you in full this phenomenal knowledge [jñāna] of the Absolute along with its conscious realization [vijñāna]; by knowing which, there shall remain nothing further to be known.

7.3 Out of many thousands of men, hardly one endeavors to achieve the perfection of self-realization; of those so endeavoring, hardly one achieves the perfection of self-realization, and of those, hardly one knows Me in truth or reaches that state of oneness with Me.

7.4 Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego, all together these constitute My external eightfold energies.

7.5 Besides these external energies, which are inferior or material in nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine. This comprises all the embodied souls of all the living entities [jīvabhūta] by which this material world is being utilized.

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Listen, Arjuna, by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, without doubt.’

Puruṣa and prakṛti are considered the operative principles of the Universe in the Hindu philosophical systems of Sānkhya and Vedānta. Puruṣa and prakṛti are unmanifest energy sources, puruṣa being inactive and prakṛti capable of being active. Everything else arises from these two elements when they operate together.

Prakṛti gives rise to the Cosmic and individual intelligence and the five natural elements. The Taittreya Upaniṣad explains that the Cosmic energy gave rise to etheric energy or the energy of space, ākāṣa, which pervades the Universe. This is the largest and subtlest quantum of energy that pervades the Universe. From etheric energy the energy of air arises. It is this energy of air, or vāyu, that sustains us in our body-mind system as the carrier of pranic or life energy.

From the energy of air arises the energy of fire, agni. Many salutations in the Ṛg Veda, the first of the Hindu scriptures, are addressed to the fire. Almost all Vedic rituals are performed for the fire god. Āpas, the energy of water, arose from the energy of fire. Pṛthvī, the energy of earth arose from the energy of water. The Taittreya Upaniṣad goes on to say that it is from the earth energy that plants, herbs, food were created, from which came humans. Within the human is the intelligence that is a hologram of the Cosmic intelligence. The energy cycle is now complete.

The Cosmic intelligence is reflected in the human as the mind. The mind in turn uses the senses to access the external world. Each of the senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are related to the natural elements. Ether is linked to sound or the ears; air is linked to touch and the skin; fire is linked to color and form, and hence to sight and the eyes; water is linked to taste and the tongue; earth is linked to smell or the nose.

Here, Kṛṣṇa refers to ego as ahaṁkāra. It is our identity that we project outwards, which is always in excess of what we think of as ourselves. There is another side to our ego, called mamakāra, which we project inwards; what we think of as us inside us. This mamakāra is always lower than what we think ourselves to be. The perpetual gap between this outer projection and inner projection creates self-doubt, stress, suffering and dis-ease within us. When we realize our Self, we realize that we are Divine and nothing less.

7.6 Know for certain that everything living is manifested by these two energies of Mine. I am the Creator, the Sustainer and the Destroyer of them.

7.7 O Dhanañjaya, there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.

7.8 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), I am the taste of water, the radiance of the sun and the moon, the sacred syllable Oṁ in the Vedic mantras. I am the sound in ether and ability in man.

7.9 I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire.

I am the life of all living beings, and I am the penance of all ascetics.

Kṛṣṇa says, He is the unseen thread—sūtre maṇi gaṇā, without which no rudrākṣa can exist. He says He is the unseen essence—mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ, without which there can be no substance. He says He is the unseen ultimate energy without which there can be no Universe— mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya.

Can you imagine the intelligence that controls multiple Universes? How is there such discipline and order in that seeming chaos that no one is in charge of? No one is responsible, or is someone? On the other hand, within this small body of ours we try to control everything. We control the food we eat, how much we exercise, how much we play, etc. Yet we can predict nothing about it. Despite all the order that we impose, there is chaos sometimes! Control does not bring about order; it never can. Freedom brings about order. Chaos is freedom. Chaos is choice. The ultimate chaos is the cosmic Kṛṣṇa; He is also the Ultimate order too. Life, any form of life in this and any other planet, cannot exist without this energy of cosmic Kṛṣṇa.

7.10 O Pārtha (son of Pṛthā), know Me to be the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the brilliance of all those who are brilliant.

7.11 I am the strength of the strong, and I am the procreative energy in living beings, devoid of lust and in accordance with dharma, the religious principles, O Bharatarṣabha (lord of Bhārata).

7.12 All states of being—be they of goodness (sāttvika), passion (rajas) or ignorance (tamas)— emanate from Me. I am independent of them but they are dependent on Me.

7.13 The whole of this creation is deluded by the three modes or guṇas (goodness, passion and ignorance), and thus does not know Me. I am above the modes and inexhaustible.

7.14 My Divine energy, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who surrender unto Me can cross beyond it with ease.

7.15 Those miscreants who are foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by māyā, illusion, and who have taken shelter in demonic nature, do not surrender unto Me.

Kṛṣṇa talks about the guṇas, the natural attributes in these verses.

Prakṛti, the energy that manifests in the Universe, has three elements called guṇas. When prakṛti is in equilibrium, it is pure potential energy. When it is disturbed, the guṇas come into operation. Like building blocks, they combine in many ways and create, sustain and destroy.

The three guṇas that Kṛṣṇa refers to are satva, rajas and tamas, commonly translated as goodness or calmness, passion or aggression and ignorance or inaction. The interplay of these guṇas creates the functioning of the mind and through the operation of the mind, activity. Guṇa does not refer to the state a person is in. Guṇa causes that state to happen. Satva by itself is not goodness or calmness. It is the building block that leads

to calmness.

No living being influenced by the mind is beyond the influence of the guṇas. When one transcends the guṇas, as Kṛṣṇa says about Himself, one becomes a triguṇa rahita, one who has transcended the three guṇas. Such a person is no longer influenced by the mind and its actions.

7.16 O Bharatarsabha, best among Bhārata, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me.

They are: the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive seeker of knowledge, and the wise knower of the Absolute.

7.17 Of these, the wise one who is in full knowledge and ever united with Me through single-minded devotion is the best.

I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me.

7.18 All these devotees are indeed noble; but the wise one who knows Me, dwells in Me is My very Self, this is My opinion.

Being merged in My Consciousness and engaged in My mission, he is surely established in Me, the highest destination.

7.19 After many births and deaths, he who knows Me surrenders to Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

The Vedic Ṛṣis at least created the community and caste system based upon intelligence and wisdom. In other cultures, the community system was created based upon money and power. The countries where the rulers are kṣatriyas (warrior class), are the ones who create the community system based upon power. The more powerful a person is, the more respected he is. In other countries, people who do business, the business class people, control the whole system. There the wealthy people are respected more.

India is the only country where people who respected intelligence and wisdom created the whole system. The system was created based upon intelligence, based upon wisdom. So that is why, in India, the more wisdom a person carries, the more spiritual he is, the more he is respected.

The whole social system was created based upon sharing from an enriching consciousness. Understand, you can create anything only when you see it and experience it from the state of enriching consciousness. Man must contribute something to enrich the community by doing actions in the enriching state.

Let me describe the spirit with which the whole system was created, and how we abused it. First, the whole system is not based upon our birth. It is based upon our character.

Kṛṣṇa says again and again that it is based upon our guṇas (nature), based upon our attitude towards life. A person who works driven by fear, one who works out of fear, belongs to the working class called śūdra. A person who works out of greed, belongs to the merchant or business class called vaiśya. A person who works to get attention or to prove that he is superior, belongs to the kṣatriya community. A person who works out of gratitude from the enriching consciousness, expressing his bliss, is a brāhmaṇa. This was how people were categorized in those days.

Everybody must contribute something to enrich the society. A person may enrich by sharing his time if he has nothing else. A person who shares his time is a worker, a śūdra. He belongs to the working class. A person who enriches by sharing products, has time and a little bit of intelligence to create products, is a vaiśya, a merchant. A person who enriches by sharing confidence, who gives courage to the whole community, is a kṣatriya, a warrior! He unites the whole group as a community in a solid way by giving confidence, by sharing his confidence. A person who enriches by sharing his knowledge, bliss or spiritual wisdom, is a brāhmaṇa.

‘O best among the Bhārata, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me: the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who searches for knowledge of the Absolute.’

Here Kṛṣṇa talks about those who approach the Divine and the ways in which they approach the Divine. Man is centered on seven basic emotions. Basically we live and work based on these seven emotions: greed, fear, worry, attention-need (name and fame), comparison and jealousy, ego and the last one, the seventh emotion, deep discontentment.

We move from the first level of greed, where we pray to boon-giving gods, to the next level of fear where the gods who can protect us appeal to us. The next is worry. Buddha appeals to us if we are centered on worry because he appears to be so peaceful and calm. To the person who is centered on name and fame, gods who give name and fame appeal the most. In the same way as with gods, people also approach Masters from all these various levels.

I have seven kinds of people who approach me: One, people who approach me out of greed; two, people who approach me out of fear; three, people who approach me out of worry; four, people who approach me for name and fame; five, people who approach me out of jealousy and comparison; six, people who approach me out of ego, to strengthen their ego by saying, ‘I am a disciple of Paramahamsa Nithyananda. I am close to him. He knows my name.’ Just to have ego satisfaction they come to me; finally, seven—there are a few, very few who approach me out of gratitude.

Based on how we approach the Divine, only based on how mature we are, the whole community system has been created. How much we enrich and share with society depends on how mature we are. With the same maturity, we approach God also.

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Four types of people come to Me—caturvidhā bhajante mām’ He explains the four types as four communities. The first are the people who are distressed, i.e., the working class or śūdra. The second are the people who desire wealth, i.e., the business people or vaiśya. The third are inquisitive people who continuously enquire, continuously ask, ‘Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim?’ (What next?) A kṣatriya, for example, never rests because he constantly asks, ‘What next? What next? What next?’ The fourth is the person who searches for knowledge of the Absolute: He is a brāhmaṇa.

‘The person who approaches Me out of love and gratitude, is the best person, for I am dear to him and he is dear to Me.’ By this one verse, Kṛṣṇa ends the whole conversation, the whole concept.

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Starting at different levels is ok, but don’t stop there.’ We can start or take off from any level. However we should not stop and stagnate there.

Here Kṛṣṇa says clearly, ‘one who knows Me, dwells in Me. Being engaged in My mission, he attains Me, āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā mām evānuttamāṁ gatim (7.18).’

When the scriptures say, ‘Follow the Master,’ they do not mean to follow the form. They advise you to follow the teachings of the Master, so that you can be the master too. They tell you to follow the institution of the Master, his community, his sanga. When we follow these three, the Master, his teachings and his mission, we are on the path to liberation.

I told you about the seven steps in spiritual progress—1) go around many temples, perform many rituals, pilgrimages, etc. 2) do rituals by yourself 3) concentrate and pray to one God 4) instead of rituals, chant verses in praise of God 5) instead of chanting, visualize His form and meditate upon it 6) instead of meditating on any form, fall into that same consciousness, realize that the form and your soul are one and the same, that God and the soul are one and the same 7) experience reality! Don’t think these seven steps will be done in one lifetime. People take hundreds of lives to achieve this maturity. It is rare to achieve this maturity.

Whether it is a relationship, or whether it is life itself, it is nothing but a psychodrama. You have an agenda. Society has taught you that, as a father, as a husband, or as a son, you should behave in a certain pre-defined manner. The person who understands that he is playing the same drama again and again, has achieved knowledge, the real intelligence about what is happening. Then naturally you surrender. You surrender unto Me, asserts Kṛṣṇa.

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘One who understands that the cause of all causes is Me, realizes the ultimate divine. He realizes thus, ‘How many times will I play the same drama? How many times will I make the same mistakes?’ Until this realization, the whole thing is repeated again and again without end, without the experience.’

‘The person who has understood, who has knowledge of this truth, surrenders unto Me, surrenders to the Master, an enlightened being—jñānavān māṁ prapadyate, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all there is. Such a great soul is rare—vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sūdurlabhaḥ (7.19).’

Only if you go with an attitude of love and gratitude, with maturity, only then do you see a living enlightened Master. The moment you see an enlightened being as He is, you will become enlightened. There’s no doubt about it.

7.20 Those whose discrimination has been distorted by various desires, surrender unto deities.They follow specific rules and regulations of worship according to their own nature.

7.21 I am in everyone’s heart as the Super Soul. As soon as one desires to worship some deity, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.

7.22 Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires; In reality, these benefits are granted by Me alone.

7.23 Men of limited intelligence worship the demigods and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go only to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees reach My supreme planet.

At every level of completion, different gods appeal to you; at every level, different Gurus or masters appeal to you, and you grow in your feeling connection or devotion with them. When you are at the level of going to pilgrimage places, people who guide you to these pilgrimage centers appeal to you. When you come to the level of pūjā and homā, other people who also do these rituals appeal to you! The person who teaches you pūjā appeals and connects to you. Even the people who teach you any skills like dancing, acting, martial arts, or even those who educate you in your studies and profession, they connect to you. The pūjā ācarya or anyone who teaches and inspires you becomes your guru.

Next, when you come to the level of completion where you begin focusing and offering to only one deity, the deity becomes your guru. This is iṣṭa niṣṭa. Iṣṭa niṣṭa means bowing down, revering only your iṣṭa, your chosen deity. Wherever you bow down, even if you bow down to your father or mother, you should know that I bow down to my iṣṭa who is in your heart—your ānanda gandha.

Next, after some time you think, ‘Why only repeat this verse? Why not do some meditation?’ Now the person who teaches you meditation appeals to you. Meditation is again saguṇa brahman, which means meditating on a form. This is Līlā dhyāna, the next level of completion or next space of iṣṭa niṣṭa.

Līlā dhyāna means strongly feeling connected to your own version of your chosen ideal. You are free to choose your ideal in Hindu tradition. You can choose your own Guru. You need to understand, living with your chosen ideal is called iṣṭa niṣṭa. Līlā dhyāna means constantly remembering the actions and the life of your chosen ideal and being immersed in the qualities, words, actions, body language and life of the Master; whatever you may be doing, being totally immersed in Him.

Practicing the presence of God is constantly feeling you are with Him, He is with you. Practicing the presence of God is the greatest, most powerful technique to put you in bhāva samādhi immediately.

I tell my disciples to practice Iṣṭa niṣṭa, with the whole Existence cognizing—‘I bow down to Nithyananda who is in your ānanda gandha; whether he is awakened or not, whether you experience or not, He is there in your ānanda gandha. If you are initiated into ānanda gandha, you will also experience him. If not, you may not experience, but I can experience. I bow down to Nithyananda who is in your ānanda gandha.’

So, the first level of completion is attending rituals and visiting temples, pūjā and yātrā. The second level is doing the rituals yourself, pūjā. The third level is having the feeling connection and concentrating on one deity, and offering only to that deity, iṣṭa niṣṭa. The fourth level of completion is realizing that the verses are more powerful than rituals, and you start chanting the name of your iṣṭa. The fifth level is visualizing a form and meditating on His pastimes and being immersed in His qualities, words, actions, body language and life; instead of chanting, you enter the space of feeling and living with His presence. Then, when you sincerely meditate, He Himself appears. He gives you His darśan (vision) and guides you to the higher level of practice. He guides you to the right living Master. Sometimes He gives you darśan and guides you; sometimes He automatically makes you feel connected to your Master.

You need to go through all five levels of completion, only then will you feel completely connected to

a living Master. When you come to the stage where you meditate on a single form, the Master happens in your life and guides you to the highest level of completion, enriching you with Enlightenment.

The form upon which you meditate and your own form are expressions of the same divine energy. So the Master puts you into real meditation. This means turning towards yourself, turning towards your own consciousness, turning towards your own being or soul. He gives you the technique to realize your being. This is the sixth level of completion.

The seventh level of completion, the ultimate completion, the complete completion is when you experience that you are That. You achieve Enlightenment!

When you approach the Divine even from the first level of completion, He helps you. He enriches you without doubt. He never gives up on you. You may give up on yourself, but He never gives up on you. One of the biggest qualities of an Incarnation is that He never gives up on you!

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Even if you approach Me with an attitude of fear or greed, I fulfill your needs. It is My own energy which fulfills them, so that you grow, and you come up to the next level of completion.’

I always tell people, when you approach the Divine, first all your dreams will become reality. The divine will bless you. All your desires will be realized. Later on, the Divine will give you the understanding that the reality you perceive is itself a dream! First God gives the śakti (energy) to turn your dreams into reality. Then He gives the buddhi (intelligence) to realize that reality itself is a dream!

That is what He says here: When I bless you, according to your maturity, as per your level of completion and based on the way in which you approach the Divine, I give everything.

This is an important sūtra, a technique. It says:

It says that when we get boons from demigods, they are temporary. God will bless us with wealth when we ask Him. But we need intelligence to preserve and to protect wealth. So be very clear, when we receive anything out of energy, without having the maturity to receive and sustain it, it is only temporary. If we have enough intelligence and maturity to have wealth, then naturally, we would have created it. Because we don’t have buddhi, wisdom, we ask God to give us śakti, energy. If we get śakti without buddhi, it will only be temporary.

He makes one more statement: madbhaktā yānti mām api—My devotees attain Me. Then He says these words: If you approach Me with the ultimate attitude, with the attitude of love and gratitude, you achieve Me. The greatest attitude is gratitude. If you approach Me with gratitude, you experience Me.

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘These men of small intelligence worship demigods. Their results are temporary.’ We continue to live that way. When we feel life is a blessing and we approach the Divine with deep love and gratitude, not only do we experience divine consciousness, Kṛṣṇa says: They achieve ME. They attain ME— madbhaktā yānti mām api.

There’s another verse where Kṛṣṇa beautifully says: ‘If you ask for something, I will give you that. If you don’t ask for anything, I will give you Me.’ People say, ‘Who wants Him? We want Him only as a utility, not Him. As long as He serves our purpose, things are ok. So we don’t want Him.’ People want only solutions. They don’t want the Divine.

7.26 O Arjuna, as the Supreme Divinity, I know all that has happened in the past, all that is

happening in the present, and all that is to happen in the future. I also know all living entities; but no one knows Me.

7.27 O scion of Bhārata [Arjuna], all living entities are born into delusion, overcome by the dualities of attachment and aversion, Parantapa, conqueror of foes.

Here is another important verse. When He says earlier—My devotees achieve Me, attain Me—naturally Arjuna would have had the doubt: are you one more devata (demigod)?

So Kṛṣṇa gives the explanation: ‘Unintelligent men, who are not mature, think I am just this form. Only an intelligent man understands that I am immortal. Even when I assume this form, I am that same consciousness. I have not become an ordinary human being by assuming a human form.’ He declares His divinity openly.

He says, ‘I am unborn, immortal, illimitable, even when I assume this form. Even when I assume this form, I am that same ultimate divine. I am not an ordinary man.’ This is an important statement. This statement is made to declare His enlightenment and to express clearly and explicitly, ‘I am enlightened. I am the embodiment of the ultimate consciousness.’ The problem is that the person who is receiving this is not mature enough to recognize it as such.

He says, ‘All types of people come to Me. I fulfill them at different levels, to encourage their faith and to enrich them to grow. But only intelligent people understand, that even if I assume this body, I am the ultimate, I am enlightened. Unintelligent people think by seeing my body, by seeing my form, that I am not the Divine. So please be very clear: I am THAT.’

We need to understand two important issues here. First, the formless energy of Kṛṣṇa defines His supremacy, His divinity, His Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Second, in whatever form the formless is expressed, it is divine. It is the awareness of that divinity in Him that makes Kṛṣṇa divine, the supreme Master. If that awareness happens in you, you will be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, immersed in Him; and you will be divine too. The intelligence Kṛṣṇa talks about is the intelligent awareness of one’s own divinity, not merely that of Kṛṣṇa. They are both one and the same. It is only when we are aware of our divinity that we appreciate the Divine.

Fear and greed are what drive us, says Kṛṣṇa. That is our delusion that leads us away from Him. Attachment and aversion, rāga and dveṣa, form the duality, the polarity of human life. Even at the fundamental cellular level, biologists have shown that this tendency is exhibited. If you place a single cell in a petridish and place a drop of nutrient, it is attracted to it and moves towards it. If you place a drop of toxin in the same dish, the cell moves away from it. If on either side, you place drops of nutrient and toxin, the cell remains immobile.

7.28 Persons who have acted virtuously, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of reality and unreality, engage themselves in My worship with firm resolve.

7.29 Persons, who are striving for liberation from the cycle of birth, old age and death, take refuge in Me. They are actually Brahman, Consciousness, because they entirely know everything about conscious activities that transcend these.

7.30 Those who know Me as the Supreme Lord, as the governing principle of the material manifestation [adhibhūtam],who know Me as the one essence of all the gods [adhidaivam], and as the one sustaining all enriching sacrifices [adhiyajñam], can, with mind engaged in Me, understand and know Me, even at the time of death.

Kṛṣṇa ends this chapter with the prescription for how to know and understand Him and reach Him.

Even at the time of death, He says, even if all your life you lived a dissolute life, if at the point of departure you realize your folly, the futility of the psychodrama that you have enacted, that is enough to redeem you. The mere recognition of that can save you. His compassion is unlimited.

He promises: Knowing me at the time of death, even at the time of death, will lead you to Me.

Please understand, this is not easy, not so easy as it seems. If you have been ruled by greed, greed for power, wealth, possessions and all such material objects throughout your life, nothing can change suddenly at the time of death. You will be full of the same fantasies that you were obsessed with throughout your life. Your last thoughts will be on those very same things.

We cannot change our nature at the last minute. If we want to die with the thought of the Divine uppermost in our mind, we must cultivate the habit of remembering Him now. We should start knowing and understanding Him today. Then and only then will we know and understand Him at the time of death.

The simple truth is that the present moment of completion is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When we reach this state of being in the present moment, we reach Him and we are complete. So it is not the mere intellectual understanding of what we read in the verses, but the authentic listening, śravaṇa, authentic intranalying, manana and powerfully living and radiating, nididhyāsana of what Kṛṣṇa speaks into our listening, that can complete us.

So, let us pray to the Ultimate Kṛṣṇa to give us the intelligence and awareness to realize the truth about ourselves, to give us this experience of eternal bliss, Nityānanda

May you reach Kṛṣṇa consciousness and realize eternal bliss, Nityānanda!

Thus ends the seventh chapter named Jñānavijñāna Yogaḥ, 'The Yoga Of Knowledge and Conscious Realization of Absolute', of the Bhagavad Gītā Upanisad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṃvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.