Knowing and realizing

With mind attached to Me, Pārtha, practicing yoga and taking refuge in Me—hear now how you will know Me completely, without doubt.

I will tell you this knowledge (jñāna) in full, together with its realization (vijñāna), knowing which nothing further remains to be known here.

Among thousands of men, perhaps one strives for perfection; and among those striving and perfected, perhaps one knows Me in truth.

Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, buddhi, and ego-sense—this is My prakṛti divided eightfold.

This is the lower prakṛti. But know there is another, higher prakṛti of Mine, distinct from this—the life-principle, mighty-armed one, by which this world is sustained.

Know that all beings have their source in these two. I am the origin of the entire universe, and its dissolution as well.

There is nothing higher than Me, Dhanañjaya. All this is strung on Me like rows of jewels on a thread.

I am the taste in water, son of Kuntī; I am the light in the moon and sun; I am the syllable Om in all the Vedas, the sound in space, and manhood in men.

I am the pure fragrance in earth and the brilliance in fire; I am the life in all beings, and the austerity (tapas) in ascetics.

Know Me, Pārtha, as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the buddhi of the intelligent, and the splendor of the splendid.

I am the strength of the strong, free of desire and attachment. And I am desire in beings, bull among the Bhāratas, when it is not opposed to dharma.

And whatever states of being belong to sattva, and those of rajas and tamas—know that they come from Me alone. Yet I am not in them; they are in Me.

Deluded by these three states made of the guṇas, this whole world fails to recognize Me, who stand beyond them and do not change.

This divine māyā of Mine, made of the guṇas, is indeed difficult to cross. Only those who take refuge in Me alone cross beyond this māyā.

They do not take refuge in Me—the evildoers, the deluded, the lowest of men, whose knowledge has been stolen by māyā, who cling to the nature of the asuras.

Four kinds of virtuous people worship Me, Arjuna: the distressed, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of gain, and the wise one, bull among the Bhāratas.

Among these, the wise one, ever disciplined, devoted to the One alone, stands out—for I am supremely dear to the wise, and he is dear to Me.

All of these are noble, but the wise one I consider to be My very self. For he, disciplined in mind, is fixed on Me alone as the highest goal.

At the end of many births, the one who possesses knowledge takes refuge in Me, realizing that Vāsudeva is all there is. Such a great soul is very hard to find.

Others, their knowledge carried away by this or that desire, resort to other gods, following this or that observance, driven by their own nature.

Whatever form any devotee seeks to worship with faith (śraddhā), it is I who make that faith of his unwavering.

Endowed with that faith, he seeks to propitiate that form, and from it obtains his desires—which are in truth granted by Me alone.

But the fruit gained by these men of little understanding is finite. Those who worship the gods go to the gods; those devoted to Me come to Me.

The unwise think of Me, the unmanifest, as having entered manifestation, not knowing My higher state—unchanging and supreme.

Veiled by the yoga-māyā born of My own power, I am not revealed to all. This deluded world does not recognize Me, the unborn, the unchanging.

I know, Arjuna, all beings of the past, the present, and the future—but Me no one knows.

By the delusion of the pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion, descendant of Bharata, all beings fall into confusion at birth, scorcher of foes.

But those people of virtuous deeds, whose sin has come to an end, freed from the delusion of the opposites, worship Me with firm resolve.

Those who strive for liberation from old age and death, taking refuge in Me, they know that Brahman completely, the whole of adhyātma, and karma in its entirety.

Those who know Me together with the adhibhūta, the adhidaiva, and the adhiyajña—they, with disciplined minds, know Me even at the time of death.