Bhagavad Gita · 7.5 · Self-Knowledge and Enlightenment·5 of 30
अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम्।जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत् ॥
apareyam itas tvanyāṁ prakṛitiṁ viddhi me
parām jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat
Sanskrit recitation
The divine inside ordinary nature · 7.1–7.14 · Teaching
Translation
O mighty-armed Arjuna, this is the inferior Prakriti; know it as distinct from My higher Prakriti, the very life-element, by which this world is upheld.
Meaning
The eightfold Nature described in the previous verse is the inferior Nature. It constitutes the Kshetra or the field or matter. It is impure. It generates evil and causes bondage. But the superior Nature is pure. It is My very Self, Kshetrajna (knower of the field or Spirit) by which life is sustained, and that which enters within the whole world and upholds it. It is the very lifeelement or the principle of Selfconsciousness, by which this universe is sustained.
After Swami Sivananda
The divine inside ordinary nature· 7.1–7.14→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 7.1The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, hear how you shall, without doubt, know Me fully, with your mind intent on Me, practicing Yoga and taking refuge in Me."
- 7.2I will declare to you in full this knowledge combined with realization, after knowing which nothing else remains to be known here.
- 7.3Among thousands of men, one may perchance strive for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only one may perchance know Me in essence.
- 7.4Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and egoism—thus is My Nature divided eightfold.
7.5O mighty-armed Arjuna, this is the inferior Prakriti; know it as distinct from My higher Prakriti, the very life-element, by which this world is upheld.
- 7.6Know that these two are the womb of all beings; thus, I am the source and dissolution of the whole universe.
- 7.7There is nothing higher than Me, O Arjuna. All this is strung on Me, like clusters of gems on a string.
- 7.8I am the flavor in water, O Arjuna; I am the light in the moon and the sun; I am the syllable Om in all the Vedas, sound in the ether and virility in men.
- 7.9I am the sweet fragrance in the earth and the brilliance in the fire, the life in all beings, and I am the austerity of ascetics.
- 7.10Know Me, O Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the intelligence of the intelligent, and the splendour of the splendid objects.
- 7.11Of the strong, I am the strength devoid of desire and attachment, and in all beings, I am the desire in accordance with Dharma, O Arjuna.
- 7.12Whatever beings (and objects) that are pure, active, and inert, know that they proceed from Me. They are in Me, yet I am not in them.
- 7.13Deluded by these Natures, composed of the three qualities of Nature, all this world does not know Me as distinct from them and immutable.
- 7.14Verily, this divine illusion of Mine, composed of the three qualities, is difficult to cross over; those who take refuge in Me alone, can cross over this illusion.
Word-by-word→
- aparā
- inferior
- iyam
- this
- itaḥ
- besides this
- tu
- but
- anyām
- another
- prakṛitim
- energy
- viddhi
- know
- me
- my
- parām
- superior
- jīva-bhūtām
- living beings
- mahā-bāho
- mighty-armed one
- yayā
- by whom
- idam
- this
- dhāryate
- the basis
- jagat
- the material world
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