54. And having become Brahman and at peace within himself, he does not grieve, he does not desire. The same toward all beings, he attains supreme devotion to me.
55. Through devotion he comes to recognize me, how vast I am and who I truly am. Then, since he knows me as I truly am, he immediately enters into me.
56. Nevertheless, even as he resorts to me, he continues to perform all the actions that he is obliged to do. By my grace5 he reaches this eternal imperishable place.
57. In your mind keep me as your focus, and surrender all of your actions to me. Rely on the yoga of insight. Keep your thoughts always fixed on me.
58. With your thoughts on me, you will be able, by my grace, to overcome all difficulty. But if, in your egotism, you will not listen, then you will perish.
59. If egotism leads you to think “I will not fight,” your resolve will be useless. Nature itself, prakti, will compel you in any case.
60. Arjuna, you are bound by your own action, which arises from your very nature. You will do unwillingly the very thing that you wish not to do. This is delusion!
61. The lord is present in all beings. Arjuna, he dwells in the territory of the heart. With his magical power, his māyā, he makes all things revolve like the paddles of a watermill.
62. Go to him as your refuge, Arjuna, with your whole being! By his grace you will reach that eternal place, that supreme peace!
63. Such is the wisdom that I have taught you, the most secret of secrets! Consider it fully. And then do what you wish.
64. Listen once more to this my final doctrine, the most secret of all secrets! My love for you is firm. Thus I will tell you what is good for you.
65. Direct your mind to me. Direct your devotion to me. Make your sacrifices to me. Give me your homage. Thus you will come to me. I promise this to you truly, for you are dear to me!
66. Surrender all of your caste duties to me. Come to me as your only refuge. I will set you free from all evil. Do not worry!
67. You must not speak of this to anyone who does not practice austerity or devotion, or to anyone who does not want to hear it, or to anyone who would dispute it.
68. But whoever reveals this highest secret doctrine to those who are devoted to me, and who gives me his utmost devotion—without fail, he will come to me.
69. No one does more precious service to me than this one, among all men, nor will there ever be any other man on earth more precious to me!
70. And whoever studies and memorizes our dialogue on sacred duty, Arjuna, I consider him to have worshipped me with a sacrifice that is wisdom.
71. And a man who simply listens with faith and without disputing will also be set free, and will attain to the luminous worlds of the meritorious.
72. Have you listened to this doctrine with your mind fully focused on it alone? Arjuna, has this delusion born of ignorance departed from you?
Arjuna spoke:
73. It has departed, Ka. And by your grace my memory has returned. I am firm now. All my doubts are gone. I will do as you say.
Sajaya spoke:
74. Thus I have heard this astonishing dialogue that makes the hair stand on end, the discourse between Ka and the great soul Arjuna.
75. I have heard this supreme secret doctrine by the grace of Vyāsa, this doctrine of yoga, exactly as it was taught by Ka, the lord of yoga, himself.
76. O king, I remember, I memorize, this astonishing auspicious discourse between Ka and Arjuna. And time after time it thrills me!
77. And I remember, I memorize also, that wonderfully beautiful form that Ka wears. My king, it fills me with wonder. And again and again it thrills me!
78. Wherever Ka, the lord of yoga, is, and wherever Arjuna the archer is, there also will be good fortune, and victory, and prosperity, and steadfast guidance. This I know!
Notes
One
1. The opening narrative of the Bhagavad Gītā is presented from the point of view of the rivals, the cousins, of our epic’s heroes, the Pāavas. The first person quoted in the Bhagavad Gītā is the story’s major villain, Duryodhana, whose very name, “One Difficult to Defeat,” also has clear connotations of “the Cheater,” which in fact he was. The Bhagavad Gītā alludes to cheating gamblers in dice games at 10.36, a clear reference to Duryodhana, who cheats in a dice game with his cousins.
2. In this śloka I have followed the emendation suggested by van Buitenen in Ludo Rocher (ed.), Studies in Indian Literature and Philosophy (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988), which switches the order of the two names Bhīma and Bhīma. The critical edition has them in the opposite order, which makes no sense: Bhīma is a Kaurava opposed to Arjuna and the Pāavas, whereas Bhīma is one of the Pāava brothers! There is some dispute about other words in this stanza, but I think that this emendation is the best solution.
3. The word dharma occurs three times in this śloka: first in the compound kuladharma (traditional laws of the family), then dharma (traditional law), and finally adharma (lawlessness or chaos). Here and in the following stanzas, the “collapse of social order” refers to the mixing of castes.
Two
1. “The embodied one”: this translates the Sanskrit term dehin, discussed briefly in the Introduction. The relation between the body (deha) and the embodied one (dehin, also śarīrin) is the same as that between the body (deha, also śarīra) and the soul or self (ātman). Just as the ātman resides in the body but is ultimately uncontaminated by contact with it, so too the dehin, “the embodied one,” should not be confused with the body itself. The term dehin is basically a synonym for the eternal ātman.
2. Here the Sanskrit word for “embodied one” is śarīrin.
3. Here and in the following stanzas, the words mentioned above for the “embodied one,” that is, the ātman, are conspicuously avoided. Instead we have the probably deliberately vague masculine pronouns “this one,” “him,” “he,” etc.
4. Here finally, after several stanzas, we have explicit reference to “the embodied one”: dehin.
5. That is, the “embodied one,” though none of the Sanskrit words for this notion is used here. Instead we have a string of pronouns.
6. The Sanskrit term here is dehin.
7. The Sanskrit term for “your own caste duties” is svadharma, “one’s own dharma.”
8. That is, a war of dharma.
9. “Insight”: the Sanskrit word here is buddhi, a very important term in the Bhagavad Gītā.
10. “Practice of yoga”: this phrase translates the word dharma, here in the sense “practice.” The word yoga doesn’t occur here but is implied by the previous śloka, where it is explicit.
11. That is, buddhi.
12. “Intense concentration” translates the important yogic term samādhi, here as well as in stanzas 53 and 54.
13. “Remain within the self”: more literally “be possessed of the ātman.”
14. This is a very emphatic rejection of “all of the Vedas” (sarveu vedeu).
15. Here and elsewhere in this translation, the Sanskrit word for the high-caste priest, the Brahmin, is brāhmaa. See note 18 and, in Chapter 4, note 5.
16. The word ātman is used a second time here, perhaps with a double meaning: “himself” and “the self.”
17. In this famous śloka the yogin is portrayed as hard at work on self-control while others sleep, whereas when others are hard at work on their various worldly pursuits, he sleeps.
18. “The sublime peace of Brahman”: in Sanskrit this is brahmanirvāa, that is, the nirvāa of Brahman. This strange expression combines a fundamentally Hindu term for the absolute (brahman) with a fundamentally Buddhist term for ultimate peace (nirvāa). It seems to suggest that Hindu (that is, Brahma) nirvāa is greater than Buddhist nirvāa. If so, it is a cleverly understated rebuke “to whom it may concern”: that is, to Buddhists.
Three
1. In this stanza the yoga of knowledge (jñānayoga) is contrasted with the yoga of action (karmayoga). Much of this chapter is dev
oted to a discussion of action, or karman.
2. Prajāpati is a late Vedic god whose name literally means “the lord of progeny” or “the lord of descendants.” The Sanskrit word prajā and the English word progeny are related to each other etymologically, having the same linguistic origins.
3. Parjanya is the god of rain.
4. The word akara, which occurs here in the middle of the long compound brahmākarasamudbhavam, has two senses: “imperishable” and the sacred syllable OM.
5. In this stanza there is emphatic repetition of the word ātman.
6. “Work”: that is, action (karman).
7. “The three conditions of nature”: prakte guai. Here and in the following ślokas, there is a brief discussion of the guas, “conditions,” and of prakti, “nature.”
8. The Sanskrit word here is manda. It can mean “slow, sluggish, weak, dull, or stupid.”
9. “One’s own duty”: svadharma.
10. “The condition of passion”: that is, the second of the three guas, or rajas (discussed in the Introduction).
Four
1. The Sanskrit word translated here as “power” is māyā, which has connotations of magical or supernatural power.
2. Duty is dharma; chaos is its opposite, adharma.
3. The adverb sarvaśas is ambiguous. Literally, it means “altogether, in all ways, wholly, completely, universally.”
4. R. C. Zaehner, in The Bhagavad Gītā (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), translated this passage differently: “he only does such work as is needed for his body’s maintenance.”
5. Here and in general I have left the very important term brahman untranslated, but in order to give a sense of its significance, I have frequently added an adjective that is not in the Sanskrit text: thus “infinite Brahman.” This is justified by the fact that brahman elsewhere in the Bhagavad Gītā is modified by terms like para and parama, “supreme” (10.12) and sanātana, “eternal” (4.31). The term brahman is a neuter noun representing a cosmic principle, as opposed to the noun brahman/brahmā, which is masculine. Virtually all of the references to brahman in the Bhagavad Gītā are to the neuter noun, the only two exceptions coming in the crucial Chapter 11 (11.15 and 11.37). On this complex set of related words, see notes 15 and 18 to Chapter 2.
6. In this and in the following ślokas the literal offering of oblations into the sacrificial fire is compared with various sorts of symbolic sacrifices. This reflects the Bhagavad Gītā’s interest in converting traditional Vedic sacrifice (which requires the killing of a sacrificial animal) into a symbolic or spiritual “sacrifice” (which requires no killing at all).
7. “Breath control”: prāayāma.
8. “Cosmic breaths”: of Brahman.
9. “The sacrifice of knowledge” probably means a sacrifice that is performed with knowledge and understanding. It may also mean that the pursuit of knowledge and understanding is a form of sacrifice.
Five
1. “Renunciation”: the Sanskrit term here is sanyāsa. This is a key term in the Bhagavad Gītā, as is the related term sanyāsin. A sanyāsin is a person who has renounced his caste duties and social obligations, either withdrawing into a monastic tradition or leading the life of a wandering possessionless mendicant. I have chosen to leave this term untranslated on occasion in order to call attention to its importance among practitioners of yoga. On the other hand, I have translated sanyāsa consistently as “renunciation,” as most translators do. See the useful overview by Patrick Olivelle, “The Renouncer Tradition,” in Gavin Flood, ed., The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003).
2. Here as elsewhere, the term ātman can be translated as “the self” or “himself”or “his self.”
3. The compound brahmayoga is itself part of a long four-word compound, brahmayoga-yukt’ātmā which can be analyzed in a number of ways. Some translators prefer to interpret it as “his self is joined or yoked to Brahman by means of yoga.” Like Franklin Edgerton, I prefer to take the compound brahmayoga as a unit and interpret it to mean a type of yoga that is devoted to Brahman. Note the similar compound in stanzas 24–26 immediately following: brahmanirvāa, “the sublime peace of Brahman.” This compound, which also occurs in the last stanza of Chapter 2, seems to be a clever attempt to assimilate the term nirvāa, a fundamental term in Buddhism, to Brahman, which is a fundamental term of Hinduism.
Six
1. The opening stanza reiterates what was said above at the opening of Chapter 5 (see that chapter’s note 1). In this stanza van Buitenen sees an allusion to “Buddhists and other unorthodox who reject Vedic ritual.” Bhagavad Gītā, p. 165.
2. There is a double meaning here. The word āsana means both “seat” and “yogic posture.”
3. The phrase śānti nirvāaparama is usually understood to mean “the peace that culminates in nirvāa,” as I have translated it here, but I agree with van Buitenen that it may well suggest “the peace that is beyond nirvāa,” in which case it is an expression of anti-Buddhist sentiment.
4. In light of the previous note, it may not be far-fetched to see an allusion to Jainism in the phrase “nor for someone who refuses to eat at all.”
5. “Devotes himself to me”: the Sanskrit verb here is bhajate, from the verbal root bhaj-. It is the same root from which the term bhakti is derived. This stanza thus implicitly asserts that bhakti devotionalism is the highest form of yoga.
Seven
1. What follows is a brief discussion of the three guas.
2. Gua is here translated as “strand” instead of “condition,” in order to reinforce the stanza’s weaving metaphor.
3. To reinforce the emphasis on delusion here, the poet repeats the word moha: samoham, “complete delusion,” and dvandvamoha, “deluded by dualism” (which is repeated in the next stanza).
Eight
1. This chapter initiates a discussion of a set of traditional terms going back to the Upaniads: adhyātma, “that which has to do with the ātman”; adhibhūta, “that which has to do with beings in general”; and adhidaiva (also adhidaivata), “that which has to do with the world of the gods.”
2. In this stanza a fourth term is added to the set: adhiyajña, “that which has to do with sacrifice.” The Gītā uses this technical Vedic vocabulary with great familiarity and ease. A good discussion of these terms appears in Zaehner, The Bhagavad Gītā pp. 259–61.
3. “The individual spirit”: the Sanskrit term is purua.
4. The syllable OM has been sacred to Hindus going all the way back to the earliest Vedas. It has been referred to in the Gītā already at 3.15. Here it initiates the stanza, just as it initiates and closes traditional Vedic recitations. At 9.17, in a long series of “I am…” assertions, Ka identifies himself as this sacred syllable. At 17.23–24 OM is identified once again with infinite Brahman.
5. Ka identifies himself with the eternal unmanifest state. But the pronouns here are masculine, and it would seem that Ka is referring to himself, perhaps by pointing to himself as he speaks these words.
Nine
1. Here and in the following stanzas there is a discussion of “nature,” in Sanskrit prakti.
2. Here as at 8.20, Ka seems to point to himself.
3. Soma is the celebrated Vedic drink of immortality. It was also the name of the plant from which the drink, a juice, was extracted. Soma was also much celebrated as a god. There has been much discussion about the nature of this drink and many attempts to identify the plant, but no general consensus has emerged. For details, see George Thompson, “On the Nāmarūpa of Soma,” Nāmarūpa: Categories of Indian Thought, no. 5 (Fall 2006–Spring 2007).
4. There is wordplay here: yogakema in this instance means “success and peace,” but also implies “yoga and peace.”
Ten
1. Power, or manifestation (Sanskrit vibhūti) is discussed in the Introduction. This is a central term in this chapter, the only one in which it occurs.
2. As noted in the Introduction, the n
ame Śiva never occurs in the Bhagavad Gītā. Instead Śiva is referred to here by a euphemistic epithet: Śakara, the Gentle One.
3. The Sanskrit name for this cow is kāmaduh, mentioned also at 3.10. Note the word kāma, “desire” and often “erotic desire.”
4. This is the only stanza where the name Rāma occurs. It is generally taken to be a reference to Rāma as an avatar of Viu, but it is striking that Rāma is mentioned only as the best “among men bearing arms.” This is not strong evidence that Rāma was considered an avatar of Viu in the Bhagavad Gītā.
5. The Sanskrit word here is dvandva, literally “the pair, the two,” as for example in the English compound “mother-and-father.”
6. Alternatively, one could translate this phrase as “feminine qualities or powers.”
Eleven
1. In order to see Ka as he really is, to see his “majestic [or “royal”] yoga” (yogam aiśvaram), Arjuna first must receive divine eyesight. In the next stanza the Gītā’s “omniscient narrator,” Sajaya, describes what Arjuna sees as Ka’s “supreme majestic form” (parama rūpam aiśvaram).
2. Here Viu is referred to by one of his many epithets: Hari.
3. This is one of the rare instances in the Bhagavad Gītā where Ka is directly addressed as Viu.
4. This passage is high praise from Arjuna: it explicitly subordinates one of the three high gods of later Hinduism, Brahmā, to Ka. On this name see note 5 to Chapter 4.
5. On the iconography of Ka’s four arms, which represent his four attributes (lotus, conch, discus, and mace), see Danielou, Hindu Polytheism.
Thirteen
1. “It has no qualities…”: the term used here is nirgua, “without guas.” The term gua is central in this chapter.
2. “Material nature” is prakti; “the spirit in man” is purua.
Fourteen
1. This chapter is largely devoted to an explanation of the three guas: sattva (clarity), rajas (passion), and tamas (darkness). This last term, literally “darkness,” strongly suggests “inertia” not only in the sphere of natural physics, but also in human psychology: sloth, sluggishness.
The Bhagavad Gita Page 11
