Jnana Vijnana Yoga: Shlokas 6 to 11
If you have not already done so, I would request you to review the Chapter 6, Dhyana Yoga before studying chapter 7 as that would help set the right context.
You can find the explanation of the previous set of shlokas, 1 to 5 of chapter 7 here. Please go through that to get a better understand and maintain continuity in your learning.
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Verses 7.6 to 7.11
एतद्योनीनि भूतानि सर्वाणीत्युपधारय |
अहं कृत्स्नस्य जगत: प्रभव: प्रलयस्तथा || 6||
etad-yonīni bhūtāni sarvāṇītyupadhāraya
ahaṁ kṛitsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā
एतद् (Etad) – This; योनीनि (Yonini) – sources of birth; भूतानि (Bhutani) – of all living entities; सर्वाणी (Sarvani) – all; इति (Iti) – thus; उपधारय (Upadharaya) – understand; अहं (Aham) – I; कृत्स्नस्य (Kritsnasya) – of the entire; जगतः (Jagatah) – universe; प्रभवः (Prabhavah) – source of creation; प्रलयः (Pralayah) – and dissolution; तथा (Tatha) – also;
Know that all living beings are manifested by these two energies of Mine. I am the origin and dissolution of the whole universe.
मत्त: परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय |
मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव || 7||
mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñchid asti dhanañjaya
mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
मत्तः (Mattah) – beyond Me; परतरं (Parataram) – superior; न (Na) – not; अन्यत् (Anyat) – anything else; किञ्चित् (Kincit) – anything; अस्ति (Asti) – is; धनञ्जय (Dhananjaya) – O conqueror of wealth (Arjuna); मयि (Mayi) – in Me; सर्वम् (Sarvam) – everything; इदं (Idam) – this; प्रोतं (Protam) – is strung; सूत्रे (Sutre) – on a thread; मणिगणा (Manigana) – beads; इव (Iva) – like;
There is nothing higher than Me, O Arjuna. Everything in the universe is strung on Me, like pearls on a string.
रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययो: |
प्रणव: सर्ववेदेषु शब्द: खे पौरुषं नृषु || 8||
raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śhaśhi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣhu śhabdaḥ khe pauruṣhaṁ nṛiṣhu
रसः (Rasah) – taste; अहम् (Aham) – I am; अप्सु (Apsu) – in water; कौन्तेय (Kaunteya) – son of Kunti (Arjuna); प्रभा (Prabha) – radiance; अस्मि (Asmi) – I am; शशि (Shashi) – in the moon; सूर्ययोः (Suryayoh) – and the sun; प्रणवः (Pranavah) – the syllable Om; सर्व (Sarva) – in all; वेदेषु (Vedesu) – Vedas; शब्दः (Shabdah) – sound; खे (Khe) – in the ether; पौरुषं (Paurusham) – ability; नृषु (Nrishu) – in men;
O son of Kunti, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable Om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.
पुण्यो गन्ध: पृथिव्यां च तेजश्चास्मि विभावसौ |
जीवनं सर्वभूतेषु तपश्चास्मि तपस्विषु || 9||
puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛithivyāṁ cha tejaśh chāsmi vibhāvasau
jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣhu tapaśh chāsmi tapasviṣhu
पुण्यः (Punyah) – fragrance; गन्धः (Gandhah) – aroma; पृथिव्यां (Prithivyam) – in the earth; च (Cha) – and; तेजः (Tejah) – brilliance; च (Cha) – and; अस्मि (Asmi) – I am; विभावसौ (Vibhavasau) – in fire; जीवनं (Jivanam) – life; सर्व (Sarva) – of all; भूतेषु (Bhuteshu) – living entities; तपः (Tapah) – penance; च (Cha) – and; अस्मि (Asmi) – I am; तपस्विषु (Tapasvishu) – in ascetics;
I am the sweet fragrance in the earth, the brilliance in fire, the life in all beings, and I am the austerity of ascetics.
बीजं मां सर्वभूतानां विद्धि पार्थ सनातनम् |
बुद्धिर्बुद्धिमतामस्मि तेजस्तेजस्विनामहम् || 10||
bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam
buddhir buddhimatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham
बीजं (Bijam) – seed; मां (Mam) – Me; सर्व (Sarva) – of all; भूतानां (Bhutanam) – living entities; विद्धि (Viddhi) – know; पार्थ (Partha) – son of Pritha (Arjuna); सनातनम् (Sanatanam) – eternal; बुद्धिः (Buddhih) – intelligence; बुद्धिमताम् (Buddhimatam) – of the intelligent; अस्मि (Asmi) – I am; तेजः (Tejah) – prowess; तेजस्विनाम् (Tejasvinam) – of the powerful; अहम् (Aham) – I am;
O son of Pritha, know that I am the eternal seed of all beings. I am the intelligence of the intelligent, the prowess of those who are powerful.
बलं बलवतां चाहं कामरागविवर्जितम् |
धर्माविरुद्धो भूतेषु कामोऽस्मि भरतर्षभ || 11||
balaṁ balavatāṁ chāhaṁ kāma-rāga-vivarjitam
dharmāviruddho bhūteṣhu kāmo ’smi bharatarṣhabha
बलं (Balam) – strength; बलवताम् (Balavatam) – of the strong; च (Cha) – and; अहं (Aham) – I am; काम (Kama) – desire; राग (Raga) – passion; विवर्जितम् (Vivarjitam) – devoid of; धर्म (Dharma) – religion; अविरुद्धः (Aviruddhah) – not against; भूतेषु (Bhuteshu) – among living entities; कामः (Kamah) – desire; अस्मि (Asmi) – I am; भरतर्षभ (Bharatarsabha) – best of the Bharatas (Arjuna);
I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am desire which is not contrary to religious duty, O best of the Bharatas.
Cit and Acit
All living entities are manifested using God’s two energies, soul energy, and Maya, the material energy or matter. Matter by itself is lifeless and needs a soul to come alive and the soul needs a body to experience material energy. Thus, both come together to form a living being. Krishna calls these cit (consciousness) and acit (matter). Krishna says that In the universe, you cannot find anything which is outside of these two.
This is Sankarācārya’s commentary upon this verse. God in Vedanta is that Reality which is the cause of this universe through its double nature, aparā and parā. These two aspects of the Divine constitute the cause of the universe. That is why, in the Upaniṣads, they often mention creation as, ‘the Lord projected this world and entered into it and remained there, like a spider that creates its web out of itself and lives in that web.’
Please pay attention to the example used of a spider. A key point to be noted is that a spider creates the web but never gets stuck in its own web. Just like that, God has created maya but never gets impacted by it.
The concept of Higher and lower nature, intertwined with each other, is responsible for the diverse manifestations we see in the world. Think of it like this: without matter, the hidden energy in the Spirit wouldn’t have a place to show itself. And matter, being lifeless on its own, needs the Spirit to bring it to life. It’s like electricity and a light bulb. Electricity needs the bulb to shine as light, and the bulb needs electricity to light up. The bulb is the tool through which electricity becomes light. In the same way, the Spirit, working through the five layers of matter, finds a way to express its power.
The womb of all beings
Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita says, “These two are the womb of all beings.” This means that everything in the world, including our thoughts, feelings, and physical objects, comes from and exists in the Spirit. They also dissolve back into it, becoming the Higher Nature again. Essentially, the lower nature is just a different form of the Higher. When the Higher forgets its true divine nature and identifies with the lower, it experiences the pains and flaws of the lower.
The concept of the unity of the individual soul (Atman) with the universal soul (Brahman), and the analogy of clay and pots, is beautifully illustrated in the Chandogya Upanishad.
यथा सोम्यैकेन मृत्पिण्डेन सर्वं मृन्मयं विज्ञातं
स्याद्वाचारम्भणं विकारो नामधेयं मृत्तिकेत्येव सत्यम् ॥ ६.१.४ ॥
yathā somyaikena mṛtpiṇḍena sarvaṃ mṛnmayaṃ vijñātaṃ
syādvācārambhaṇaṃ vikāro nāmadheyaṃ mṛttiketyeva satyam || 6.1.4 ||
Just as, by knowing one lump of clay, all things made of clay are known. The difference is only in name and form, while the substance of everything is the truth, the clay.
This concept reminds me of how we often view life from different angles. Think of it like this: on one hand, we have our everyday, down-to-earth experiences – that’s like our ‘lower nature’. On the other hand, there’s a more profound, spiritual side to things – let’s call it our ‘Higher nature’.
Imagine mud – just plain, simple mud. When it’s untouched, it’s just mud, right? But when you shape it, it can become pots of all shapes and colors. That’s a bit like how the raw, pure essence of life – or ‘Pure Consciousness’, as some might call it – is the base of everything, even though it doesn’t actually contain any of the things we see or feel or think about.
The ocean is another great metaphor. The waves are part and parcel of the ocean. They’re not separate; they rise from the ocean, exist for a while, and then melt back into it. Just like the waves, everything around us, including our experiences and thoughts, always stays true to its most basic, essential nature. They all arise from that essential nature and they merge back into that essential nature eventually. It’s a fascinating way to look at life, isn’t it?
The nature of the self
Shri Krishna confirms that He exists in all things and that there is nothing higher than Him, that ultimate reality, the infinite pure consciousness, which is also called Brahman. Krishna says that the whole universe is strung in Me like pearls in a string.
The string runs through all the pearls to make a garland however we cannot see the string, we only see the pearls. There is that common thread that unites us all.
The immortal Atman, or the soul, is like a constant light that gives life and energy to the mind, intellect, and ego. According to Vedanta, these are actually refined forms of matter that can reflect the Atman’s light. Modern neurology is starting to see the mind as separate from the brain, which is a step towards recognizing the Atman as the true source of intelligence. This Atman is not just within us, but it’s also the core of intelligence in the entire universe.
In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (4.3), we find this beautiful verse, when the sage discovered this truth within, and, when he looked around, he found that infinite Reality is also there in every being, and declared:
Tvam strī tvam pumān
asi tvam kumāra uta vā kumārī;
Tvam jīrṇo daṇḍena vañcasi
tvam jāto bhavasi viśvato mukhaḥ
Tvam strī, ‘you are the woman’; tvam pumān asi, ‘you are the man’; tvam kumāra, ‘you are the boy’; uta vā kumārī, ‘as well as a kumārī, a girl’; tvam jīrṇo daṇḍena vañcasi, ‘you are also the old man tottering on a stick’; tvam jāto bhavasi viśvatomukhaḥ, ‘you are manifest in this universe in millions of forms’. It is all You that we find in all of them;
That is the state of self realization.
Nirvana Shatakam
Adi Śaṅkarācārya sang in his Nirvāṇa Shatakam:
मनो बुद्ध्यहंकार चित्तानि नाहम्
न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे
न च व्योम भूमिर् न तेजो न वायुः
चिदानन्द रूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम्।
Mano buddhyahankara chittani naham
Na cha shrotrajihve na cha ghrananetre
Na cha vyoma bhumir na tejo na vayuh
Chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
I am not the mind, the intellect, the ego, or the memory, I am not the ears, the skin, the nose, or the eyes,
I am not space, not earth, not fire, water, or wind, I am the form of consciousness and bliss,
I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
“Nirvana Shatakam” or “Atma Shatakam” is a Sanskrit composition consisting of six verses (shatakam means ‘six’ in Sanskrit), written by the great sage Adi Shankaracharya. It is a profound work that encapsulates the philosophy of non-dualism or Advaita Vedanta.
The term “Nirvana” in this context refers to liberation or moksha, which is the realization that the self is not separate from the absolute reality (Brahman).
Each verse of Nirvana Shatakam negates all identities associated with the individual – like physical attributes, family ties, caste, creed, profession, or personal history – and concludes with the affirmation “Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham,” which means “I am the form of consciousness and bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.”
The Nirvana Shatakam is often chanted or sung in spiritual gatherings and is considered a central text in the study and practice of Advaita Vedanta. It’s revered for its simplicity yet profound depth in conveying the essence of non-dualistic philosophy – the realization that the individual self is not separate from the universal self.
There was once an ardent devotee of Shiva, living in the Himalayas. He spent hours everyday meditating on Shiva and was getting disappointed that Shiva is not appearing in his vision. One night he sees Shiva in his dream and asks him “Deva why don’t you show yourself to me?”. Shiva replies “Ok, you will see me tomorrow. Just look for a headless man”. The next day, this devotee is all excited and he keeps looking everywhere for a headless man but every man he comes across happens to have a head. Then around evening, when the day was about to end, he glances upon himself and suddenly realizes that he can see his body but not his own head. Then he understands that he was the headless man that Shiva was talking about. And then he completely understands the meaning of his own meditative chants where he keeps saying “Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham”.
Be in the world and realize the self
There is another very profound lesson contained here. Let us take another example of gold ornaments. We know that although we see bangles and necklaces and rings, the core essence behind all of them is the gold that they are made from. However, what would you say if someone threw away all the ornaments saying “these are not the reality, the reality is gold and I am now going to go in search of that gold”.
The gold was in the ornaments, right? We cannot perceive the gold if we discard all the gold ornaments. Just like that, although we must acknowledge and understand that all the material manifestations are just illusions which have the supreme personality as the core essence, we should not try to run away from the world in search of this core essence. This is one of the key messages conveyed by Shri Krishna to Arjuna. Stay in the world. Acknowledge and understand what is real and not real but do not try to run away from the world. You can stay in the world and still realize the Supreme Paramatma.
The essence of Krishna in everything
Krishna has given us an idea of the various things that He is. Krishna has created Maya and he exists in everything that is manifested through maya. However, in the next verse, Shri Krishna will explain that He is above maya and not impacted by it.
He has also explained how he is everything and in everything. This should help strengthen our faith and devotion. From chapter 2 through chapter 6, we learned the importance of using our intellect to perform nishkama karma yoga and the importance of developing detachment in order to succeed in it. Krishna now says that we can achieve both just by devotion.
Superiority of activities performed in Bhakti
Activities performed in the mode of bhakti are pure and not contaminated. An ignorant person may see that a devotee is acting or working like an ordinary human, but such a person does not understand that the activities of the devotee or of the Lord are pure and not contaminated by impure consciousness or matter. They are transcendental to the three modes of nature.
Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu describes this as follows:
īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvanmuktaḥ sa ucyate
A person acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness with his body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although they may be engaged in many so-called material activities. They have no false ego. They know that they are not this body and that this body does not belong to them. They belong to Kṛṣṇa, and the body too belongs to Kṛṣṇa. They are one with Kṛṣṇa and devoid of the false ego that leads one to believe that they are the body, etc. This is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The devotees of the Supreme Lord, or the persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, are called sanths, and they are always in love with the Lord.
The sanths, eternally united in love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda (the giver of all pleasures), or Mukunda (the giver of liberation), or Kṛṣṇa (the all-attractive person), cannot accept anything without first offering it to the Supreme Person. Therefore, such devotees always perform yajñas in different modes of devotional service, such as śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam, arcanam, etc., and these performances of yajñas keep them always aloof from all kinds of contamination of sinful association in the material world.
In the Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.7 it is said “By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.”
That is the beauty and power of Bhakti yoga. It helps us purify ourselves and achieve perfection quickly as compared with just karma yoga or just jnana yoga.
Hare Krishna.
kṛṣṇadaasa
Servant of Krishna
Aka +Vinayak Raghuvamshi