[(Bhagavad Gita Chapter VII)]

"The Holy One said, 'Listen, O son of Pritha, how, without doubt, thou
mayst know me fully, fixing thy mind on me, practising devotion, and
taking refuge in me. I will now, without leaving anything speak to thee
about knowledge and experience, knowing which there would be left nothing
in this world (for thee) to know. One among thousands of men striveth for
perfection. Of those even that are assiduous and have attained to
perfection, only some one knoweth me truly.Only some one, i.e., very few. Few perfection, i.e., for knowledge of self. Thus all the commentators. Earth, water, fire, air,
space, mind, also understanding, and consciousness,—thus hath my nature
been divided eight-fold. This is a lower (form of my) nature. Different
from this, know there is a higher (form of my) nature which is animate, O
thou of mighty arms, and by which this universe is held.The last word of the first line of this sloka is param (higher) and not aparam with the initial a silent owing to the rules of Sandhi. Many of the Bengal texts have aparam, not excepting the latest one printed at Calcutta. Know that
all creatures have these for their source. I am the source of evolution
and also of the dissolution of the entire universe. There is nothing
else, O Dhananjaya, that is higher than myself. Upon me is all this like
a row of pearls on a string. Taste I am in the waters, O soil of Kunti,
(and) I am the splendour of both the moon and the sun, I am the Om in all
the Vedas, the sound in space, and the manliness in men. I am the
fragrant odour in earth, the splendour in fire, the life in all (living)
creatures, and penance in ascetics. Know me, O son of Pritha, to be the
eternal seed of all beings. I am the intelligence of all creatures endued
with intelligence, the glory of all glorious objects. I am also the
strength of all that are endued with strength, (myself) freed from desire
and thirst, and, O bull of Bharata's race, am the desire, consistent with
duty, in all creatures.Kama which I have rendered desire is explained by Sreedhara as the wish for an unattained object; and raga as the longing or thirst for more. The second Kama is explained as desires of the class of love or lust. And all existences which are of the quality
of goodness, and which are of the quality of passion and quality of
darkness, know that they are, indeed, from me. I am, however, not in
them, but they are in me. This entire universe, deluded by these three
entities consisting of (these) three qualities knoweth not me that am
beyond them and undecaying; since this illusion of mine, depending on the
(three) qualities, is exceedingly marvellous and highly difficult of
being transcended. They that resort to me alone cross this illusion.Daivi is explained by Sankara as divine; by Sreedhara as marvellous.
Doers of evil, ignorant men, the worst of their species, robbed of their
knowledge by (my) illusion and wedded to the state of demons, do not
resort to me. Four classes of doers of good deeds worship me, O Arjuna,
viz., he that is distressed, that is possessed of knowledge, being always
devoted and having his faith in only One, is superior to the rest, for
unto the man of knowledge I am dear above everything, and he also is dear
to me. All these are noble. But the man of knowledge is regarded (by me)
to be my very self, since he, with soul fixed on abstraction, taketh
refuge in me as the highest goal. At the end of many births, the man
possessed of knowledge attaineth to me, (thinking) that Vasudeva is all
this. Such a high-souled person, however, is exceedingly rare. They who
have been robbed of knowledge by desire, resort to their godheads,
observant of diverse regulations and controlled by their own nature.The divine desires are about sons, fame, victory over enemies, etc., regulations, such as fasts etc.; their own nature, i.e., disposition as dependent on the acts of their past lives. Thus all the commentators.
Whatever form, (of godhead or myself) any worshipper desireth to worship
with faith, that faith of his unto that (form) I render steady. Endued
with that faith, he payeth his adorations to that (form), and obtaineth
from that all his desire, since all those are ordained by me.The worshipper obtains his desires, thinking he gets them from the godhead he worships. It is however, that gives him those. The
fruits, however, of those persons endued with little intelligence are
perishable. They that worship the divinities, go to the divinities,
(while) they that worship me come even to me.The divinities being perishable, myself imperishable. What these obtain is perishable. What my worshippers obtain is imperishable. They that have no
discernment, regard me who am (really) unmanifest to have become
manifest, because they do not know the transcendent and undecaying state
of mine than which there is nothing higher.The ignorant, without knowledge of my transcendent essence take me to be no higher than that what is indicated in my human and other incarnate manifestations. Thus Sreedhara. Shrouded by the illusion
of my inconceivable power, I am not manifest to all. This deluded world
knoweth not me that I am unborn and undecaying. I know, O Arjuna, all
things that have been past, and all things that are present, and all
things that are to be. But there is nobody that knoweth me. All
creatures, O chastiser of foes, are deluded at the time of their birth by
the delusion, O Bharata, of pairs of opposites arising from desire and
aversion. But those persons of meritorious deeds whose sins have attained
their end, being freed from the delusion of pairs of opposites, worship
me, firm in their vow (of that worship). Those who, taking refuge in me,
strive for release from decay and death, know Brahman, the entire
Adhyatma, and action.Adhyatman is explained as all that by which Brahman is to be attained. All actions mean the whole course of duties and practices leading to the knowledge of Brahman. And they who know me with the Adhibhuta, the
Adhidaiva, and the Adhiyajna, having minds fixed on abstraction, know me
at the time of their departure (from this world).The three words occurring in this sloka and explained in the next section, forming as they do the subject of a question by Arjuna.