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KRISHNA:
NOW will I open unto thee—whose heart | |
| Rejects not—that last lore, deepest-concealed, | |
| That farthest secret of My Heavens and Earths, | |
| Which but to know shall set thee free from ills,— | |
| A Royal lore! a Kingly mystery! | 5 |
| Yea! for the soul such light as purgeth it | |
| From every sin; a light of holiness | |
| With inmost splendor shining; plain to see; | |
| Easy to walk by, inexhaustible! | |
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| They that receive not this, failing in faith | 10 |
| To grasp the greater wisdom, reach not Me, | |
| Destroyer of thy foes! They sink anew | |
| Into the realm of Flesh, where all things change! | |
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| By Me the whole vast Universe of things | |
| Is spread abroad;—by Me, the Unmanifest! | 15 |
| In Me are all existences contained; | |
| Not I in them! | |
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| Yet they are not contained, | |
| Those visible things! Receive and strive to embrace | |
| The mystery majestical! My Being— | 20 |
| Creating all, sustaining all—still dwells | |
| Outside of all! | |
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| See! as the shoreless airs | |
| Move in the measureless space, but are not space, | |
| [And space were space without the moving airs]; | 25 |
| So all things are in Me, but are not I. | |
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| At closing of each Kalpa, Indian Prince! | |
| All things which be back to My Being come: | |
| At the beginning of each Kalpa, all | |
| Issue newborn from Me. | 30 |
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| By Energy | |
| And help of Prakritî, my outer Self, | |
| Again, and yet again, I make go forth | |
| The realms of visible things—without their will— | |
| All of them—by the power of Prakritî. | 35 |
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| Yet these great makings, Prince! involve Me not, | |
| Enchain Me not! I sit apart from them, | |
| Other, and Higher, and Free; nowise attached! | |
| |
| Thus doth the stuff of worlds, moulded by Me, | |
| Bring forth all that which is, moving or still, | 40 |
| Living or lifeless! Thus the worlds go on! | |
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| The minds untaught mistake Me, veiled in form;— | |
| Naught see they of My secret Presence, nought | |
| Of My hid Nature, ruling all which lives. | |
| Vain hopes pursuing, vain deeds doing; fed | 45 |
| On vainest knowledge, senselessly they seek | |
| An evil way, the way of brutes and fiends. | |
| But My Mahatmas, those of noble soul | |
| Who tread the path celestial, worship Me | |
| With hearts unwandering,—knowing Me the Source, | 50 |
| Th’ Eternal Source, of Life. Unendingly | |
| They glorify Me; seek Me; keep their vows | |
| Of reverence and love, with changeless faith | |
| Adoring Me. Yea, and those too adore, | |
| Who, offering sacrifice of wakened hearts, | 55 |
| Have sense of one pervading Spirit’s stress, | |
| One Force in every place, though manifold! | |
| I am the Sacrifice! I am the Prayer! | |
| I am the Funeral-Cake set for the dead! | |
| I am the healing herb! I am the ghee, | 60 |
| The Mantra, and the flame, and that which burns! | |
| I am—of all this boundless Universe— | |
| The Father, Mother, Ancestor, and Guard! | |
| The end of Learning! That which purifies | |
| In lustral water! I am OM! I am | 65 |
| Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Ved; | |
| The Way, the Fosterer, the Lord, the Judge, | |
| The Witness; the Abode, the Refuge-House, | |
| The Friend, the Fountain and the Sea of Life | |
| Which sends, and swallows up; Treasure of Worlds | 70 |
| And Treasure-Chamber! Seed and Seed-Sower, | |
| Whence endless harvests spring! Sun’s heat is mine; | |
| Heaven’s rain is mine to grant or to withhold; | |
| Death am I, and Immortal Life I am, | |
| Arjuna! SAT and ASAT, Visible Life, | 75 |
| And Life Invisible! | |
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| Yea! those who learn | |
| The threefold Veds, who drink the Soma-wine, | |
| Purge sins, pay sacrifice—from Me they earn | |
| Passage to Swarga; where the meats divine | 80 |
| |
| Of great gods feed them in high Indra’s heaven. | |
| Yet they, when that prodigious joy is o’er, | |
| Paradise spent, and wage for merits given, | |
| Come to the world of death and change once more. | |
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| They had their recompense! they stored their treasure, | 85 |
| Following the threefold Scripture and its writ; | |
| Who seeketh such gaineth the fleeting pleasure | |
| Of joy which comes and goes! I grant them it! | |
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| But to those blessèd ones who worship Me, | |
| Turning not otherwhere, with minds set fast, | 90 |
| I bring assurance of full bliss beyond. | |
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| Nay, and of hearts which follow other gods | |
| In simple faith, their prayers arise to me, | |
| O Kunti’s Son! though they pray wrongfully: | |
| For I am the Receiver and the Lord | 95 |
| Of every sacrifice, which these know not | |
| Rightfully; so they fall to earth again! | |
| Who follow gods go to their gods; who vow | |
| Their souls to Pitris go to Pitris; minds | |
| To evil Bhûts given o’er sink to the Bhûts; | 100 |
| And whoso loveth Me cometh to Me. | |
| Whoso shall offer Me in faith and love | |
| A leaf, a flower, a fruit, water poured forth, | |
| That offering I accept, lovingly made | |
| With pious will. Whate’er thou doest, Prince! | 105 |
| Eating or sacrificing, giving gifts, | |
| Praying or fasting, let it all be done | |
| For Me, as Mine. So shalt thou free thyself | |
| From Karmabandh, the chain which holdeth men | |
| To good and evil issue, so shalt come | 110 |
| Safe unto Me—when thou art quit of flesh— | |
| By faith and abdication joined to Me! | |
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| I am alike for all! I know not hate, | |
| I know not favor! What is made is Mine! | |
| But them that worship Me with love, I love; | 115 |
| They are in Me, and I in them! | |
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| Nay, Prince! | |
| If one of evil life turn in his thought | |
| Straightly to Me, count him amidst the good; | |
| He hath the highway chosen; he shall grow | 120 |
| Righteous ere long; he shall attain that peace | |
| Which changes not. Thou Prince of India! | |
| Be certain none can perish, trusting Me! | |
| O Prithâ’s Son! whoso will turn to Me, | |
| Though they be born from the very womb of Sin, | 125 |
| Woman or man; sprung of the Vaisya caste | |
| Or lowly disregarded Sudra,—all | |
| Plant foot upon the highest path; how then | |
| The holy Brahmans and My Royal Saints? | |
| Ah! ye who into this ill world are come— | 130 |
| Fleeting and false—set your faith fast on Me! | |
| Fix heart and thought on Me! Adore Me! Bring | |
| Offerings to Me! Make Me prostrations! Make | |
| Me your supremest joy! and, undivided, | |
| Unto My rest your spirits shall be guided. | 135 |
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Here ends Chapter IX. of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, entitled | |
“Rajavidyârajaguhyayôg,” or “The Book of | |
Religion by the Kingly Knowledge and | |
the Kingly Mystery” | |
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