Jñāna Vijñāna Yog
The Yoga of Knowledge and Wisdom
Chapter Theme
Chapter 7 explains the difference between knowing about God and truly realizing God. Krishna teaches that true spiritual wisdom is not only intellectual but an inner experience of the Divine.
He describes the Supreme as both the visible world and the hidden reality behind it. Everything comes from him, and he supports and dissolves the universe while remaining beyond it.
Krishna points out that most people are attached to temporary things and do not see the Divine. Only a few recognize the source behind forms and events.
The way to real knowledge is through steady devotion, discrimination, and surrender. Even a little sincere faith opens the heart to the Divine, and that living knowledge leads to freedom.
Key Teachings
- The Supreme is the source of everything, both manifest (visible) and unmanifest (hidden).
- Intellectual knowledge (jnana) must be joined with lived realization (vijnana) to free the seeker.
- Most people chase temporary goals; few seek the true source with devotion and clarity.
- Sincere devotion and surrender, even if small, attract the Divine and lead to deeper knowledge.
Life Application
- Practice simple daily moments of devotion or prayer to shift from outer seeking to inner presence.
- Study and reflect, but focus on applying insights: see the Divine in people and events rather than only thinking about it.
- Choose humble service and selfless action as ways to turn knowledge into lived realization.
Reflection Question
Where in my daily life can I look for and acknowledge the deeper source behind events and people?
Verses in this Chapter
The 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."
I will declare to you in full this knowledge combined with realization, after knowing which nothing else remains to be known here.
Among thousands of men, one may perchance strive for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only one may perchance know Me in essence.
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and egoism—thus is My Nature divided eightfold.
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.
Know that these two are the womb of all beings; thus, I am the source and dissolution of the whole universe.
There is nothing higher than Me, O Arjuna. All this is strung on Me, like clusters of gems on a string.
I 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.
I 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.
Know Me, O Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the intelligence of the intelligent, and the splendour of the splendid objects.
Of 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.
Whatever 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.
Deluded by these Natures, composed of the three qualities of Nature, all this world does not know Me as distinct from them and immutable.
Verily, 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.
The evil-doers and the deluded, who are the lowest of men, do not seek Me; those whose knowledge is destroyed by illusion follow the ways of demons.
Four kinds of virtuous men worship Me, O Arjuna, and they are the distressed, the seekers of knowledge, the seekers of wealth, and the wise, O Lord of the Bharatas.
Of them, the wise who are ever steadfast and devoted to the One, excel; for I am exceedingly dear to the wise, and they are dear to Me.
Indeed, all these are noble; however, I consider the wise man as My very Self; for, he is steadfast in mind and established in Me alone as the supreme goal.
At the end of many births, the wise man comes to Me, realizing that all this is Vaasudeva (the innermost Self); such a great soul (Mahatma) is very hard to find.
Those whose wisdom has been taken away by this or that desire, go to other gods, following this or that rite, led by their own nature.
Whatever form any devotee desires to worship with faith, I make that same faith of his firm and unflinching.
Endowed with that faith, he engages in the worship of that form and obtains his desired outcome, which is ordained by Me alone.
Verily, the reward (fruit) that accrues to those men of small intelligence is finite. The worshippers of the gods go to them, whereas My devotees come to Me.
The foolish think of Me, the Unmanifest, as having manifestation, not knowing My higher, immutable, and most excellent nature.
I am not manifest to all, veiled as I am by the Yoga-Maya. This deluded world does not know Me, who am unborn and imperishable.
I know, O Arjuna, the beings of the past, the present, and the future; however, no one knows Me.
O Bharata, all beings are subject to delusion at birth due to the delusion of the pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion, O Parantapa.
But those men of virtuous deeds, whose sins have come to an end and who are freed from the delusion of the pairs of opposites, worship Me steadfastly, with their vows.
Those who strive for liberation from old age and death, taking refuge in Me, realize in full that Brahman, the whole knowledge of the Self, and all action.
Those who know Me with the Adhibhuta (pertaining to the elements), Adhidaiva (pertaining to the gods), and the Adhiyajna (pertaining to the sacrifice) know Me even at the time of death, remaining steadfast in mind.