Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 7 verse 16

Chapter 7 verse 16 

“Four kinds of pious people worship Me, the dissatisfied or distressed, the seeker of systemized knowledge, the seeker of wealth and the wise (situated in knowledge).” 

Just like 4 kinds of people who don’t think of Him, there are 4 kinds of people who do think of Him and worship the Lord. 1. The distressed and dissatisfied people- those who seek happiness and does not want sorrow and as a last resort come to the Lord just like Draupadi did in Mahabharata. 2. The seeker of knowledge: These people learn that God is the provider of knowledge and their curiosity to learn leads them to His abode. 3. Seeker of wealth and other material gains: These people start in the pursuit of material wealth which is one of the purushartha in sanatana dharma and may eventually surrender in true devotion in complete knowledge and finally the 4. The wise (jnani)- those which have realized the true knowledge and the fact that Divine is the ultimate wealth and there is nothing else to seek also surrender to Him.It is established that if you reading this, you belong to the pious people category, what stage are we then in the journey towards the Divine? Time for reflection!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 7 verse 15

Chapter 7 verse 15 

“The evil-doers, the deluded, the lowest of men do not seek Me, they, whose discrimination has been destroyed by their own delusions, follow the ways of the demons.”

Even though all beings are His creation, they have been left alone to go through this cycle of life and birth within the construct of laws of karma and prakriti. It might take a billion lives to graduate to enlightenment from this cycle and the Lord will not interfere with this process. With firm detachment, Krishna describes the people who are further away from the path of enlightenment and surrender. There are not sinners in Santana dharma and doomed in hell eternally- they have just lost their way and being misled by the veil of maya and will take a much longer time to overcome the delusion and develop the discrimination between the real and the unreal. Krishna is pointing to 4 kinds of people. 1. Those who are plain ignorant. They have no idea of the existence of God and completely deluded. 2. Lazy people following their lower nature-They are aware of existence of God but are completely overcome by laziness and don’t act. 3. Those with deluded intellect- They are not patient to experience the existence of God in their lives and dismiss meaning of life just with their current frame of reference and experience. 4. People with demonic qualities- These people are pure evil and exist to be malicious toward all things Godly!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 7 verse 14

Chapter 7 verse 14

“This divine illusion of Mine made up of gunas (caused by the qualities) is difficult to cross over; those who take refuge in Me, they alone can cross over this illusion.”

Maya or veil caused by the inherent qualities- satva, rajas and tamo gunas are very difficult to overcome since they are inborn and grounded on the vasanas of multiple births in the past, environment of birth and other circumstances. Grace and effort in terms of sadhana alone can help overcome this veil of Maya. Krishna is asking for total surrender to help cross over the illusion in this universe.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 7 verse 13

Chapter 7 verse 13

“Deluded by these states or things composed of the three gunas of prakriti, the world knows Me not as immutable and distinct from them.”

In dwapara yuga, at the time Krishna was performing his avatara, how many people realized that he is the supreme being and God principle? It takes a very special blessing to have that realization at the same time of the avatara. This wouldn’t occur for normal beings but only for exalted souls. For all others, we are going to be stuck in our nature associated with the body, mind, intellect and ego complex goaded by the 3 gunas- purity, passion and ignorance. Please note that even purity at a point forces you to cling to the body and mind. One has to rid of even sathvic thoughts to realize the immutable Self. How many of us realized the greatness of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Shirdi Sai Baba, Satya Sai Baba, Kanchi Mahaperivava and Ramana Maharishi to name a few supreme Souls.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 7 verse 12

Chapter 7 verse 12

“The three states of material existence-goodness, passion and ignorance-are manifested by my energy. They are in me but I am beyond them”

There are 3 sects of Vedanta-Advaitam, vishitadvaitam and dwaitam. Whichever sect one prescribes to, this verse can be interpreted to fulfill essence of that belief. In advaitam, the individual Soul and paramatma are no different. In this verse, Krishna talks about the fact that all states of material existence- Sattva, Rajas and Tamas (goodness, passion and ignorance) are not to be associated with the individual Soul which is apart from these states. The body, mind, intellect and ego are thought to be attached to the Soul but they are not. That one way equation also exists between paramatma and the individual jiva identified in body, mind, intellect and ego. God principle encompasses everything but this body-ego complex is NOT GOD principle. So if this is the explanation for Advaitins, dwaitam and vishitadwaitam concepts are even easier to explain. Isavasya Upanishad has the famous mantra-“Purnamidam….vashisyate”- The meaning of this ancient vedic mantra is that the whole creation constitutes one whole unit. Each and every particle, non-living or living represents the same whole unit. There is no place where this whole is not present. This whole reproduces itself in its own image. Removing every entity from this unit has no effect on it because that which remains represents the same whole.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 7 verse 11

Chapter 7 verse 11

“Of the strong, I am the strength devoid of desire and attachment and in all beings, I am the sexual activity (or broadly desire itself) unopposed to dharma.”

Continuing with his clarity in declarations, Lord says that the strength in the mighty comes from Him and all desires including sexual activity arising within the construct of dharma (in this particular case within the confines of marriage and per the allowances of the scriptures) is also from Him alone. This is a bold declaration considering that other religions or ways of life looks down upon desire in general and calls it a sin. Sanatana Dharma has a place for the four purusharthas-Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. All pursuits of material wealth and desires within the construct of righteous living (Dharma) become the essence of the purpose of human existence and is encouraged with the ultimate ability to exhaust those material pursuits and desires to surrender at the feet of Divine in the search for Self Enlightenment-Moksha.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 7 verse 10

Chapter 7 verse 10

“Know that I am the eternal seed of all beings, intelligence of the intelligent and the splendor of the glorious”

AR Rahman,an accomplished music director in Indian films, said that “All praise to the Almighty” in his Oscar award acceptance speech. He is a devout Muslim and found spirituality in that religion. Irrespective of the different path in this world called as organized religions, true religion talks about ultimately surrendering to the Divine. When one realizes that even the best ideas of the best of us came from Him. Whatever has been thought of now has been thought before in previous yugas. There is nothing which didn’t exist before and nothing which exists after. Krishna says that the splendor of the glorious universe is all his creation and doing. Drop the doer ship!