Bhagawad Gita Chapter 7 - Lectures delivered at Chinmaya Mission Boston Newton Chapter

1. Maximum Happiness to the Maximum Number of People for the
Maximum Time
CHINMAYA MISSION BOSTON
The Holy Geeta – The Divine Song
Summary of Chapter 7
March, 2015

2. Bhagawad Geeta – Divine Song
Tat Tvam Asi – That Thou Art
Chapters 1-6
1. Arjuna Grief
2. Yoga of Knowledge
3. Karma Yoga
4. Ending Action in Knowledge
5. True Renunciation
6. Meditation
Chapters 7-12
7. Knowledge & Wisdom
8. Imperishable Brahman
9. Royal Secret
10.Divine Glories
11.Cosmic Form
12.Devotion
Tvam-Thou
Tat-That
Asi-Art
Chapters 13-18
13. Field and its Knower
14.Gunas
15.Supreme Spirit
16.Devine and Devilish
17.Three-fold Faith
18.Liberation

3. Chapter 7 – The Yoga of Knowledge and Wisdom
• The Universe is made up of Lower Prakriti (Matter) and Higher Prakriti (Energy
or Consciousness) [1-6]
• Lord is the 'essence' of everything - that which enlivens everything (e.g.,
brilliance in fire, fragrance in earth) - I am NOT in them, they are in ME [7-12]
• Four kinds of people worship me
 Dissatisfied (arthi)
 Seeker of systematized knowledge (jigyasu)
 Seeker of wealth (artharthi)
 Wise (Ghanaian) [16]
• Whatever form any devotee desires to worship with faith – that (same) faith of
his I make (firm and) unflinching [21]

4. Lower Prakriti - Matter
+ Mind Intellect Ego
+ +
Earth
Water
Fire
Air
Space

5. Higher Prakriti – Spirit or Consciousness
• Consciousness is the entity by whose contact the equipments
function, and without which the equipments become insentient
Example: Electricity is the ‘spirit’ without which the electrical
equipments will not function

6. ‘Lower’ and ‘Higher’ Prakriti
4. Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, egoism – these are my
eightfold PRAKRITI
5. This is the ‘lower’ PRAKRITI; different from it, know thou, O mighty-
armed, My ‘Higher’ PRAKRITI, the very Life-element, by which this
world is upheld
6. Know that these (two PRAKRITIS), are the womb of all beings. So I am
the source and dissolution of the whole Universe

7. What is the essence of these objects?

8. What is the essence of these objects?

9. What is the essence of Mankind?

10. Omnipresence of Self
8. I am the sapidity in water, O son of Kunti, I am the light in the moon
and the sun; I am the syllable OM in all the VEDAS, sound in ether, and
virility in men;
9. I am the sweet fragrance in earth and the brilliance in fire, the life in all
beings, and I am austerity in the austere
10. Know Me, O Partha, as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the
intelligence of the intelligent. The splendour of the splendid (things and
beings) am I

11. Omnipresence of Self (Verses 11-12)
11. Of the strong, I am the strength – devoid of desire and attachment, and
in (all) beings, I am the desire – unopposed to DHARMA, O best among
the Bharatas
12. Whatever beings (and objects) that are pure, active and inert, know them
to proceed from Me; yet, I am not in them, they are in ME.
I am not in them, they are in ME.

12. I am not in them, they are in ME
Are the waves in the Ocean or is the Ocean in the waves?

13. I am not in them, they are in ME - Story

14. I am not in them, they are in ME - Story
Am I the beggar dreaming to be the King? OR
Am I the King Janaka dreaming to be the beggar?
Neither THIS nor THAT is Real!!

15. I am not in them, they are in ME - Story
• Was King Janaka in the beggar? Or Was the Beggar in King Janaka?

16. Four different kinds of people who worship me (Verse 16)
16. Four kinds of virtuous men worship Me, O Arjuna,
• the dissatisfied (arthi)
• the seeker of (systematized) knowledge (jigyasu)
• the seeker of wealth (artharthi)
• and the wise (ghanian)

17. Secularism in Gita (Verse 21)
21. Whatever form any devotee desires to worship with faith – that (same)
faith of his I make (firm and) unflinching

18. Thoughts on Idol Worship (Verses 24-26)
24. The foolish think of Me, the Unmanifest, as having come to
manifestation, not knowing My higher, immutable and peerless nature.
25. I am not manifest to all (in My Real Nature) veiled by Divine – Maya.
The deluded world knows not Me, the Unborn, the Imperishable
26. I know, O Arjuna, the beings of the past, and present and the future, but
no one knows Me.

19. Essence of Chapter - 7
Concept: The ‘essence’ or life force that enlivens all forms and
beings is HIM
Practical Application: See beyond the ‘name’, ‘form’
and ‘function’