Sharing a poem : The Bhagavad Gita (Books 11

Books 1 - 5: Here

Books 6 -10: Here

Books 11 -14: Here

Books 15 -18: Here

(From the version translated by Winthrop Sargeant. In Sanskrit and English, available here. The following copies the English translation of the verses)

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BOOK 11 | The Yoga of the Vision of Universal Form

Arjuna spoke:

As a favor to me, You have spoken

About the highest secret

Known as the supreme Self.

With this my delusion is gone.

The origin and the dissolution of

beings

Have been heard in detail by me

From You, O Krishna,

And also Your imperishable majesty.

Thus, as you have described

Yourself, O supreme Lord,

I desire to see Your divine form,

O Supreme Spirit.

If You think it is possible

For me to see this, O Lord

Of Yogines, then show me

Your imperishable Self.

The Blessed Lord spoke:

Behold, Arjuna, My forms,

A hundred fold, a thousandfold,

Various, divine,

And of various colors and shapes.

Behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the

Rudras,

The two Asvins, the Maruts too;

Many wonders unseen before,

Behold, Arjuna!

Behold now the entire universe,

With everything moving and not moving,

Standing together here in My body;

Arjuna,

And whatever else you desire to see.

But you are not able to see Me

With your own eyes.

I give to you a divine eye;

Behold my majestic power!

Sanjaya spoke:

Having spoken thus, O King,

the great Lord of yoga, hari

(Krishna),

Revealed to Arjuna

His majestic supreme form.

Of many mouths and eyes,

Of many wondrous aspects,

Of many divine ornaments,

Of many uplifted divine weapons.

Wearing divine farlands and apparel,

With divine perfumes and ointments,

made up of all marvels, the resplendent

Lord, endless, facing in all directions.

If a thousand suns should rise all at once

In the sky,

Such splendor would resemble

The splendor of that great Being.

There Arjuna then beheld

The entire universe established in one,

Divided in many groups,

In the body of the God of Gods.

Then Arjuna,

Who was filled with amazement,
Whose hair was standing on end,

Bowing his head to the Lord

With joined palms, said:

Arjuna spoke:

I see the gods, O God, in Your body,

And all kinds of beings assembled;

Lord Brahma on his lotus seat,
And all the seers and divine serpents.

I see You everywhere, infinite in

form,

With many arms, bellies, faces, and eyes;

Not the end, nor the middle, nor yet

the beginning of You do

I see, O Lord of all, whose form is the

universe.

Crowned, armed with a club and

bearinf a discus,

A mass of splendor, shining on all sides,

With the immasurable radiance of

the sun and blazing fire,

I see You, who are difficult to behold.

You are the unchanging, the

supreme object of knowledge;

You are the ultimate resting place

of all;

You are the imperishable defender

of the eternal law;

You are the primeval Spirit, I

believe.

With infinite power, without

beginning, middle, or end,

With innumerable arms, the moon and

sun being Your eyes,

I see You, the blazing fire Your mouth,

Burning all this universe with Your

radiance.

This space between heaven and earth,

Is pervaded by You alone in all

directions.

Seeing your marvelous and

terrible form,

The three worlds tremble, O great

Being.

The throngs of gods enter into

You,

Some, terrified, with reverent gestures

praise You;

Saying "Hail," the throngs of great

seers and perfected ones

Extol You with abundant praises.

The Rudras, Adityas, Vasus,

the Sadhyas,

The Vishve devas, the two Ashvins, the

Maruts and the Ushma pas,

The throngs of Gandharvas, Yakshas,

Asuras, and perfected ones,

All behold You, amazed.

Having seen Your great form, which

has many mouths and eyes,

Which has many arms, thighs, and

feet,

Which has many bellies, and mouths

gaping with many tusks,

O Krishna, the worlds tremble,

and so do I.

Having seen You touching the sky,

blazing, many colored,

Gaping-mouthed, with enormous fiery

eyes;

I tremble indeed in my heart, and

I find neither courage nor tranquility,

O Vishnu.

And having seen Your mouths, bearing

many tusks,

Glowing like the fires of universal

destruction,

I lose my sense of direction, and I do

not find comfort.

Have mercy! Lord of Gods, abode

of the universe!

And entering into You, all the sons of

Dhritarashtra,

Along with the throngs of kings,

Bhishma, Drona, and Karna, the son of the

charioteer,

And also with our chief warriors,

They quickly enter Your fearful

mouths,

Which gape with many tusks;

Some are seen with crushed heads,

Clinging between Your teeth.

As the many torrents of the rivers

Flow toward the ocean,

So those heroes of the world of men

Enter your flaming mouth.

As moths enter a blazing flame

To their destruction with great speed,

So also, these creatures swiftly enter

Your mouths to their destruction.

You lick up, swallowing on all sides

All the worlds, with your flaming mouths.

Filling all the universe with splendor,

Your terrible rays blaze forth, O

Vishnu!

Tell me who You are, of so terrible

a form.

Salutations to You, O Best of Gods;

Have mercy! I wish to understand

You, primal One;

Indeed, I do not comprehend what You

are doing.

The Blessed Lord spoke:

I am Time, the mighty cause of world

destruction,

Who has come forth to annihilate the

worlds.

Even without any action of yours,

all these warriors

Who are arrayed in the opposite ranks,

shall cease to exist.

Therefore stand up and attain glory!

Having conquered the enemy, enjoy

prosperous kingship.

These have already been struck

down by Me;

Be the mere instrument, O Arjuna.

Drona, Bhishma, Jayadratha, and

Karna too, others also, warrior heroes,

have been killed by Me.

Do not hesitate! Kill!

Fight! You shall conquer the enemy

in battle.

Sanjaya spoke:

Having heard this utterance of

Krishna,

Arjuna, with joined palms, trembling,

Prostrating himself, terrified,

And bowing down, thus spoke in a

choked voice to Krishna:

Arjuna spoke:

Rightly, O Krishna, the universe

Rejoices and is gratified by Your praise.

The demons, terrified, flee in all

directions;

And all the throngs of the perfected

ones bow before You.

And why should they not bow to You,

O great One,

Who are the original Creator, greater even

than Brahma!

Infinite Lord of Gods, you are the

dwelling place of the universe,

The imperishable, the existent, the

non-existence, and that which is

beyond both.

You are the primal God, the ancient

Spirit;

You are the supreme resting place of

all the universe;

You are the knower, the object of

knowledge, and the supreme state.

All the universe is pervaded by you,

O One of infinite forms.

You are Vayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, the

Moon,

The Lord of creatures, and the

great grandfather.

Salutations to You a thousand times,

And again salutations, salutations

to You!

Salutations to You from in front and

behind,

Salutations to You on all sides also,

O All.

You are infinite valor and boundless

might

You pervade all, therefore You are all.

Whatever I have said impetuously

as if in ordinary friendship,"

"Oh Krishna, Oh Son of Yadu, Oh

Comrade,"

In ignorance of Your majesty,

Through negligence or even

through affection,

And if, with humorous purpose,

You were disrespectfully treated,

While at play, resting, while seated or

while dining,

When along, O Krishna, or even

before the eyes of others,

For that I ask forgiveness of You,

immeasurable One.

You are the father of the world, of all

things moving and motionless.

You are to be adored by this world.

You are the most venerable Guru.

There is nothing like You in the three

worlds.

How then could there be another greater,

O Being of incomparable glory?

Therefore, bowing down,

prostrating my body,

I ask forgiveness of You, O Lord;

As is a father to a son, a friend to a

friend,

A lover to a beloved, please, O God,

be merciful!

Having seen that which has never been

seen before, I am delighted,

And yet my mind trembles with fear.

Show me that form, O God, in

which You originally appeared.

Have mercy, Lord of Gods, dwelling

of the universe.

I desire to see you wearing a crown,

Armed with a club, discus in hand,

as befoe;

Become that four-armed form,

O thousand armed One, O You who

have all forms.

The Blessed Lord spoke:

By My grace toward you, Arjuna, this

Supreme form has been manifested

through my own power,

This form of Mine, made up of

splendor, universal, infinite, primal,

Which has never before been seen by

other than you.

Not by Vedic sacrifice nor (Vedic)

recitation, not by gifts,

And not by ritual acts nor by severe

austerities,

Can I be seen in such a form in the

world of men

By any other than you, Arjuna.

Have no fear or confusion

On seeing this terrible form of

Mine,

Be again free from fear and

cheered in heart.

Behold, My (previous) form!

Sanjaya spoke:

Having spoken thus to Arjuna,

Krishna

Revealed his own (previous) form

again.

Having resumed His gentle, wonderful

appearance,

He calmed Arjuna, who was terrified.

Arjuna spoke:

Seeing Your gentle

Human form, O Krishna,

Now I am composed

And my mind is restored to normal.

The Blessed Lord spoke:

This form of Mine which you have

beheld

Is difficult to see;

Even the gods are constantly longing

To behold it.

Not through study of the Vedas, not

through austerity,

Not through gifts, and not through

sacrifice

Can I be seen in this form

As you have beheld Me.

By undistracted devotion alone

Can I be known,

And be truly seen in this form.

And be entered into, Arjuna.

He who does all work for Me,

considers Me as the Supreme,

Is devoted to Me, abandons all

attachment,

And is free from enmity toward any

being,

Comes to Me, Arjuna.

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BOOK 12 | The Yoga of Devotion

Arjuna spoke:

The constantly steadfast devotees

Who worship You with devotion,

And those who worship the eternal

unmanifest;

Which of these has the better knowledge

of yoga?

The Blessed Lord spoke:

Those who are eternally steadfast, who

worship Me,

Fixing their minds on Me,

Endowed with supreme faith;

I consider them to be the most devoted

to Me.

But those who honour the imperishable,

The indefinable, the unmanifest,

The all-pervading and unthinkable,

The unchanging, the immovable,

the eternal,

Controlling all the senses,

Even-minded on all sides,

Rejoicing in the welfare of all

creatures,

They also attain Me.

The trouble of those whose minds

Are fixed on the unmanifest is greater,

For the goal of the unmanifest is attained

With difficulty by embodied beings.

But those who, renouncing all actions

In Me, and regarding Me as the Supereme,

Worship Me, meditating on Me

With undistracted yoga,

Of those whose thoughts have entered

into Me,

I am soon the deliverer

From the ocean

Of death and transmigration,

Arjuna.

Keep your mind on Me alone,

Your intellect on Me.

Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter.

There is no doubt of this.

Or if you are not able

To keep your mind steadily on Me,

Then seek to attain Me

By the constant practice of yoga,

Arjuna.

If you are incapable even of practice,

Be intent on My work;

Even performing actions for My sake,

You shall attain perfection.

But if you are unable even to do this,

Then, resorting to devotion to Me,

And abandoning all the fruits of action,

Act with self-restraint.

Knowledge is indeed better than

practice;

Meditation is superior to knoweldge;

Renunciation of the fruit of action is

better than meditation;

Peace immediately follows renunciation.

He who hates no being,

Friendly and compassionate,

Free from attachment to possessions,

free from egotism,

Indifferent to pain and pleasure,

patient,

The yogin who is always contented

and balanced in mind,

Who is self-controlled, and whose

conviction is firm,

Whose mind and intellect are

fixed on Me,

And who is devoted to Me, is dear to Me.

He from whom the world does not

shrink,

And who does not shrink from the

world,

Who is freed from joy, envy,

fear, and distress,

Is dear to Me.

He who is free from wants, pure, capable,

Disinterested, free from anxiety,

Who has abandoned all undertakings

And is devoted to Me, is dear to Me.

He who neither rejoices nor hates,

Nor grieves nor desires,

Has renounced good and evil,

And is full of devotion, is dear to Me.

Alike toward enemy and friend,

The same in honour and disgrace,

Alike in cold and heat, pleasure and

pain,

Freed from attachment,

Indifferent to blame or praise,

silent,

Content with anything, whatever,

Homeless, steady-minded,

Full of devotion; this man is dear to

Me.

Those who honor this immortal law

described above,

Endowed with faith,

Devoted and intent on Me as the Supreme;

They are exceedingly dear to Me.

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BOOK 13 | The Yoga of Distinction between the Field-Knower and the Field

Arjuna said:

Prakriti and Purusha,

The field and the knower of the field,

Knoweldge and the knower of

knowledge,

I wish to know about these, Krishna.

The Blessed Lord spoke:

This body, Arjuna,

Is said to be the field;

He who knows this is called the

knower of the field

By those who are wise in such things.

Know also that I am the knower of the

field

In all fields, Arjuna;

Knoweldge of the field and of the

knower of the field,

That is considered by Me to be true

knoweldge.

This field, what it is, and of what kind,

What its modifciations are and whence

they come,

And who he (the knower of the field) is,

and what are his powers,

That, in brief, hear from Me:

Sages have sung of it in many ways,

distinctly,

In various sacred (Vedic) hymns,

And with quotations concerning

Brahman,

Full of reasoning.

The great elements, egoism,

Intellect and the unmanifest,

The senses, ten and one,

And the five objects of the

senses,

Desire, hatred, pleasure, pain,

the body, intelligence, steadfastness

this briefly is described as the field

with its modifications.

Absence of pride, freedom from

hypocrisy,

Non-violence, patience, rectitude,

Service of the teacher, purity,

Constancy, self-restraint,

Indifference to the objects of sense,

And absence of egotism;

Keeping in view the evils of birth,

death,

Old age, disease, and pain;

Non-attachment, absence of clinging

To son, wife, home, and so on,

And constant even-mindedness

Toward desired and undesired events;

And unswerving devotion to Me

With single-minded yoga,

Frequenting secluded places,

Distaste for the society of men,

Constancy in the knowledge of the

supreme Spirit,

Observing the goal of knowledge of

the truth;

This is declared to be true knowledge.

Ignorance is what is contrary to this.

I shall declare that which has to be

known,

Knowing which, one attains

immortality;

It is the beginningless supreme

Brahman,

Which is said to be neither existent

nor non-existent.

Having hands and feet everywhere,

Eyes, heads and faces everywhere,

Having ears everywhere,

That stands, enveloping everything

in the world.

Shining by the function of the senses,

Yet freed from all the senses,

Unattached yet maintaining all,

Free from the qualities yet experiencing

the qualities;

Outside and inside beings,

Those that are moving and not

moving,

Because of its subtlety This is not

comprehended.

This is far away and also near.

Undivided yet remaining as if divided

In all beings,

This is to be known as the

sustainer of beings,

Their devourer and creator.

Also This is said to be the light of

lights

That is beyond darkness;

It is knowledge, the object of

knowledge and that which is to be

attained through knowledge.

It is seated in the hearts of all.

Thus the fiels, knowledge,

And the object of knowledge have been

briefly described.

My devotee, understanding this,

Enters into My state of being.

Know that material nature and Spirit

Are both beginningless,

And know also that the modifications

of the field,

And the qualities, too, arise from material

nature.

Material nature is said to be the cause

In the producing of cause and effect.

The Spirit is said to be the cause

In the experiencing of pleasure and

pain.

For the Spirit, abiding in material

nature,

Experiences the qualities born of material

nature.

Attachment to the qualities

Is the cause of its birth in good and

evil wombs.

The highest Spirit in this bodt

Is called the witness, the consenter,

The supporter, the experiencer, the

great Lord,

And also the supreme Spirit.

He who in this way knows the Spirit

And material nature, along with the

qualities,

In whatever stage of transmigration

he may exisit,

Is not born again.

Some perceive the Self in the Self

By the Self through meditation;

Others by the discipline of Sankhya

And still others by the yoga of action.

Yet others, not knowing this,

Worship, having heard it from others,

And they also cross beyond death,

Devoted to what they have heard.

Know, Arjuna that

Any being whatever that is born,

Moving or unmoving,

Arises from the union of the field and

the knower of the field.

He who sees the Supreme Lord,

Existing alike in all beings,

Not perishing when they perish,

Truly sees.

Seeing indeed the same Lord

Established everywhere,

He does not injure the Self by the

self.

Thereupon he goes to the supreme

goal.

He who sees that all actions

Are performed exclusively by material

nature,

And thus the Self is not the doer,

Truly sees.

When he perceives the various states

of being

And resisting in the One,

And from That alone spreading out,

Then he attains Brahman.

The imperishable supreme Self

If beginningless and without qualities;

Even though situated in the body,

Arjuna,

It does not act, and is not tainted.

As the all-pervading ether, because of

its subtelty,

Is not tainted,

So the Self, seated in the body,

Is not tainted in any case.

As the sun alone illumines

This entire world,

So the Lord of the field illumines

The entire field, Arjuna.

They who know, through the eye of

knoweldge,

The distinction between the fiels and

the knower of the field,

As well as the libertation of beings

from material nature,

Go to the Supreme.

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BOOK 14 | The Yoga of Distinction between the Three Gunas

The Blessed Lord spoke:

I shall declare, further, the highest

Knowledge, the best of all knowledge,

Having known which all the sages

Have gone from here to supreme

perfection.

Resorting to this knowledge,

And arriving at a state of identity

with Me,

Even at the creation of the world they

are not born,

Nor do they tremble at its dissolution.

Great Brahma is my womb.

In it I place the seed.

The origin of all beings

Exists from that, Arjuna.

Whatever forms are produced

In any womb, Arjuna,

The great Brahma is their womb,

And I am the seed-sowing father.

Sattva, rajas, tamas, this,

The qualities born of material nature,

Bind fast in the body, O Arjuna,

The imperishable embodied One

(the atman).

Of these, sattva, free from impurity,

Illuminating and free from disease,

Binds by attachment to happiness

And by attachment to knowledge,

Arjuna.

Knows that rajas is characterized by

passion

Arising from thirst and attachment.

This binds fast the embodied one,

Arjuna,

By attachment to action.

Know indeed that tamas is born of

ignorance,

Which confuses all embodied beings.

This binds fast, Arjuna,

With negligence, indolence, and

sleepiness.

Sattva causes attachment to happiness,

Rajas to action, Arjuna;

Tamas, obscuring knowledge,

Causes attachment to negligence.

When prevailing over rajas and tamas,

Sattva arises, Arjuna;

Rajas prevailing over sattva and tamas

also comes to be;

Likewise tamas prevailing over sattva

and rajas.

When the light of knowledge shines

Through all the gates of this body,

Then it should be known that

Sattva is dominant.

Greed, activity and the undertaking

Of actions, restlessness, desire;

These are born when rajas

Is dominant, Arjuna.

Darkness and inertness,

Heedlessness and confusion;

These are born when tamas

Is dominant, Arjuna.

When an embodied being goes to

dissolution (death)

Under the dominance of sattva,

Then he attains the stainless worlds

Of those who know the highest.

He who goes to dissolution (death)

when rajas is dominant,

Is reborn among those attached to

action;

Likewise, dissolved (dying) when

tamas is dominant,

He is reborn from the wombs of the

deluded.

They say the fruit of good action

Is sattvic and without impurity,

But the fruit of rajasic action is pain,

And the fruit of tamasic action is

ignorance.

From sattva knowledge is born,

And from rajas desire;

Negligence and delusion arise

From tamas, and ignorance too.

Those established in sattva go

upward;

The rajasic stay in the middle;

The tamasic, established in the lowest

quality,

Go downward.

When the seer perceives

No doer other than the qualities,

And knows that which is higher than

the qualities,

He attains My being.

When an embodied being transcends

These three qualities, which are

the source of the body,

Released from bith, death, old age,

and pain,

He attains immortality.

Arjuna spoke:

By what marks is he recognized

Who has transcended the three

qualities, O Lord?

What is his conduct? And how

Does he go beyond these three

qualities?

The Blessed Lord spoke:

He neither hates nor desires

The presence or the absence

Of light or activity

Or delusion, Arjuna.

He who is seated as if indifferent,

Who is not disturbed by the qualities,

Thinking "the qualities are operating,"

And who stands firm and does not

waver,

To whom pain and pleasure are equal,

who dwells in the Self,

To whom a clod, a stone and gold are

the same,

To whom the loved and unloved

are alike, who is steadfast,

To whom blame and praise of himself

are alike.

To whom honor and dishonor are

equal,

Dispassionate toward the side of

friend of for,

Renouncing all undertakings

He is said to transcend the qualities.

And he who serves Me

With the yoga of unswerving devotion,

Transcending these qualities,

Is ready for absorption in Brahman.

For I am abode of Brahman,

Of the immortal and the imperishable,

Of everlasting virtue,

And of absolute bliss.

* * *

Books 1 - 5: Here

Books 6 -10: Here

Books 11 -14: Here

Books 15 -18: Here

The Bhagavad Gita (Books 11 - 14)