Public domain translation by Sir Edwin Arnold (1885), via Project Gutenberg. Presented unabridged.
Krishna.<br/> Learn now, dear Prince! how, if thy soul be set<br/> Ever on Me--still exercising Yog,<br/> Still making Me thy Refuge--thou shalt come<br/> Most surely unto perfect hold of Me.<br/> I will declare to thee that utmost lore,<br/> Whole and particular, which, when thou knowest,<br/> Leaveth no more to know here in this world.
Of many thousand mortals, one, perchance,<br/> Striveth for Truth; and of those few that strive--<br/> Nay, and rise high--one only--here and there--<br/> Knoweth Me, as I am, the very Truth.
Earth, water, flame, air, ether, life, and mind,<br/> And individuality--those eight<br/> Make up the showing of Me, Manifest.
These be my lower Nature; learn the higher,<br/> Whereby, thou Valiant One! this Universe<br/> Is, by its principle of life, produced;<br/> Whereby the worlds of visible things are born<br/> As from a Yoni. Know! I am that womb:<br/> I make and I unmake this Universe:<br/> Than me there is no other Master, Prince!<br/> No other Maker! All these hang on me<br/> As hangs a row of pearls upon its string.<br/> I am the fresh taste of the water; I<br/> The silver of the moon, the gold o' the sun,<br/> The word of worship in the Veds, the thrill<br/> That passeth in the ether, and the strength<br/> Of man's shed seed. I am the good sweet smell<br/> Of the moistened earth, I am the fire's red light,<br/> The vital air moving in all which moves,<br/> The holiness of hallowed souls, the root<br/> Undying, whence hath sprung whatever is;<br/> The wisdom of the wise, the intellect<br/> Of the informed, the greatness of the great.<br/> The splendour of the splendid. Kunti's Son!<br/> These am I, free from passion and desire;<br/> Yet am I right desire in all who yearn,<br/> Chief of the Bharatas! for all those moods,<br/> Soothfast, or passionate, or ignorant,<br/> Which Nature frames, deduce from me; but all<br/> Are merged in me--not I in them! The world--<br/> Deceived by those three qualities of being--<br/> Wotteth not Me Who am outside them all,<br/> Above them all, Eternal! Hard it is<br/> To pierce that veil divine of various shows<br/> Which hideth Me; yet they who worship Me<br/> Pierce it and pass beyond.
I am not known<br/> To evil-doers, nor to foolish ones,<br/> Nor to the base and churlish; nor to those<br/> Whose mind is cheated by the show of things,<br/> Nor those that take the way of Asuras.[FN#12]
Four sorts of mortals know me: he who weeps,<br/> Arjuna! and the man who yearns to know;<br/> And he who toils to help; and he who sits<br/> Certain of me, enlightened.
Of these four,<br/> O Prince of India! highest, nearest, best<br/> That last is, the devout soul, wise, intent<br/> Upon "The One." Dear, above all, am I<br/> To him; and he is dearest unto me!<br/> All four are good, and seek me; but mine own,<br/> The true of heart, the faithful--stayed on me,<br/> Taking me as their utmost blessedness,<br/> They are not "mine,"but I--even I myself!<br/> At end of many births to Me they come!<br/> Yet hard the wise Mahatma is to find,<br/> That man who sayeth, "All is Vasudev!"[FN#13]
There be those, too, whose knowledge, turned aside<br/> By this desire or that, gives them to serve<br/> Some lower gods, with various rites, constrained<br/> By that which mouldeth them. Unto all such--<br/> Worship what shrine they will, what shapes, in faith--<br/> 'Tis I who give them faith! I am content!<br/> The heart thus asking favour from its God,<br/> Darkened but ardent, hath the end it craves,<br/> The lesser blessing--but 'tis I who give!<br/> Yet soon is withered what small fruit they reap:<br/> Those men of little minds, who worship so,<br/> Go where they worship, passing with their gods.<br/> But Mine come unto me! Blind are the eyes<br/> Which deem th' Unmanifested manifest,<br/> Not comprehending Me in my true Self!<br/> Imperishable, viewless, undeclared,<br/> Hidden behind my magic veil of shows,<br/> I am not seen by all; I am not known--<br/> Unborn and changeless--to the idle world.<br/> But I, Arjuna! know all things which were,<br/> And all which are, and all which are to be,<br/> Albeit not one among them knoweth Me!
By passion for the "pairs of opposites,"<br/> By those twain snares of Like and Dislike, Prince!<br/> All creatures live bewildered, save some few<br/> Who, quit of sins, holy in act, informed,<br/> Freed from the "opposites,"and fixed in faith,<br/> Cleave unto Me.
Who cleave, who seek in Me<br/> Refuge from birth[FN#14] and death, those have the Truth!<br/> Those know Me BRAHMA; know Me Soul of Souls,<br/> The ADHYATMAN; know KARMA, my work;<br/> Know I am ADHIBHUTA, Lord of Life,<br/> And ADHIDAIVA, Lord of all the Gods,<br/> And ADHIYAJNA, Lord of Sacrifice;<br/> Worship Me well, with hearts of love and faith,<br/> And find and hold me in the hour of death.
HERE ENDETH CHAPTER VII. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA,<br/> Entitled "Vijnanayog,"<br/> Or "The Book of Religion by Discernment."