Shri Bhagavan said:

At the beginning of the seventh chapter Shri Krishna had declared Arjuna to be free from doubt, united in Yoga, dependent on Him and with a mind attached to Him. It is on account of this high stage that had dawned on Arjuna that the revelation of chapters VII and VIII flowed from Shri Krishna (chapter VIII is essentially an extension of chapter VII that arose out of Arjuna's questions). Now, by the end of eighth chapter, Arjuna has risen a stage higher; he has become Anasuyu. Anasuyu means one who does not underrate the merits of the meritorious, praises even those of scanty worth and does not take delight in the faults of others. This is a higher stage than depicted in the beginning of chapter VII. An Anasuyu never blames anybody, remembering the teaching of verse 27 of chapter III. Why one should not blame anybody can be easily explained in the light of the knowledge so far imparted by Bhagavan Shri Krishna, but following it in actual practice without creating internal conflicts is very difficult. It becomes possible only with the grace of the All Merciful. Arjuna has now reached this high stage. Accordingly, the supreme revelation of chapter IX flows from the divine lips of Shri Bhagavan.

Bhagavan Krishna calls this knowledge Guhyatama (the most secret). Why should Bhagavan call it a secret? What is the harm if it is revealed to anybody? It should only be revealed to those who have faith in Bhagavan, who are sincere and who are ripe to receive it. If it is revealed to a person devoid of these qualities, it may not only go waste but may provoke the non-believers into a futile argument, which may pollute the atmosphere and disturb the minds of the devotees. Another meaning of Guhyatama is that it should be preserved safely in the innermost chamber of the heart. It should not be allowed to evaporate or leak away.

This knowledge is coupled with the special knowledge leading to realisation, knowing which one is delivered from evil altogether. The one who has assimilated this knowledge rises above evil for good. He is incapable of committing anything evil.

It should be noted that Bhagavan does not promise a deliverance from miseries or sufferings. It is neither possible nor worthwhile to avoid all the sufferings of the body or mind. They are necessary for the purification of the aspirant. They do not retard one's progress to the supreme goal (although sometimes it may appear that they are doing so). On the contrary, they accelerate the progress. The evil actions are the real danger, which are obstacles in the path of realisation. Hence, Bhagavan Krishna, the best well wisher of everybody, promises to deliver Arjuna from evil.

Bhagavan Shri Krishna has qualified the knowledge He is going to reveal in various ways. It is the King or lord of all knowledge: the King of all those treasures, which require to be cherished in the innermost chamber of the heart. How it is directly experienced or enjoyed will be clear later in the magnificent chapter. It is not mere theory or abstraction. It is something to be directly experienced and enjoyed. It is not difficult but easy to practise. In the later part of the chapter it will be shown how easy it is to practise it. It is immutable; it will remain valid for all times and at all places.

For crossing the path of the mortal world and attaining Him, faith in this Dharma is a must. Those who do not have faith in it cannot attain Him and remain entangled in this mortal world.

But, my Lord, how is one to have faith in your supreme Dharma? Why don't you tell us that secret by which one would get the required faith? You cannot disown us just because we have no faith. Even faithless, obstinate and ignorant, we are your children. Not only that, may I venture to say, if you forgive me O Lord of lords, that we are as You have made us. Please do not get angry. I take shelter under your immortal line viz "people, in every way follow My example", which you have said twice (once in verse 23, chapter III and also in verse 11, chapter IV). I bow down to what You say now, "Have you understood the full implications of My words?". But bless us, O graceful and Merciful, so that we may have faith in Your words. We take refuge in your lotus feet and we pray to You. Bless us with more love and devotion and we will love you more: we will worship You more.

By calling Himself Avyaktamurti (unmanifest form) Bhagavan Shri Krishna brings out an apparent contradiction. How His ‘form’ permeates all that is manifest and yet remains unmanifest is a wonder and a contradiction. Bhagavan Krishna is going to dwell on more apparent contradictions in the next verse. All these contradictions disappear with His contact even without getting resolved.

An open contradiction! In the previous verse Bhagavan had said, `all the beings are situated in Me'. Now He says `the beings are not situated in Me'. But instead of explaining the contradiction, the Lord of Lords says, ' Behold My mysterious power'. It is on account of this mysterious power which is inseparable from Him, the Yoga Maya, that impossible things become possible. It is on account of this Yoga Maya that His self sustains and protects all the beings without being situated in them.

In one sense, all the beings are situated in Him. All the beings are situated in space and space is one of His manifestations. All the beings rest in Him because there is nothing else apart from Him in which they can rest. Yet, in another sense, the beings are not situated in Him. If it were asserted that all the beings are situated in Him, it would mean that He is within the concept of space, which is not true. He is beyond the concept of space. The concept of something being situated in something else is a spatial one. It is meaningless with reference to Him since He is beyond space. For him to be the sustainer and creator of beings, it is not necessary that He should be situated in the beings or the beings should be situated in Him. Physical contact or proximity is not required for Him to exercise His divine powers. He pervades the entire universe without being situated in anything and all the beings rest in Him without being situated in Him.

The wind can ago everywhere and yet it is always situated in the space. Also, wind and the space do not come in physical contact because space is not such an entity, which can come in physical contact with any particle. Thus, by means of an example, Bhagavan explains how one thing can be situated in another without coming in contact with it. This is similar to His relation with the beings. They are situated in Him but they do not come in physical contact with Him. They are not physically situated in Him.

This verse should be compared with verse 18 of chapter VIII, remembering that the day of Brahma is a Kalpa. In that verse, Bhagavan had said that all the manifest beings emerge out of the unmanifest (Brahma) in the beginning of a Kalpa, and go back to it at the end of the Kalpa. In this verse, Bhagavan says that they go back to His Nature at the end of the Kalpa and He sets them forth again in the beginning of the next Kalpa. Bhagavan Shri Krishna wants to emphasise that the reality of even Brahma is nothing apart from His nature. Ultimately He does the dissolution and recreation of beings only through His Nature.

`Kalpakshaya' can also mean the end of the chain of Kalpas in which case this verse would be talking about the final dissolution of all the beings and Brahma at the end of Brahma's life. Kalpadi would be similarly interpreted as the beginning of next creation of Brahma and the consequent cycle of Kalpas. With this interpretation, the statement that at Kalpakshaya all the beings return to His Nature (meaning the primordial Nature) is even more appropriate. His Nature is not different from Him. Hence, Bhagavan says that He recreates all the beings at the beginning of the next cycle.

In this cycle of creation and dissolution, Bhagavan operates through His Nature. The beings on the contrary are helpless against this cycle of creation and dissolution as well as against their individual natures to which they are always subject. This individual nature owes its existence to the individual existence and composed of past actions, desires and influences. At the level of senses, mind and intellect, everyone has to act in conformity with one's individual nature. When the awakening of knowledge comes, the individual nature presents no obstacle to the path of Brahma. The individual nature is destroyed only when the ego is destroyed. When that happens, one is said to have realised liberation (or Moksha). Then the individual being can no longer be said to exist.

In spite of performing all actions, the actions do not bind Him. He ever remains unattached and indifferent to them. He performs even the most violent of all actions and yet He sits unconcerned and indifferent. He is the sole actor behind all the actions of the great play that He wields all the time, and yet He is the non-actor, having nothing to do with anything done or undone. He worships His devotees the way they approach Himand yet He is that Brahma who is impartial and the same to every being.

You are indeed very innocent. You never stole the butter and butter milk. You did not eat the mud - (so at least You told your innocent mother, Yashoda, and then You showed the entire universe - along with the mud You had eaten, I suppose, - in your mouth). You had eaten the entire universe but you insisted that you did not eat the mud. You said that your cowherd friends were telling a lie when they said that You stole butter and ate mud. Now You say that you wield the Nature and cause the creation and destruction of all the beings and Yet you are ever indifferent, unattached, non-actor. What is the use of asking You questions? No body got any answers. You beloved devotees would never ask questions. They are simply bewitched and charmed by your magic. You are naughty and they like your tricks. The more mysterious your ways, the more they come under your charming sway. The more naughty your tricks, the more they like them. Blessed are your devotees whom you grace. It is a privilege to be with them and sing their glory

Please my Lord! Whoever asked You to give the reason why the world revolves? And if someone did ask that question, pardon me Sir, You have not given the answer. Your answer has confused the question even more. `Because the Nature, presided over by You, brings forth the entire universe, so the world revolves'. What an answer and what a reason My Naughty Lord! I feel like grabbing your lotus feet, falling at them and not rising again. If that is the reason why the world revolves, why should the Nature bring forth such a treacherous lot of beings and the cycles of creation and destruction? Why should you wield your Nature in that particular way? Whatever the Nature does is under Your presidentship, so whatever happens is with Your connivance. Why do you let it happen this way; and if You wanted me to be taken in by such a reason, why did you not make my intellect that way?

I think you are not accustomed to answer such questions. Your ways are mysterious, indirect and enchanting. You shower miseries so that one may be diverted to the supreme bliss. If someone wants answers, You beset him with more questions till he knows that it is pointless to ask questions.

So Dearest, answering questions is not your style. Then why dabble in it at all? You will confuse the issue even more. Leave it to your able interpreters whose intellect you have illuminated in the particular way. Let them answer all questions to the extent that You ordain and let them remove the doubts of those who have doubts at the appropriate time.

Please do not tell us the reason why the world revolves. Let it revolve, if it must. O Naughty one, please do not side-track the issue. Give us that bliss of unflinching devotion to Your eternal feet as compared to which everything else is pointless. Then who would bother whether the world resolved or not? You are all powerful and You have your ways of showering your grace. We are just your tools and we are doing whatever You want done through us. We are a part of Your Nature over which you preside. Do as You must. We have nothing to say.

The ignorant think that He is limited by the human form. He has assumed. They do not know His supreme disposition (which has been described in verse 21, chapter VIII, for example.). He who appears in the form of one being is the lord of all being and the entire creation. His supreme form is hidden from us on account of His Yogamaya.

This verse is comparable with verse 24 of chapter VII.

Those who are subject to the deluding fiendish and demoniac nature live in vain hopes, vain actions and vain knowledge. But how do they come to be subject to such a degrading nature?

A story of Shrimadbhagavata is very illustrative in this connection. Jaya and Vijaya were Bhagavan Vishnu's close associates in His supreme abode where He resides with His divine wife Shri Laxmi. One day Sanakadi sages (the four divine sages viz. Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara who are Bhagavan's own manifestation and they appeared of their own will as a result of Brahma's austere penance) reached the abode of Bhagavan Vishnu to have His Darshana (vision). Since the sages looked like children aged five and were clotheless, Jaya and Vijaya stopped them.

Then the four Sanakadi sages said `O gatekeepers, those who reside in this supreme abode of Bhagavan have an even vision devoid of any discrimination. How is it that you discriminated against us? Since your vision and intellect has been polluted with discrimination, both of you will take birth in sinful bodies'. Accordingly, the two gatekeepers were born as great demons Hiranyakashyapa and Hiranaksha from the womb of Diti, wife of sage Kashyapa and the mother of demons.

When Bhagavan Vishnu came to know about the incident and the curse of Sanakadi sages, he fully supported the Sanakadi sages and apologised to them on behalf of Jaya and Vijaya. Also, He told Jaya and Vijaya that this curse was bound to come even otherwise because once when He was asleep and Lakshmi wanted to approach Him, Jaya and Vijaya had stopped Her. At that time the great Goddess had already inflicted the curse on them (mentally).

Why Diti gave birth to two demons has also been explained in terms of a lapse committed by Diti in the way she approached her husband, sage Kashyapa. Thus everything seems to be related by cause and effort relationship and yet, as we shall see, the supreme cause is always hidden.

The two demons Hiranyakashyapa and Hiranaksha had been born with the worst devilish, demonic and fiendish nature. Neither of them performed a single noble act in their lifetime. The present verse applied to them in all respects. Their salvation by the teachings of Bhagavad Geeta or by any of the Yajynas prescribed was not possible. But they got the salvation all right and much more quickly than the most accomplished Yogis can get. Bhagavan had to take special birth in order to kill them and save the mankind from their evil deeds. Bhagavan took birth as Varaha to kill Hiranaksha and as Narasimha (half lion and half man) to kill Hiranyakashyapa and they (after two more similar births) went back to the supreme abode of Bhagavan Vishnu. The reason why they had a demonic nature (which made them commit so many sins) was that they had to suffer the curse of Sanakadi sages. The reason for the curse was that they stopped the sages from entering Vishnu Loka. This was not a very grave offence because they, after all, did not recognise the divine sages. In any case, the reason why they faltered in their behaviour with Sanakadi sages was that the Goddess Laxmi had already cursed them. And why did She curse them? Because they stopped Her from approaching Bhagavan Vishnu when He was asleep. This was, apparently, the original lapse on the part of Jaya and Vijaya which was responsible for the entire chain of events and which led to their acquiring demonic nature and all the evil deeds they helplessly performed under its motivation. Let us, therefore, analyse this lapse a little more.

The reason why Jaya and Vijaya would have stopped Goddess Laxmi from going to Bhagavan Vishnu must have been that out of utmost devotion to Bhagavan they would not have wanted Him to be disturbed in His sleep. Surely, they would not have meant any offence to His divine wife. What was the lapse then for which she cursed them?

It appears that Goddess Laxmi is symbolic of Bhagavan's divine play (Lila) and sleeping Bhagavan Vishnu is symbolic of the supreme stage of Brahma away from the three Gunas and away from activity (Shanta Bhava). The meaning of Jaya and Vijaya stopping Goddess Laxmi from disturbing the sleeping Bhagavan Vishnu is that they developed a preference for the Shanta Bhava at the cost of Lila. As a result of this, the Lila punished them. Not only this. The phenomenon of developing a preference for Shanta Bhava at the cost of Lila (on the part of Jaya and Vijaya) is itself a Lila. This Lila, the divine play, which is inseparable from Bhagavan, is the supreme cause of all phenomena. All linkages of causes and effects terminate in Lila. In the field of action and sense experience, one is always subject to Lila or Nature but in spite of this, one can be entirely free from bondage if one has the supreme vision of knowledge.

The story of Jaya and Vijaya is very dramatic containing a few steps only. In my case innumerable chains might be involved which might have resulted in my demonic nature in a very complicated way. But, who knows, my story also might have begun like Jaya Vijaya. It is pointless to try to trace the chain. One should be free from doubt and pursue one's duty, as it is visible to the intellect remembering Him.

When, impelled by the divine nature, one knows that Bhagavan Shri Krishna is the eternal cause of all the beings and is immutable, the mind cannot go anywhere else because it knows that nothing is better than Him. Hence, these great-souled automatically come to the stage when they worship Him exclusively with the mind not going anywhere else. This is a natural consequence of the knowledge and awareness gained so far in this chapter. The fulfilment of knowledge comes in devotion.

Striving includes not only effort to gain knowledge and realisation but also the effort towards performance of worldly duties.

As a natural consequence of enlightenment and devotion ensuing from it, one remains ever united, firm in the discipline one needs and strives to discharge one's worldly duties or Yajyna as well as the spiritual practices.

The discipline one needs for moving on one's path of evolution depends upon one's nature, environment and the stage of one's evolution. This discipline is not to be imposed from outside. It occurs from within, gradually and naturally. The aspirant, during his course of evolution automatically gets firmly established in this discipline and becomes `Dhritavrata'. Bowing down to Bhagavan at every stage becomes his habit.

Conventionally Kirtayantah means praising, chanting Bhagavan's names, glory etc. in the form of devotional songs. However, such a Kirtana cannot be performed as an unbroken sequence (Satatam) and that too coupled with striving in worldly and spiritual fields. Here Kirtana means praise and adoration of Bhagavan, which goes on deep down in the heart unaffected by any activity of body or mind.

Such a Kirtana only can be performed eternally and continuously without break. It cannot be performed by one's own effort. It has to be gifted by Him.

Visvatomukha means that cosmic form having faces on every side. Every constituent of the universe represents a face of Him who is Visvatomukha. Some worship Him as Self in which case the worshipper and the worshipped are the same. Others worship Him as a deity in which He is always separate from the worshipper. In essence, there is no contradiction between worshipping as identical and as separate. Even His worship as a separate form can be in various forms: worship as a servant, as a family member, as husband or wife, as a son, father, mother etc.

The various forms in which Bhagavan can be conceived are being narrated in the following verses.

With respect to Vedic rituals and Yajynas prescribed in Smriti texts (like five great Yajynas) etc. to propitiate gods and manes, Bhagavan explains that He is each and every constituent of such rites and also the act of offering oblation into the fire. This verse compares with verse 24 of chapter IV.

Thus a person engaged in the ceremony of Kratu (Vedic ritual) or Yajyna (in the sense of a sacrificial rite) can see Him during the entire ceremony and remain absorbed in Him all the time.

These verses are hardly to be understood or interpreted. They are to be enjoyed and absorbed. The pleasure, which is there in chanting and listening to this verse and the next, cannot be described in words.

Ordinarily, when a plant or tree grows out of a seed, the seed is lost. This seed, however, is such that it causes innumerable plants and trees and yet remains intact and immutable.

He is Sat as well as Asat.

Traividyah means followers of the three-fold knowledge described in Sama, Rik and Yajus Vedas. It means performance of various rites as laid down in the scriptures and carrying out various procedural sacrifices. Soma juice is the sap of a herb called Soma which is used in the performance of Yajynas and is supposed to be drunk at the end of the Yajyna.

Even though their past sins are washed away and they become purified, they are still desire-bound because they perform the Yajynas and rites with a desire to attain heaven. Accordingly, they do attain the abode of Indra, the king of gods, and enjoy the divine fruits of the gods.

Bhagavan has made it clear that whatever deity they may be worshipping through these Yajynas or rites, they worship Him only, although they may not be aware of it.

As long as desires still dominate us we cannot get to the eternal abode of Bhagavan. Whatever we get with the motivation of desires is finite and must be exhausted. After that one has to return to the mortal world

Those ever united ones who worship Me, thinking of nothing else; I look after their needs and possessions (22)

In contrast to the people mentioned in the previous two verses, those who have no desire except to have ever increasing love and devotion in the lotus feet of Bhagavan, who are ever united and who worship Him constantly are always looked after by Him. He take care of their Yogakshema (yoga means possession of what is required to be possessed and Kshema means security of what is required to be saved. This does not mean that the devotee gets whatever he desires. He never desires anything except devotion to Bhagavan so the question of his getting or not getting what he desires does not arise. Bhagavan Himself decides what he should have by way of Yogakshema and then gives it. From the point of view of his supreme good, if happiness, wealth, comfort, peace etc. are required at any moment, Bhagavan gives these to him. If sorrow, poverty, adversity, mental turmoil etc. are considered necessary at any point of time for his supreme good, Bhagavan does not hesitate to give these to His devotee. As far as the devotee is concerned, he does not discriminate between happiness and sorrow, wealth and poverty, mental peace and turmoil etc. He accepts whatever Bhagavan gives as His Prasada, His grace. Some times Bhagavan looks after the welfare of his devotees in a very subtle way. There is a story in Shrimadbhagavat about Ajamila who was initially a great scholar, self-disciplined and a great devotee of Bhagavan. He had attained a high level of spiritual advancement. However, one day, he saw a low caste man in a compromising posture with a prostitute. He tried his best to restrain his mind and senses, but he could not and he became addicted to vice in accordance in accordance with the sequence mentioned in Bhagavad Geeta (verse 62, 63 of chapter II) and his apparent fall from Jynana began (there can be no real fall after attaining a certain level in the path of Brahma) and in no time he became a great sinner. He deserted his noble wife, started gambling, drinking and womanising etc. At the time of death, when he saw the ferocious messengers of Yamaraja (who keeps an account of sins and meritorious) he was terrified and in that horror he called his son whose name was Narayana. The moment he uttered the name which happened to be Bhagavan's also, the messengers of Bhagavan Vishnu appeared and they drove away the messengers of Yamaraja who were trying to drag him to the hell and eventually he did not die. This incident shook him up and he woke up from his spell of ignorance and sinful life. He got back all his previous enlightenment and devotion and very soon he realised Bhagavan.

In this story, Bhagavan had been helping Ajamila throughout, sometimes explicitly and sometimes in a more subtle way. Nobody can progress in the path of Brahma without Bhagavan's grace; hence Bhagavan was helping Ajamila during the first phase of his life when he was a great scholar and devotee. After a time, his further progress must have stopped; and to enable him to progress further, it must have been necessary to give him a shock. Hence, Bhagavan blessed him with a spell of ignorance. It is commonly experienced that when a person well up on a righteous path suffers a lapse and then comes back on his path, his repentance purifies him even more and his ego gets subdued and then his progress is accelerated. Bhagavan wanted Ajamila to suffer a lapse to give him a jolt. That is why he could not restrain his mind and senses in spite of making efforts. At the end of his spell of ignorance, when he came back to his senses, his repentance (without punishment) purified him so much that his progress was accelerated. This is the subtlest way in which Bhagavan looks after his devotees. His ways are indeed very mysterious. Nobody can fathom them.

The worshippers of other gods has to be taken in the same sense as in verse 20 of chapter VII i.e. worshippers of special goods believing them to be in charge of certain domains. Such a worships follows a laid down procedure to propitiate the god who, if he accepts the worship, grants the desired result. Bhagavan says that even those who worship such gods or deities worship Him only but they do it without the right perspective. Hence, from the point of view of the supreme good, their worship is improper.

How exactly their worship is improper is being elaborated in the next verse.

One is reminded of the last verse of chapter V. He is the sole enjoyer of all the Yajynas prescribed in the scriptures, although the ignorant may assume that particular deities are the only enjoyers of their allotted Yajynas. All these deities are His forms. Similarly, He is the Lord of all the Yajynas. If one does not know Him; one is bound to fall.

How clever of You! If knowing You is so essential and you are the well wisher of everybody (remember the last verse of chapter V) why do not You come to light? You are yourself hiding from us (You have admitted that in verse 25, chapter VII); then how are we to know You? You are the enjoyer and Lord of not only all Yajynas but also all this game of knowledge and ignorance. You know all the beings of past, present and future, but nobody knows you (verse 26, chapter VII). Your own Maya prevents us from knowing You, my lord. You want the cosmic order that way, it seems, that out of thousands, one person strives for perfection, and out of the multitude of striving ones only one knows You (verse 3, chapter II). Kathopanishada declares very rightly that nobody can know You by an intellectual effort. You are known only by virtue of Your own grace. Your ways are mysterious. Sometimes You grace us with knowledge. Sometimes you grace us with ignorance, which is for our ultimate good. You play hide and seek from us so that we may develop craving for You. Sometimes You make us believe that with proper effort we can achieve everything. Sometimes we know that all our actions, efforts, thoughts etc. are all due to Your motivation. Nobody, not even Brahma, the Maharshis and gods, know what you are going to do. Your ways are truly mysterious: sometimes You take the shortest cut to create the desired result, sometimes You take the most round about way. One may have faith in You that whatever You do or get done through us is for the ultimate good, but no one can be sure what You are going to do at any particular moment.

Those who do not know Him in essence, worship or are vowed to gods, manes and spirits or ghosts. Ultimately, one attains whatever form one worships. In the second line of verse 23, chapter also Bhagavan had said that the worshippers of gods go to gods while His worshippers go to Him.

In the last verse, Bhagavan Shri Krishna said that as a rule a person goes to the form he worships and whoever worships Him attains Him. But how is one to worship Him? How is He pleased? Is it very difficult? No, not at all, as explained by Bhagavan in this verse. As long as one has purity of heart and devotion, Bhagavan does not demand anything else. He is not only satisfied with the humblest of offerings, but He enjoys it. For the pure hearted, even uninitiated in the knowledge of Sankhya, He is a living reality. He accepts offerings in a manifest form, He talks, plays like a child and even obeys the commands of His devotees without going into their merits. So, His worship is very easy and it gives rise to direct experience. It is in this particular sense that the knowledge imparted by Bhagavan in this chapter is Pratyakshyavagamam and Susukham (verse 2 of this chapter).

But devotion and purity of heart cannot be gained by a mortal effort. They have to be blessed by Him. We have to go on worshipping Him with as much as purity of heart and devotion as He has given us at the moment. He is very kind and graceful. He will surely give us the rest; not necessarily in the way we expect though. He has His own ways.

Apart from worshipping Him as explained in the previous verse and enjoying His presence, one has to perform one's worldly duties also. This verse throws light upon how that is to be done. On this subject, Bhagavan Shri Krishna has spoken several times before (verses 37, 38, 47, 48 of chapter II, verses 8, 9, 19, 25, 30 of chapter III, verses 15 of chapter IV, verse 7 of chapter VIII for example) but the culmination of all that is the present verse. Of course what Bhagavan says now is echoed in verse 30 of chapter III but now the perspective is intensely devotional. It does not matter what we do, eat, sacrifice, give or what austerity we perform. What is important is that whatever it is, we offer unto our beloved Bhagavan. He has become a little more greedy in this verse than He was in the previous one. In the previous verse, He was satisfied with even a leaf, flower, fruit or water that was offered to Him. Now He wants everything whatever we do, eat, sacrifice, give etc. But it is for our welfare, it is for purification of our actions. He does not gain anything by sacrifices or offerings; everything is already His. But our actions get purified this way. If we have to offer all our activities to our beloved Bhagavan whom we love and worship intensively, the question of our committing sinful acts does not arise. Even if some lapses occur, we can place them on His feet and pray to Him to forgive us.

As a matter of fact this verse combines action and devotion to such an extent that both of them become indistinguishable.

The ego which makes us assume that we are performing the actions is the bondage of action. On account of it, we take credit for performing certain actions and blame others (and ourselves too, at times) for performing wrongful actions without realising that actions are nothing but the interplay of Gunas of Nature. Bondage in actions is due to the attachment and aversion. When actions are performed in the spirit of the last verse, the ego is subdued on account of the love and devotion to Bhagavan. On account of the offering made to Him, one is not concerned about the consequences also. Hence, one is relieved of both the kinds of bondage. When this happens one gains renunciation of actions as well as Yoga or union to Bhagavan. Being entirely liberated, he attains Bhagavan.

Has Bhagavan Shri Krishna forgotten what He said in verse 17, chapter VII? There He said that He is extremely dear to the enlightened and the enlightened is dear to Him. Now He says that no one is dear or hostile to Him. The truth is that in this verse He is talking about `beings' and the enlightened (Jynani) mentioned in verse 17, chapter VII is not a `being' in the sense that his consciousness has expanded far beyond body and senses. In verse 18 of chapter VII Bhagavan says that the enlightened is no other than the Self. Since Bhagavan also is no other than the Self, He and the enlightened are not different. That is why He ways that those who worship Him with devotion are in Him and He is in them. Such devotees of Bhagavan are identical with the enlightened (of verse 17, chapter VII) and therefore, with the Self.

To the beings bound by body and sense consciousness, He is even in all cases. He does not favour anyone. He graces all of them equally like the sun, which shines on all the objects equally. However on account of their differences of Sanskaras, different individuals feel the grace differently

Exclusive devotion to Bhagavan Shri Krishna cuts asunder the Sanskaras - the natural handicaps of individuals. One has a wicked nature only on account of Sanskaras. These Sanskaras might have been acquired over a series of births and ultimately they owe their origin to Bhagavan's divine play. When one has exclusive devotion to Bhagavan, the Sanskaras start melting away and he is to be regarded as righteous, since he is on the right path.

The wicked minded who takes to exclusive devotion to Bhagavan soon becomes a saint and attains eternal peace. He has guaranteed that His devotee never perishes.

But, extremely generous and graceful of You as it is, this guarantee is hardly sufficient for us, O Lord. Where can we get the exclusive devotion to you except as a grace from You? We cannot get the required devotion and love by our so-called own effort. Our intellect shows the way only to the extent that it reflects Your light. Our(Yours, in fact!) body and senses perform their duties only by the ability and strength given by You. The mind dwells on thoughts planted by You alone. Where is our own effort then? The entire apparatus making our own effort is dancing on your tune. We do not even know (whatever `We' are and whatever is our worth) whether we are performing Your services properly or not. If we are committing any lapse, knowingly or unknowingly please forgive us; for we are Your ignorant and deluded children. We shall go on striving to perform actions as service to You by whatever light the intellect - graced by You - shows us, by the body and senses as far as possible. Beyond that, we do not know anything. It is all over to You my Lord. You must grace us with love and devotion. We can only worship You to the extent that You have given us devotion. Please guarantee us devotion also. Do not leave us in the midstream just saying that your devotees never perish. Make us Your devotees also.

This is the final stage of enlightenment. Bhagavan Shri Krishna in the last verse of sixth chapter hinted it. When the mind is ever absorbed in Him, one is His devotee, one worships Him, surrenders to Him, and then one is really united. This is the unity of the highest order. The stage is then set for attaining Him. He takes care of it. This is the culmination of the entire knowledge.

The mind ever absorbed in Him does not present any difficulty while performing worldly duties. While engrossed in worldly activity, one cannot be thinking of Bhagavan exclusively. At that time the worldly duty in the form of action itself is Bhagavan's form. In the beginning of an action, in the end of sometime during the activity also, a remembrance of Bhagavan may come spontaneously, but no conscious effort is necessary to maintain any remembrance of Bhagavan at the time of performing worldly duties. Similarly worshipping Him includes performing worldly activities diligently and sincerely. The final outcome must, at every stage, be surrendered to Bhagavan and at every stage one must bow down to Him. His grace is above all.