Verse 7

In plain words

'The field-knower' — this term still owes us its full description; that comes later. The one who holds real power, the field-knower, whom to fully know is to become deathless — that one Kṛṣṇa himself will describe in his own words, everything that defines him, starting from the verse 'What is to be known, that I shall declare' (Bhagavad Gītā 13.12) and onward. But right now, something else: the whole set of qualities that make that knowledge possible — freedom from self-importance and everything like it. Carrying these is what actually makes a person ready, actually fit, to know that ultimate object. And whoever holds that knowledge as the one thing worth having is called a renunciant, someone established in knowledge. This set of qualities — because it serves knowledge, because it has earned the very name 'knowledge' — Kṛṣṇa now lays before us.

'Freedom from self-importance': self-importance is simply what shows up in someone who thinks highly of himself — praising his own worth to himself. Its absence is what this word names. 'Freedom from hypocrisy': hypocrisy means putting your own religious observance on display; its absence is this quality. 'Non-violence' is simply not harming — withholding pain from any living being. 'Forbearance' is staying unshaken when someone wrongs you. 'Straightforwardness' is being upright — no crookedness in you at all. 'Attending on the teacher' means serving, through obedience and everything like it, the teacher who shows the way to liberation. 'Purity' means washing the body's impurities with earth and water; and, inwardly, it means clearing the mind's impurities — attachment and the rest — by deliberately cultivating their opposite. 'Steadiness' is a settled, resolved mind, fixed only on the path to liberation and nothing else. And 'self-restraint' means reining in this whole bundle of body and senses — which actually does us harm, even though we call it 'myself' — reining in what by nature wants to run off in every direction, and turning it, only it, toward the good.

Close to the Sanskrit

'Kṣetrajña' [is a term] whose qualifying description is yet to be stated — him, who, possessed of power, the field-knower, from complete knowledge of whom immortality arises — him the Blessed Lord will himself state, together with his qualifier, by means of [the verse] beginning 'jñeyaṃ yat tat pravakṣyāmi' [what is to be known, that I shall declare] (Bhagavad Gītā 13.12) and so on. Now, however, the group of means to that knowledge, characterized by amānitva [freedom from self-importance] and so on — by whose presence one becomes fit, qualified, for the knowledge of that object of knowledge; and one for whom that [knowledge] is supreme is called a renunciate established in knowledge — that group [beginning with] amānitva, because it is a means to knowledge, [and] denotable by the word 'knowledge' — the Blessed Lord now prescribes —

'Amānitva' [means]: mānitva [is] the state of a self-important person — the self-praise of oneself; its absence [is] amānitva. 'Adambhitva' [means]: dambhitva [is] the ostentatious display of one's own [religious] observance; its absence [is] adambhitva. 'Ahiṃsā' [is] non-harming, the non-affliction of living beings. 'Kṣānti' [is] non-agitation upon suffering an offense committed by another. 'Ārjava' [is] uprightness, non-crookedness. 'Ācāryopāsana' [is] service, by way of obedience and so on, of the teacher who instructs in the means to liberation. 'Śauca' [is] the washing of bodily impurities by earth and water; and internally, the removal of the mind's impurities such as attachment, by cultivating the opposite [attitude], [is] likewise śauca. 'Sthairya' [is] firmness of state — a resolve made and fixed only on the path to liberation. 'Ātmavinigraha' [is] the restraint — of the aggregate of effect and instrument [i.e. body and senses], which does harm to oneself [though] denoted by the word 'self' — [namely] the checking, toward the good path alone, of what by its own nature proceeds in every direction; [this] checking is ātmavinigraha.

In plain words

“Arjuna! Your śraddhā gives Me great joy; listen. The first is what is called ‘amānitva’, that is, being without self-regard. As long as there is pride, Jñāna does not arise. Man's vṛttis should be like water: whatever colour you add to water, the water turns that colour and becomes one with it. Water has no self-regard at all. Man's conduct is the very opposite of this. If he does some small kindness, some trifling act of charity, ten people must hear of it. If there is no way for them to hear of it, he goes about telling it himself, or has it printed in some newspaper. To be without such self-regard is amānitva.”

“Next, the second: ‘adambhitva’, being without ostentation. This is a great good quality in a man. To pose as great when one is not, to behave as though one had every power when one has no power or ability at all, to wield authority as though one held all authority when one holds none – these are the marks of ostentation. To be free of these and conduct oneself just as one is, is called adambhitva.”

In plain words

“Next, the third is ‘Ahiṃsā’; this too is a chief quality. Hurting others, causing them hardship, ensnaring them in worries: vṛttis of this kind are called ‘hiṃsā’. To be without them is called Ahiṃsā. But merely not hurting others with the body is not Ahiṃsā. To practise, in the karmas of mind, speech and body, vṛttis that are free from harm and free from selfishness: this is what is called true Ahiṃsā.”

“The fourth is ‘kṣamā’. It is also called ‘kṣānti’, and also ‘sahana’. That is: whatever wrongs, injuries and betrayals others may have done to one, even if they go on hating one, to think of them all as scenes in a dream, to regard them as mirages, and to forget them. But that forbearance is not putting up with things out of inability, for want of strength, or because there is no other way. Along with Śānti in the heart, kṣānti must come outwardly as well,” He said. How true! To stay patient for the praise of people outside, or because one lacks, or has too little of, the strength of body, wealth and people behind one, or because one thinks that nothing one does will avail — that cannot be kṣānti. This too is as important as Ahiṃsā.

“Next, the fifth, ‘ṛjutva’. Ordinarily it is also called ‘honesty’. Without falsehood or deceit, keeping no tricks or hidden designs, the work one does, the word one speaks and the thought one thinks must be one in form. This has to be kept above all in both lives, the worldly and the other-worldly. It seems, perhaps, to be another foot of ‘adambhitva’.”

“Next, the sixth quality: ‘ācāryopāsana’. Just as a guru is needed for worldly duties, this is needed for the learning of Vedānta too. The affection for the disciple that Bhakti to the guru awakens in the guru can raise the disciple to the highest state. But guruhood without an aim is lost and falls to ruin. As a cow lets down her milk on seeing her calf, so the guru, on seeing the disciple, must pour out his grace. For those who seek to reach God and to attain Mokṣa, the guru's teachings alone are the support,” He declared.

“The seventh is ‘śauca’, that is, purification. Not outer śauca alone: inner śauca is what matters most, and that is the śauca of the antaḥkaraṇa. When there is neither rāga nor dveṣa, neither kāma nor krodha, and sāttvika, divine qualities shine forth, that may be called inner śauca. One must purify the body with water, Manas with Satya, the jīvātma with vidyā and tapas, and Buddhi with Jñāna.”

“The eighth is ‘sthairya’, freedom from a fickle citta. Not a new notion every minute and a new game every day: once the sādhaka is convinced that something is good, then however many troubles arise, he must keep his hold and practise it with śraddhā. This is also called ‘dīkṣā’. Its inner meaning is that weakness is of no use.”

“The ninth is ‘indriya-nigraha’. You must understand that the senses exist for you; you do not exist for the senses. Do not be their servant; make them your servants,” He taught.