Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 9 - The Yoga of Sovereign Knowledge

The Yoga of Sovereign Knowledge (or The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Kingly Secret) is the heading of Chapter 9 in the Bhagavad Gita .




In the Bhagavad Gita - Text and Commentary by Sri Sivananda (Sivananda Press Durban SA) the discourse (summary) is as follows:

Observing that Arjuna is a qualified aspirant and endowed with faith, Krishna's declares to him the sovereign knowledge and sovereign secret that is to be known by direct experience. He adds that without faith in this knowledge man fails to reach God and is reborn to suffer.

Now the Lord proceeds to describe His nature as the all-comprehensive Truth. His is everything that is visible and invisible. He pervades everything that exists. He creates everything, sustains everything, and when final dissolution takes place, absorbs everything into Himself. He manifests them again when the next creation begins. All beings who are ignorant of this knowledge are caught helplessly in this cycle of birth and death. In the midst of this creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe, the Lord stands as a witness, unaffected and unattached. He is the sole director, sustainer and supervisor of His Cosmic Prakriti.

Ignorant beings are not able to recognise the Lord in one who has realised Him. Although these cruel beings assume a human form, their nature is that of demons. The god-realised Mahatma, on the other hand, is a man of knowledge, and perceives Him indwelling all beings and creatures. He beholds the underlying unity of existence in all names and forms.

The Lord's divine protection is assured to all those who take refuge in Him. Whatever path a devotee follows, he ultimately reaches Him. He is the goal of the various methods of spiritual practice. Devotion, Sri Krishna emphasises, is the essence of all-spiritual discipline. If this supreme element is present, then the devotee is freed from bondage. The Lord observes the motive and degree of devotion. Even the most sinful and diabolical man, if he takes a radical turn towards the path of the truth and righteousness, reaches the Lord if one seeks earnestly and with loving devotion. The essential thing is to fix the entire mind on the Lord and dedicate everything unto Him--one's body, mind, actions, will and emotion.


9.1 - sri-bhagavan uvacaidam tu te guhyatamampravaksyamy anasuyavejnanam vijnana-sahitamyaj jnatva moksyase ’subhat - "The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence."

9.2 - raja-vidya raja-guhyampavitram idam uttamampratyakshavagamam dharmyamsu-sukham kartum avyayam- "This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed."

9.3 - asraddadhanah purushadharmasyasya parantapaaprapya mam nivartantemrityu-samsara-vartmani - "Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this material world."

9.4 - maya tatam idam sarvamjagad avyakta-murtinamat-sthani sarva-bhutanina caham tesv avasthitah - "By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them."

9.5 - na ca mat-sthani bhutanipasya me yogam aishvarambhuta-bhrn na ca bhuta-sthomamatma bhuta-bhavanah - "And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities and although I am everywhere, I am not a part of this cosmic manifestation, for My Self is the very source of creation."

9.6 - yathakasa-sthito nityamvayuh sarvatra-go mahantatha sarvani bhutanimat-sthanity upadharaya - "Understand that as the mighty wind, blowing everywhere, rests always in the sky, all created beings rest in Me."

9.7 - sarva-bhutani kaunteyaprakritim yanti mamikamkalpa-ksaye punas tanikalpadau visrjamy aham - "O son of Kunti, at the end of the millennium all material manifestations enter into My nature, and at the beginning of another millennium, by My potency, I create them again."

9.8 - prakritim svam avastabhyavisrijami punah punahbhuta-gramam imam krtsnamavasam prakriter vasat - "The whole cosmic order is under Me. Under My will it is automatically manifested again and again, and under My will it is annihilated at the end."

9.9 - na ca mam tani karmaninibadhnanti dhananjayaudasina-vad asinamasaktam tesu karmasu - "O Dhananjaya, all this work cannot bind Me. I am ever detached from all these material activities, seated as though neutral."

9.10 - mayadhyaksena prakritihsuyate sa-caracaramhetunanena kaunteyajagad viparivartate - "This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again."

See the rest of the verses of chapter 9 here.