{"entry":{"slug":"bg-chapter-07","title":"Bhagavad Gīta Chapter 7 — Jñāna-Vijñāna Yoga","devanagari":"ज्ञानविज्ञानयोग","iast":"jñāna-vijñāna-yoga","type":"bg-chapter","url":"https://thecodex.expert/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-07/","codex":"sanatana-dharma","last_verified":"2026-05","confidence":"high"},"chapter":{"number":7,"name":"Jñāna-vijñāna-yoga","name_translation":"The Yoga of Knowledge and Realised Wisdom","verses":30,"speaker_primary":"Kṛṣṇa (throughout)","key_verses":["7.4–7.6","7.14","7.15","7.16","7.17–7.19","7.27"]},"summary":"Chapter 7 opens the Gīta's theistic-devotional section. Kṛṣṇa discloses his lower Prakṛti (8-fold material world) and higher Prakṛti (the living principle, consciousness). BG 7.14: his divine Māyā constituted of Guṇas is hard to cross — but those who take refuge in him cross it. BG 7.15: four types who do not seek God. BG 7.16: four types of devotees (ārta, jijñāsu, arthārthin, jñānī). BG 7.17–7.18: the Jñānī is most dear — considered by Kṛṣṇa to be his very self. BG 7.19: vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti — Vāsudeva is all (very rare recognition). BG 7.27: desire+aversion produce dvandva-moha (delusion of pairs) from birth.","key_verses_detail":{"BG_7_4_6":{"lower_prakrti":"aparā prakṛti: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, ego (ahaṃkāra) — 8-fold material world","higher_prakrti":"parā prakṛti: jīva-bhūtā — the living principle, consciousness, that sustains the world","BG_7_6":"These two Prakṛtis are the womb of all beings. Kṛṣṇa is the origin and dissolution of the world.","advaita_reading":"Both Prakṛtis are within cosmic Māyā; Brahman is beyond both. BG 7.6 = Kṛṣṇa speaking as supreme Brahman at Vyavahārika level.","vishishtadvaita_reading":"The two Prakṛtis are real modes/bodies of Viṣṇu. Material world and individual selves are permanently real — God's real body."},"BG_7_14":{"devanagari":"दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया / मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन्ति ते","iast":"daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā / mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṃ taranti te","translation":"This divine Māyā of mine, constituted of the Guṇas, is hard to cross. But those who take refuge in Me alone cross this Māyā.","note":"The divine creative power (Kṛṣṇa's own) produces the appearance of the world as separate from God. Crossing Māyā = by refuge in Kṛṣṇa, not self-effort alone."},"BG_7_15":{"note":"Four types who do NOT seek God: duṣkṛtino (evil-doers); mūḍhāḥ (deluded/fools); naradhama (lowest of humans); māyayāpahṛta-jñānā (those whose knowledge has been taken away by Māyā, following demonic nature). Śaṅkara: not permanent categories — conditions, not eternal states."},"BG_7_16":{"four_devotees":["ārta — seeks God in distress/suffering; motivated by pain","jijñāsu — seeks God out of intellectual curiosity; motivated by desire to know","arthārthin — seeks God for worldly prosperity (wealth, health, success); motivated by desire for gain","jñānī — seeks God as ultimate reality itself; not motivated by particular need"]},"BG_7_17_19":{"BG_7_17":"teṣāṃ jñānī nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate — the Jñānī, always established in unity, whose devotion is single-pointed, is the best. I am exceedingly dear to the Jñānī, and the Jñānī is dear to Me.","BG_7_18":"jñānī tv ātmaiva me matam — I consider the Jñānī to be my very self. For the Jñānī takes refuge in Me alone as the highest goal. Advaita: the Jñānī who knows Kṛṣṇa is Brahman recognises identity — devotion becomes Jñāna. Viśiṣṭādvaita: 'like my very self' — supremely dear Jñānī in eternal devotional relationship.","BG_7_19":"bahūnāṃ janmanām ante jñānavān māṃ prapadyate / vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ — At the end of many births, the wise takes refuge in Me thinking 'Vāsudeva is all.' Such a great soul is very rare."},"BG_7_27":{"iast":"icchā-dveṣa-samutthena dvandva-mohena bhārata / sarva-bhūtāni sammohaṃ sarge yānti paraṃtapa","translation":"By the delusion of pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion, all beings go into delusion at the time of birth.","note":"icchā-dveṣa (desire+aversion) → dvandva-moha (delusion of duality) → embedded in embodied experience from birth. Resolution (7.28): those whose evil has ended, free from delusion of pairs, worship Kṛṣṇa with resolute vows."}},"jnana_vijnayana_distinction":"jñāna = scriptural/conceptual knowledge; vijñāna = direct experiential realisation of what jñāna describes. Chapter 7 aims at both.","sources":[{"tier":1,"citation":"BG 7.1–7.30 with Śaṅkara Gītābhāṣya · Gambhirananda (Advaita Ashrama, 2006), pp. 319–358"},{"tier":1,"citation":"Rāmānuja, Gītābhāṣya on BG 7.4–7.6; 7.17–7.18 · Thibaut (SBE Vol.48, 1904)"},{"tier":2,"citation":"Zaehner (OUP, 1969), pp. 229–246"}],"navigation":{"previous":{"chapter":6,"url":"/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-06/","name":"Dhyāna Yoga"},"next":{"chapter":8,"url":"/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-08/","name":"Akṣara-Brahma Yoga"}},"provenance":{"confidence":"high","last_verified":"2026-05","citation":"\"BG Chapter 7 — Sanātana Dharma Codex\", thecodex.expert/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-07/, last updated May 2026."}}