Gita 07.07 – Krishna is the substance underlying all appearance

Bhagavad Gita 7.7 This verse, Krishna, makes the theistic foundation of His Sankhya analysis explicit, unambiguous and emphatic. So, in the previous verses, He has analysed material existence into its various elements, and He has talked about how there is the conscious being who is my Prakriti, and then He has said that how all of existence is pervaded as a combination of these two beings, all living beings are a combination of these two natures, and He is the shelter of all of them, ultimately.

So, now Krishna, in this verse, He continues that and He says that if one tries to explore deeper, beyond Him, there is nothing beyond Him. matthaha paratharam na anyat matthaha, from me, beyond me, paratharam, paratharam, beyond me, na anyat, there is nothing beyond me. gimchit astidhana njaya, there is no truth beyond me, Krishna says.

So, paratharam, there is no truth higher than me, there is no truth beyond me, and when Krishna says, me, it's me, matthaha, matthaha is very clear and ambiguous, Krishna is not referring to any impersonal essence within Him, Krishna is talking about Himself directly. gimchit astidhana njaya, there is no truth beyond me. And then He says, mayi sarvamidam protham, mayi, by me, sarvamidam protham, by me, all of existence is pervaded, sutre maniganaiva, just as sutra, the thread pervades the necklace with all its jewels, maniganaiva, now, the metaphysical search is characterized by a quest for the first principles, for the first causes, for the origin of things, and Krishna, through the analysis which He has given till now, has explained how He is that original principle, He is that first cause, and then He is stating clearly that there is no cause other than me, there is no truth higher than me, there is no truth beyond me, matthaha paratram na anyad, the significance of this declaration that there is no truth beyond me, its significance is that Krishna has, at the start of this chapter, said that He will speak about the yoga, the result of speaking about that yoga will be that your mind will become attached to me, and further it is stated that that you will know me in truth, so that knowledge, by which we can know Krishna in truth, without any doubt, we will come to know Him fully, and then by that knowledge our mind will become attached to Him, so that knowledge Krishna is giving, and that knowledge is told over here, that actually everything that we see in existence is a manifestation of Krishna's energy, and Krishna is the sustainer, the original cause, the first principle that underlies everything, and there is nothing beyond Krishna, normally the philosophical mind wants to search beyond appearance to substance, the philosophical mind wants to look for the first principle of things, it wants to know what is it that originally existed, what is it that is the foundation, the sustenance, the basis of all of existence, so that search, that philosophical search Krishna is saying, it culminates in me because there is no truth beyond me, and then just as he gives an example of how a wise person can understand the substance beyond the appearance, in the case of a necklace, when people see a necklace, what catches their attention is the jewels, all shining jewels, and then people appreciate a necklace, are attracted by a necklace to the extent its jewels are beautiful, now a more discerning eye will know that there is value for the jewels also, but the jewels won't be held together without a necklace, without the necklace thread, and the thread is what is essential for the necklace to be held together, it's invisible, but it's indispensable, just as the necklace will fall apart, there will be no thread, similarly all of existence will fall apart, in fact there will be no existence at all, if Krishna would not be there as the underlying unifying principle, so Krishna is the foundation, is the fundamental substance underlying all appearances, why would anyone want to look for the substance, because appearances do not last, when a person wants to develop a relationship with someone, when a boy wants to impress a girl, or when a girl wants to catch a boy, at that time they put on their best looks, but after they get married, then the real nature comes out, so if you get to know the substance of someone's character, of someone's nature, then we can have a fairer assessment of compatibility, and we can understand better the possibility of a stable relationship, we may purchase a product, initially the packaging, the marketing looks very good, but when we use it, then we understand how good it is, because when we use it regularly, then the substance, then the essential quality, its stability, its reliability, all that comes into the picture, so for longevity of any relationship or any function, any utility, the substance is far more important than the appearance, similarly in this world, we get captivated by appearances of things, good looking sense objects, good tasting foods, and things like that, but they give only temporary pleasure, आध्यान्तवन्तः कौन ते, Vishnu has said this in 5.22, so if we can go beyond the appearance to the substance, then there we can find lasting fulfillment, there we can find the real thing that will be there for real, for all time to come, and that real thing is Krishna, so the point of this example is that Krishna is urging us don't get caught, don't get deluded, don't get captivated by the appearance of things, stay focused on the search for the substance beyond the appearance and no need to be the substance, Krishna will reiterate this when in 7.19 he will say that बहुनां जिन्मनामन्ते ज्यानवान्मां प्रपद्यते वासुदेवः सर्वमिति समाहत्मासुदर्लभाः वासुदेवः सर्वमिति those who are ज्यानवान् those who know how to go beyond the appearance to the substance they will know that the ultimate substance of all of existence is वासुदेव वासुदेवः सर्वमिति and knowing this they will surrender to Krishna वासुदेवः सर्वमिति that is where Krishna is drawing us through this discussion to the point of understanding that He is the essential substance in all of existence and how He underlies various elements we talked about in the next four verses after which we will come to summarizing principles in the next verse Thank you.