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BG 07.17 tesam jnani nitya-yukta... cited

Expressions researched:
"I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me" |"aham sa ca mama priyah" |"eka-bhaktir visisyate" |"priyo hi jnanino 'tyartham" |"tesam jnani nitya-yukta" |"the devotee surrenders in full knowledge" |"the one who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "7.17" or "I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me" or "aham sa ca mama priyah" or "eka-bhaktir visisyate" or "priyo hi jnanino tyartham" or "tesam jnani nitya-yukta" or "the one who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 7.17, Translation and Purport:

Of these, the one who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me.

Free from all contaminations of material desires, the distressed, the inquisitive, the penniless and the seeker after supreme knowledge can all become pure devotees. But out of them, he who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth and free from all material desires becomes a really pure devotee of the Lord. And of the four orders, the devotee who is in full knowledge and is at the same time engaged in devotional service is, the Lord says, the best. By searching after knowledge one realizes that his self is different from his material body, and when further advanced he comes to the knowledge of impersonal Brahman and Paramātmā. When one is fully purified, he realizes that his constitutional position is to be the eternal servant of God. So by association with pure devotees the inquisitive, the distressed, the seeker after material amelioration and the man in knowledge all become themselves pure. But in the preparatory stage, the man who is in full knowledge of the Supreme Lord and is at the same time executing devotional service is very dear to the Lord. He who is situated in pure knowledge of the transcendence of the Supreme Personality of God is so protected in devotional service that material contamination cannot touch him.

BG 7.19, Purport:

"Lord Viṣṇu has thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of feet. Entirely encompassing the whole universe, He still extends beyond it by ten fingers' breadth. He is in fact this entire universe. He is all that was and all that will be. He is the Lord of immortality and of all that is nourished by food." In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (5.1.15) it is said, na vai vāco na cakṣūṁṣi na śrotrāṇi na manāṁsīty ācakṣate prāṇa iti evācakṣate prāṇo hy evaitāni sarvāṇi bhavanti: "In the body of a living being neither the power to speak, nor the power to see, nor the power to hear, nor the power to think is the prime factor; it is the life air which is the center of all activities." Similarly Lord Vāsudeva, or the Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the prime entity in everything. And because Vāsudeva is all-pervading and everything is Vāsudeva, the devotee surrenders in full knowledge (cf. Bhagavad-gītā 7.17 and 11.40).

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 4

SB 4.7.38, Purport:

It is indicated in this verse that the monists and the great mystics know the Supreme Personality of Godhead as one. This oneness is not the misunderstanding that a living entity is equal in every respect to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This monism is based on pure knowledge as described and confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (7.17): priyo hi jñānino 'tyartham ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ. The Lord says that those who are advanced in transcendental knowledge and know the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness are very dear to Him, and He also is very dear to them. Those who are actually in perfect knowledge of the science of God know that the living entities are superior energy of the Supreme Lord. This is stated in Bhagavad-gītā, Seventh Chapter: the material energy is inferior, and the living entities are superior energy. Energy and the energetic are nondifferent; therefore, energies possess the same quality as the energetic. Persons who are in full knowledge of the Personality of Godhead, analyzing His different energies and knowing their own constitutional position, are certainly very, very dear to the Lord. Persons, however, who may not even be conversant with knowledge of the Supreme Personality but who always think of the Lord with love and faith, feeling that He is great and that they are His parts and parcels, ever His servitors, are even more favored by Him.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.3:

The activities of performed as sacrifices are all devotional service. The Sanskrit word yajña means "sacrifice," but it can also mean Lord Viṣṇu Himself. To perform one's activities as transcendental devotional service is possible only for those advanced souls who are fully situated in the Absolute Truth. Again, Kṛṣṇa describes His devotees in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.17):

teṣāṁ jñānī nitya-yukta
eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate
priyo hi jñānino 'tyartham
ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ

Of these, the one who is in full knowledge and is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 7.15-18 -- New York, October 9, 1966:

Now, so far the four classes of men who do not come to God... That means the impious, the foolish, the lowest of the mankind, whose knowledge has been taken away by the illusory energy, and the atheists. Apart from these classes of men, the four classes of men who come to God, just like ārta, distressed, inquisitive, arthārthī... Arthārthī means poverty-stricken. And jñānī means philosopher. Now, out of these four classes, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, teṣāṁ jñānī nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate: "Out of these four classes, men, one who is philosophically trying to understand the nature of God with devotion, with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is viśiṣyate."

Viśiṣyate means he's specially qualified. He's specially qualified. Priyo hi jñānino 'tyartham ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ. The... "For a person who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, at the same time philosophically trying to understand what is the nature of God, so he is very dear to Me," Kṛṣṇa says. "He is very dear to Me because he has no other business than to understand what is God." Others, just like a distressed man, he is in distress, but because he's pious, therefore he believes in God, he goes to the churches or to the temple or to the mosque and prays, "My dear Lord, I am very much distressed. Kindly help me." But the difficulty of this person is that God does not require to be prayed for, asking anything. He is... He is pious, he is distressed, but at the same time, he is foolish. Why he is foolish? Because he does not know that "God is with me, within my heart. He's sitting along with me. The soul and the Supersoul, both of them are sitting together. And God knows everything about me. So I do not require to pray from God to get me out of this distress. He knows everything. Why shall I pray?" He leaves everything to God. He does not pray. He prays..., he prays to glorify the God, "How great You are," not for his personal interest—"O God, give me my bread. Give me my dress. Give me my shelter." That is also good. He is better than the person, that mūḍha, the foolish, the atheist and the lowest of the mankind. He's far better. Even he is going and asking in the church, "O God, give me my daily bread." But at the same time, he is less intelligent because he does not know that "God is with me, and He knows everything about me."

Lecture on BG 7.15-18 -- New York, October 9, 1966:

There is a class of jñānī, impersonalists. They say that "Because to worship impersonal is very difficult for us, so imagine some form of God." They are not jñānīs; they are fools. Oh, you cannot imagine the form of God. God is so great. That may be your imagination, but that is not the form of God. That is concoction. They are called iconographer, iconographer. There are two classes of men: iconoclast and iconographer. Those who imagine the form of God, they are not jñānī, they are iconographer. And those who think that "I have killed God" or "I have finished God," they are iconoclast. Just like in India we have experienced during British days. There were Hindu-Muslim riots. So the Hindus would go to the mosque of the Muslim and break it, and the Muslim would go the temples of the Hindus and break the idol. And they'll think that "We have finished Hindu's God." Just like Hindus also think, "Oh, we have broken their mosque. Therefore I have broken their God." These are foolishness. In another case... I have got experience. When there was, I mean to say, noncooperation movement of Gandhi's, the people became riotous, and they began to break anything government, especially the post boxes on the street. They thought by breaking the post boxes they are finishing the post office.

So these are foolishness. They are not jñānī. One who has got real conception of God, they have no quarrel with each other. All the history of religious fight, Hindu-Muslim or Christian-non-Christian, they are all ignorant. They are all ignorant. One who is in the knowledge, he knows that God is one. God cannot be Hindu. God cannot be Muslim. God cannot be Christian. God is God. He has no material qualification. It is our conception that "God is such and such. God is such and such." That is imagination. That is called iconographer. So they are not jñānī. They are not man in knowledge. Man in knowledge is different. He knows that God is transcendental. Just like even Śaṅkarācārya, the impersonalist, he said, nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. And in the morning also we have discussed the point that one who knows God transcendental, above this material qualities, he knows.

So therefore Kṛṣṇa says here, priyo hi jñānino 'tyartham. The man who is actually in knowledge of the science of God is very dear to God. Priyo hi jñānino 'tyartham ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ. That is the personal relationship with the devotee and God. The devotee, he does not know anything beyond God, and God also does not know anything beyond His devotee. So sweet relation. God is always after me, as we have discussed many times, that He is sitting in the same tree, in this heart. I am sitting, and my friend, God, is also sitting, Supersoul, eternally. Wherever I am taking my transmigration, when I leave this body and enter into another body, God also goes there just to see what I am doing. When I shall turn my face towards Him—He is simply waiting. And as soon as I turn my face towards God, oh, He says, "My dear son, come on." Sa ca mama priyaḥ. Lord says, "You are eternally dear to Me. Now you are turning your face to Me. So I am very glad."

So therefore jñānī—one who understands the science of God. Simply God, "God is good," that is also very good. But one should understand what is the... That science of God is Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavata.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughter) Now, here the question... Here the question is that mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. So it is very easy thing. Why not surrender to Kṛṣṇa and become free from māyā? But their... The answer is there: na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhaḥ.

Dr. Patel: Four types of people.

Prabhupāda: Rascals and mūḍhās and sinful men, they do not do that.

Mr. Sar: And then again, catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ...

Prabhupāda: But those who are pious, sukṛtina, they do.

Dr. Patel: Catur-vidhā bhajante... My name is Caturbhai. (Prabhupāda chuckles)

Mr. Sar: One of them, catur-vidhā. But they... Their mode of worship is fourfold, ārto jijñāsur arthārthī... (break)

Prabhupāda: Ārto, ārto jijñāsi means gṛhasthas.

Dr. Patel: Teṣāṁ jñānī...

Prabhupāda: And jñānī and jijñāsu, sannyāsīs.

Mr. Sar: Jñānī and... I see. Ārto and...

Prabhupāda: Ārto and... Because they, the grhasthas, they feel distress of this material world.

Dr. Patel: That is, they are ārtas.

Prabhupāda: Ārtas. They are in need of money. But a sannyāsī is not in need of money, neither he cares for these worldly miseries.

Mr. Sar: He's jijñāsu.

Prabhupāda: Eh? Jijñāsu. He's jijñāsu. So they are better.

Dr. Patel: Jñānī, jijñāsu and jñānī, both together.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The jijñāsu and jñānī is almost the same thing. Anyway, so, so gṛhasthas are inferior because as soon as their distressed condition is over, they, they are no more interested.

Dr. Patel: They forget so.

Prabhupāda: They are no more interested. But these jñānīs and jijñāsu, because they want to know what is Kṛṣṇa, they continue. That is the difference.

Guest (1): Even jñānī and jijñāsu also?

Dr. Patel: Teṣāṁ jñānī nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Jijñāsu is the beginner, and jñānī is realized. Jñānī is realized. Therefore he's better. But that jñānī does not mean that "I have become God." One who is situated in bhakti-yoga. Eka-bhaktiḥ.

Mr. Sar: Eka-bhaktiḥ.

Dr. Patel: "He is dear to Me, and I am dear to him." Jñānī.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: But He is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear to Him.

Prabhupāda: No, especially. Especially. Just like you have got many students. One is very intelligent. You take care of him especially. Therefore... The jñānī is intelligent. Therefore He takes care.

Page Title:BG 07.17 tesam jnani nitya-yukta... cited
Compiler:MadhuGopaldas
Created:26 of Feb, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=2, SB=1, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=2, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:7