Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15, Verse 19

Chapter 15 – Purushottama Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

यो मामेवमसम्मूढो जानाति पुरुषोत्तमम् ।
स सर्वविद्भजति मां सर्वभावेन भारत ॥

Transliteration

yo māmevamasammūḍho jānāti puruṣottamam .
sa sarvavidbhajati māṃ sarvabhāvena bhārata ॥

Meaning

O Bharata, whoever, free from delusion, knows Me thus as the Supreme Person, knows all, and worships Me with his whole being.

Word meanings

यः – whoever
माम् – Me
एवम् – thus, in this way
असम्मूढः – undeluded
जानाति – knows
पुरुषोत्तमम् – as the Supreme Person
सः – he
सर्ववित् – knower of all
भजति – worships, adores
माम् – Me
सर्वभावेन – with his whole being, with every feeling
भारत – O descendant of Bharata (Arjuna)

Anvaya (word order)

भारत, यः असम्मूढः माम् एवम् पुरुषोत्तमम् जानाति, सः सर्ववित् सर्वभावेन माम् भजति ।

Explanation

Having explained the perishable, the imperishable and the Supreme Person, Krishna now gives the fruit of this knowledge. The asammudha is one whose delusion has gone: he neither equates God with any object in the world nor takes Krishna for an ordinary man (in 9.11 Krishna said that the deluded disregard Him because He has taken a human form). Such a person knows Him evam, ‘thus’, as beyond the perishable and higher than the imperishable.

The first fruit is to become sarvavit, ‘knower of all’. This does not mean knowing every fact in the world. It means knowing the one reality by knowing which all is known. The Mundaka Upanishad asks: what is it that, being known, makes all this known? The answer is this Supreme Reality. Shankara says such a person is all-knowing because he sees everything as the Lord, who is his own Self.

The second fruit is sarvabhavena bhajati, ‘he worships Me with his whole being’. Here knowledge and devotion become one. Ramanuja stresses that true knowledge of the Lord’s supremacy naturally flowers into complete loving devotion; such a devotee turns to God through every feeling, love, service and praise alike, and this is the means to liberation. Madhva likewise holds that knowing the Lord as supreme is the very basis of real bhakti, since we love most what we know to be greatest.

For Shankara too this worship is a form of steadfastness in knowledge, unwavering abiding in the Lord as the Self of all. So the three traditions meet beautifully in this verse: true knowledge is not separate from devotion, and true devotion does not rest on ignorance. The rare great soul of 7.19 who knows that ‘Vasudeva is all’ is this undeluded devotee.

Context

In verses 16 to 18 Krishna revealed Himself as Purushottama, beyond the perishable and the imperishable. Here He states that one who knows Him thus becomes all-knowing and worships Him wholeheartedly. In the next verse He concludes the chapter, calling it the most secret teaching.

Life lesson

Understanding God rightly is the foundation of deep devotion. The more clearly we grasp His greatness, the more fully our mind, intellect and actions turn toward Him.

Key terms

Asammudha: free from delusion and confusion
Sarvavit: knower of the One by which all is known
Sarvabhavena: with the whole heart and every feeling