by Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja

[Editor's note: This is the seventh of a series of eighteen essays on the chapters of Bhagavad-gita.]

The Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gita marks the beginning of the second great division of this work. In the first six chapters Sri Krsna has elaborately described the distinction between matter and spirit and the difference between the living entity and dead matter. And He has also described many yoga systems which are for elevating the living entity from material consciousness to spiritual consciousness. At the end of the Sixth Chapter it has been clearly stated that the steady concentration of the mind on Krsna, or in other words Krsna consciousness, is the ultimate end of all yoga. Only by concentrating one's mind upon Sri Krsna can one know the Absolute Truth completely. Moreover, impersonal Brahman and localized Paramatma have been declared to be partial representations of the Supreme Person Krsna. The different types of yoga are merely steppingstones to the path of bhakti-yoga or Krsna consciousness. One who takes directly to Krsna consciousness is called an intelligent man, for by practice of Krsna consciousness one can know everything in full, namely the Absolute Truth, the living entities, material nature and their manifestations with paraphernalia.