# 07/H.E.A.D
### Whether it’s a holiday destination, the choice of university for further studies, or the restaurant for next week’s party, most things in life require some research. While we value our gut feelings, we simultaneously utilise our intelligence and exercise discrimination. The same goes for spirituality. It is not simply an emotional feeling or practice; it requires intelligent research and information gathering. It is an affair of the head and the heart. Einstein once stated that religious practice without philosophy was simply sentimental, and in more acute situations, downright fanatic. In Chapter Seven, entitled “Knowledge of the Absolute”, we learn key philosophical truths which instil confidence and conviction in the path of devotion to Krishna.
## H
[**Hearing (1-3)** ](#user-content-fn-1)[^1]
If we begin by hearing, studying and understanding God in depth and detail, then the prospect of finding Him becomes a distinct possibility. He may well be closer than we think, but without the necessary information, we’ll be completely oblivious to the fact. For example, if you wanted to identify your father, the most practical way would be to ask your mother. You could subsequently verify by a DNA test. If you wanted to find out what BBC1 was showing tonight, the obvious approach would be to consult a TV guide. You could subsequently verify by actually watching the programmes. It’s childish and irrational to solely depend on our sensory experience. Accepting a ‘higher authority,’ be it the mother or the TV guide, opens up opportunities to experience and understand things directly. Krishna begins this chapter by stressing the absolute necessity of hearing from spiritual sources, higher authorities, to grasp cosmic truths. This is known as the descending path of knowledge.
## E
[**Everywhere (4-12)** ](#user-content-fn-2)[^2]
By hearing from authorised spiritual sources one can acquire Absolute knowledge of Divinity. Krishna cites the beautiful analogy of a pearl necklace. The pearls are fixed in perfect pattern, arranged as a beautiful necklace, though the thread, the essential binding factor, remains completely invisible. Similarly, God designs, creates and sustains the complex workings of the universe, yet remains invisible to the immature observer. The extreme intricacy and sophistication of the creation, however, naturally indicates the existence of higher intelligence. Krishna further explains how He is also the essence of everything within creation – the taste of water, the light of the sun and the ability in man. Through the eyes of knowledge, one can learn to see God everywhere – as the source of creation, and also within the creation.
## A
[**Accept or Reject (13-19)** ](#user-content-fn-3)[^3]
If God can be perceived everywhere and His existence is so strikingly obvious, why is there still wholesale denial of Him? Resisting forceful compliance, Krishna endows each individual with the free will to ‘fly their own plane’ and decide where to repose their faith. He describes the four types of people who reject God due to their preoccupation in worldly pursuits, and the four types of people who do accept God, albeit with different motivations. Only a rare soul is able to approach God without any ulterior motive, and thus enter into a selfless relationship of love. That level of spiritual purity, Krishna says, may take thousands of births.
## D
[**Demigods (20-30)** ](#user-content-fn-4)[^4]
Some worship God, while others reject him. In between however, are who worship His representatives (the demigods), and those who connect with His Impersonal feature. Those who worship demigods only derive temporary material benefits. Those who approach the Impersonal feature lose the opportunity of experiencing a direct loving relationship with the Supreme Person. Thus, although all religiosity deserves credit, one must go further and gain an accurate and precise understanding of God’s identity. If you were to be operated on, you would insist the surgeon be well-versed in the details and intricacies of the process. It is, after all, a matter of life and death. Similarly, to simply believe in God is not enough; one must understand the nature, identity and personality of God, since the vibrancy of one’s spirituality depends on it.
> ### *“PEOPLE ARE STRANGE. THEY ARE CONSTANTLY ANGERED BY TRIVIAL THINGS, BUT ON MAJOR MATTERS LIKE TOTALLY WASTING THEIR LIVES, THEY HARDLY SEEM TO NOTICE”* *\~ CHARLES BUKOWSKI*
[^1]: **Bg. 7.1 - 7.3**\
**Source:** [**Vedabase**](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/)
[TEXT 1:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/1/) The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Now hear, O son of Pṛthā, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt.
[TEXT 2:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/2/) I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. This being known, nothing further shall remain for you to know.
[TEXT 3:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/3/) Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.
[^2]: **Bg. 7.4 - 7.12**\
**Source:** [**Vedabase**](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/)
[TEXT 4:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/4/) Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.
[TEXT 5:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/5/) Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.
[TEXT 6:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/6/) All created beings have their source in these two natures. Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both the origin and the dissolution.
[TEXT 7:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/7/) O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.
[TEXT 8:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/8/) O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.
[TEXT 9:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/9/) I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.
[TEXT 10:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/10/) O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men.
[TEXT 11:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/11/) I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O lord of the Bhāratas \[Arjuna].
[TEXT 12:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/12/) Know that all states of being – be they of goodness, passion or ignorance – are manifested by My energy. I am, in one sense, everything, but I am independent. I am not under the modes of material nature, for they, on the contrary, are within Me.
[^3]: **Bg. 7.13 - 7.19**\
**Source:** [**Vedabase**](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/)
[TEXT 13:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/13/) Deluded by the three modes \[goodness, passion and ignorance], the whole world does not know Me, who am above the modes and inexhaustible.
[TEXT 14:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/14/) This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.
[TEXT 15:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/15/) Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me.
[TEXT 16:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/16/) O best among the Bhāratas, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me – the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
[TEXT 17:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/17/) 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.
[TEXT 18:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/18/) All these devotees are undoubtedly magnanimous souls, but he who is situated in knowledge of Me I consider to be just like My own self. Being engaged in My transcendental service, he is sure to attain Me, the highest and most perfect goal.
[TEXT 19:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/19/) After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.
[^4]: **Bg. 7.20 - 7.30**\
**Source:** [**Vedabase**](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/)
[TEXT 20:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/20/) Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.
[TEXT 21:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/21/) I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.
[TEXT 22:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/22/) Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.
[TEXT 23:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/23/) Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.
[TEXT 24:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/24/) Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.
[TEXT 25:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/25/) I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and infallible.
[TEXT 26:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/26/) O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows.
[TEXT 27:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/27/) O scion of Bharata, O conqueror of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, bewildered by dualities arisen from desire and hate.
[TEXT 28:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/28/) Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination.
[TEXT 29:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/29/) Intelligent persons who are endeavoring for liberation from old age and death take refuge in Me in devotional service. They are actually Brahman because they entirely know everything about transcendental activities.
[TEXT 30:](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/30/) Those in full consciousness of Me, who know Me, the Supreme Lord, to be the governing principle of the material manifestation, of the demigods, and of all methods of sacrifice, can understand and know Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even at the time of death.