Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 Verse 7 (7.7)
Reflective Prompt:
Think of water. What makes it unique? Its color, its container, or its taste when you are thirsty? Where does that essential quality come from?
- ▪ Option 1: Its color and appearance — that is what we notice first.
- ▪ Option 2: Its container — the shape defines how we interact with it.
- ▪ Option 3: Its taste — the essential quality that quenches thirst, which has no shape of its own.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 Verse 7 (7.7)
मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय । मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव | | ७-७ | |
mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyatkiñchidasti dhanañjaya mayi sarvamidaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṇigaṇā iva
Word-by-word guide:
Line 1:
- मत्तः
(mattah)— मुझसे(than Me) - परतरम्
(para-taram)— श्रेष्ठ(superior/higher) -
njoined in nānyatkiñchidasti - अन्यत्
(anyat)— कोई दूसरा(other) - किञ्चित्
(kinchit)— कुछ भी(anything else) - अस्ति
(asti)— है(exists) - धनञ्जय
(dhananjaya)— हे धनंजय(O winner of wealth (Arjuna))
Line 2:
- मयि
(mayi)— मुझमें(in Me) - सर्वम्
(sarvam)— सब कुछ(all) - इदम्
(idam)— यह(this (universe)) - प्रोतम्
(protam)— पिरोया हुआ है(is strung/threaded) - सूत्रे
(sutre)— धागे में(on a thread) - मणिगणाः
(mani-ganah)— मणियों के समूह(pearls/beads) - इव
(iva)— की तरह(like)
English: Arjuna, There is nothing higher than Me; all is strung upon Me as rows of pearls upon a thread.
Learnings from Shloka 7:
- Hidden unity behind visible diversity:: All things connect through the Divine, though the connection is unseen.
- The Divine as invisible support:: Like a thread inside pearls, God sustains without being the outer surface.
- Nothing is outside the Divine:: Even the mundane is strung on the same cosmic thread.
Gita Knowledge Quiz
Review this sectionNow that you have completed shlokas 1-7, check your understanding with a short quiz.
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Practice this shloka vocabularyMatch Sanskrit words from shloka 7.7 with their Hindi and English meanings.
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**Learning from Shlokas 1-7:** Krishna begins by joining devotion, practice, knowledge, and realization. He explains that the world has a visible side made of matter, mind, intellect, and ego, but also a higher living principle that sustains everything. The point is not only to know about God, but to recognize the thread holding all of life together.
### Shlokas 8-12 **Inherence of God in all objects as their Cause.**