One question comes up first for a careful reader of these two verses. If the illusory energy is the Lord's own power, and it is the thing that confuses the mind, and crossing it on one's own strength is hard, then the human being seems helpless. And when the next verse calls some people evildoers and deluded, whose fault is it?

The Gita does not call the human being helpless, and it does not put the whole blame on him. It keeps two things together. The pull of the illusory energy is truly heavy, so effort alone is not enough. And refuge is within everyone's reach. Both verses use the same word for taking refuge, in one case for those who take it and in the other for those who do not. Everybody takes shelter somewhere. The only question is where.

Here we read the two verses closely and set them beside other parts of the Gita. We answer five hard questions and give the two main streams of commentary. We end with the questions these verses raise, answered from the Gita and the tradition.

The text: both verses

This verse does not stand alone. Just before it the Lord says that every state of calm, restlessness and dullness comes from him, though he is not under their hold and they are in him. He adds that the world, deluded by these three states, does not recognise what stands beyond them (Gita 7.12–13). The present verse gives the reason for that failure to recognise him, and the way out.

The words of both verses are taken here as they stand, and everything that follows rests on them. The next verse (Gita 7.16) turns to four kinds of good people who do worship the Lord. So the two verses are best read together with it: first the obstacle and the way, then those who walk it.

What the words of the first verse say

"Mine." The Lord calls the illusory energy his own. It is not a second principle standing against him. The one whose power it is, is also its master. The plain result is that the remedy is with the one to whom the power belongs.

"Made of the modes of nature." These are the same three modes that the earlier verses spoke about. In the fourteenth chapter they are said to arise from nature and to bind the imperishable self to the body (Gita 14.5). The third chapter shows how the binding works: all actions are done by the modes, but a mind deluded by ego thinks "I am the doer" (Gita 3.27–28). So the illusory energy does more than darken sight. It produces the feeling "I do this" and "I will manage". The maya that has to be crossed works inside our own mind.

"Hard", not "impossible". The verse does not say that no one can cross. It says that crossing on one's own strength is heavy. And for those who take refuge it does not say that they may perhaps cross. It states that they cross. The road is open, and the remedy is in the Lord's hands.

"In me alone." This word settles where the trust is placed. It does not set aside action or knowledge. In the third chapter refuge goes together with action: offer all actions to me, give up expectation and the sense of ownership, and fight (Gita 3.30). In the fourth chapter refuge goes with the fire of knowledge. Freed from attachment, fear and anger, absorbed in the Lord and taking refuge in him, many have been purified and have reached his nature (Gita 4.10). "Alone" does not mean doing nothing else. It means that whatever is done rests on him.

What the words of the second verse say

The verse has five descriptions: those who do evil, the deluded, the lowest of people, those whose knowledge the illusory energy has carried off, and those who have taken shelter in a demonic bent. Taken one by one, they are clear. The first three describe conduct and the state of understanding. The fourth names the cause: knowledge is carried off, and the one who carries it off is the illusory energy. The fifth says where these people stand: in a bent of mind that the Gita calls demonic.

There are two causes here. One comes from outside: the illusory energy has taken away clear sight. The other comes from within: they have taken shelter in a bent, and that act is their own. Both are in the same verse, and this is its most important fine point.

The second fine point lies in the wording of the two verses. The word for taking refuge is the same in both: in the first verse for those who take it, in the second for those who do not. And the second verse says that these people "have taken shelter" in the demonic bent. So taking shelter is not the act of a special kind of seeker. Every person rests on something: on ego, on cravings, on his own understanding, or on the Lord. The Gita does not ask who rests. It asks on what.

The ninth chapter says this openly. Two shelters stand side by side. On one side are those who shelter in the bewildering, demonic nature, whose hopes, deeds and knowledge are all in vain. On the other are the great souls who shelter in the divine nature and worship the Lord with a mind fixed on nothing else (Gita 9.12–13). The two verses of chapter 7 are the two ends of that picture.

How the four verses carry the thought on

The chain of thought in chapter 7 is built in four steps. First the Lord says that all states are from him, yet he is not under them (Gita 7.12–13). Then that the world, deluded by those same states, does not know him. That leaves something unfinished: if he is beyond these states and the world is caught in them, what is the nature of the entanglement, and how does one come out?

The next verse answers: the entanglement is the illusory energy, and that energy is his own. The way out is refuge in him. Now a second question rises in every reader: if the way is so plain, why do not all take it? The second verse raises this and answers it. Some do not, because their knowledge is covered and they have sheltered elsewhere.

After that the following verse (Gita 7.16) turns the other way: four kinds of good people worship the Lord. Once the obstacle, the way and the reason for stopping have been told, the Gita speaks of those who walk. The order matters, so that no one thinks refuge is only for those already complete. The walkers are picked by their condition: the one in trouble, the one who wants to know, the one who wants something, and the wise.

How other parts of the Gita support the reading

One row needs to stand apart, because it is the sharpest. In the eighteenth chapter the Lord says that he dwells in every heart and turns all beings by his illusory energy (Gita 18.61). This is the same power as in the first verse. So the illusory energy is both the obstacle and the instrument in the Lord's hand. From this comes the first hard question.

How refuge deepens in these verses

Refuge in these verses is more than an idea. Its feeling builds step by step. First the person accepts his limit: I cannot cross this alone. Then comes the recognition that what pulls me belongs to no stranger, but to the one I can go to. From this, trust grows. One who knows that even the obstacle is in the Lord's hand does not stand afraid before him. He goes to him.

The warning of the second verse keeps this feeling safe. Refuge must not turn into the thought "I am a devotee, so I know everything". That thought would be one more form of the ego that the second verse calls the demonic bent, and in the eighteenth chapter that same ego is named as what stops us from listening to the Lord (Gita 18.58). So humility does not have to be added to refuge from outside. It comes with it.

Five hard questions

If the illusory energy is the Lord's own, why blame people?

The second verse gives both causes: knowledge carried off, and shelter taken in a demonic bent. The second cause is the person's own act. And in the eighteenth chapter, the verse right after the one that says the Lord turns all beings says: take refuge in him alone with your whole being, and by his grace you will find supreme peace (Gita 18.62). In the very passage where he says that he turns all beings, he asks them to take refuge. The Gita holds being turned and choosing together, and it never wipes out one by the other.

Does the second verse shut some people out for ever?

There is no conflict, because the two passages say different kinds of things. The second verse describes people who do not turn now. The ninth chapter speaks of what is possible, and it begins with "if": if even a person of very bad conduct worships with an undivided heart, he is to be regarded as righteous, because he has resolved rightly. He soon becomes righteous, finds lasting peace, and the Lord's devotee never perishes (Gita 9.30–31). One passage says where people are stuck. The other says that they can get out.

Is refuge itself an act of one's own strength?

This is a real objection, and it deserves a direct reply. Yes, the turning is the person's own act, and it is small. But the Gita does not call the crossing the person's work. The first verse says that those who take refuge "cross", and the eighteenth chapter says that by his grace all obstacles are crossed (Gita 18.58). What is asked of the person is the turning. Carrying him over is the Lord's part. The weight of the Gita rests on this small turning, not on gathering the strength to cross. So the argument does not go round: what is asked is within reach.

Does the call to lift oneself (6.5-6) clash with the first verse?

In the sixth chapter a person is told to raise himself by his own mind and discernment, because the mind is both friend and enemy (Gita 6.5–6). That verse gives full honour to human effort. The first verse of chapter 7 does not cancel it. It tells what lies beyond where effort reaches: the hold of the illusory energy, which discipline alone does not loosen. So the two are read together. Effort is asked and honoured (Gita 3.30), and refuge is the place where effort rests. Refuge does not take effort's place.

Does "alone" push action and knowledge aside?

No. In the third chapter refuge goes with action (Gita 3.30), and in the fourth with the fire of knowledge (Gita 4.10). The last call of the Gita also asks us to give up all other supports and take refuge in the Lord alone (Gita 18.66). Soon after, Arjuna says that he will act according to the Lord's word (Gita 18.73). That call is read in full at The Final Counsel. "Alone" means that the support is one, and the work is what it was.

How the commentators read it

Two streams of commentary can be seen on this passage.

One stream reads it from the side of devotion and grace. The illusory energy is the Lord's own power, so only he has the right to withdraw it. Refuge is falling at the feet of the owner, and the crossing happens by grace. For this stream the two verses, this one and the one in the eighteenth chapter about grace, are two forms of one saying (Gita 7.14, Gita 18.58).

The other stream puts the weight on knowledge. The illusory energy is crossed when its nature is seen: "the modes move among the modes" (Gita 3.27–28, Gita 14.19). Refuge is the way that this seeing comes. Here the crossing is the fruit of understanding, and refuge is its means.

The five descriptions in the second verse are also taken in two ways. One reading takes them as four kinds of people, and sets them against the four kinds of worshippers in the next verse. The other takes them as one condition described from several sides: conduct, understanding, bent and cause.

The two streams agree on three points: refuge is in the Lord alone, effort stays, and the second verse passes no final sentence on anyone.

Questions the verses raise, answered from the Gita and the tradition

Three questions rise from these two verses: how grace and effort stand to each other, why some turn and others do not, and whether the illusory energy ends or is only crossed. The Gita answers all three further on.

How do grace and effort stand to each other?

The Gita's answer is that turning and staying turned are the seeker's part, and giving understanding and carrying across are the Lord's. In the verse, those who take refuge "cross" (Gita 7.14). Chapter 10 makes the division plain: to devotees who are always joined to Him and worship Him with love, the Lord gives the yoga of understanding by which they come to Him (Gita 10.10), and out of compassion for them He dwells in their hearts and destroys the darkness of ignorance with the lamp of knowledge (Gita 10.11). Chapter 18 says the same: with your mind on Me, by My grace you will cross every difficulty (Gita 18.58). Beside it stands the call to lift oneself (Gita 6.5–6). So as far as fixing the mind, repeating and bowing go, the seeker acts. From where the darkness lifts and the crossing happens, the Lord acts.

Two streams of the tradition of refuge put this in two images. In one the seeker is like a baby monkey that clings to its mother: the clinging is its own act and the carrying is hers. In the other the seeker is like a kitten that its mother lifts and carries: its only part is to be her kitten. Both agree that it is the Lord who carries across.

Why do some turn and others not?

The Gita gives several causes together. Those whose wrong has come to an end worship with firm resolve (Gita 7.28). The practice of an earlier life draws a seeker to yoga without effort (Gita 6.44). At the end of many births the wise one takes refuge (Gita 7.19). And there is a call from within: the Lord lights the lamp of knowledge in the hearts of His devotees (Gita 10.11). So turning does not come from one cause. It comes from earlier practice, the end of wrong and the Lord's grace together. And for one who has not yet turned, the road stays open: even a person of very bad conduct who turns is to be regarded as righteous (Gita 9.30–31).

The tradition ties this to impressions carried from before and to good company: the earlier impressions prepare the ground within, and a good word or a good companion strikes the spark.

Does the illusory energy end, or is it only crossed?

In the Gita, to "cross" means to go beyond the three qualities. The embodied one who goes beyond them is freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and reaches immortality (Gita 14.20); and one who serves the Lord with undivided devotion goes beyond the qualities and becomes fit for the state of Brahman (Gita 14.26). So for one who takes refuge, the illusory energy has no hold; the fruit is freedom from birth and death, and immortality.

Here two streams of the tradition speak again. The stream of knowledge says that once its nature is seen, the illusory energy fades, as the fear of a snake fades when the rope is recognised. The stream of devotion says that it is the Lord's own power and remains, but does not bind the one who has taken refuge. The fruit in both is the same: release from bondage.

So no question these verses raise is left empty. The verses give the turn of refuge, the rest of the Gita gives grace, cause and fruit, and the tradition explains them with images.

The answer again, in plain words

The question was whether the Gita calls the human being helpless or guilty. It calls him neither. The illusory energy is the Lord's own power, made of the modes, and its pull is such that effort alone is not enough. But refuge is within reach, and it does not ask us to give up effort. The second verse says where people are stuck, and the same word that named the way out names what they rest on. Everyone rests somewhere. The only matter is whether it is on the Lord or on ego. The eighteenth chapter puts the same thing as two roads:

Go deeper: the same idea in simple words · the verses in order · the whole topic