This summary is about verses 7.14 and 7.15 of the seventh chapter of the Gita. It is the second stop on The Path of Devotion. Before it is Devotion or the Unmanifest, and after it come Four Kinds of Devotees, spoken of in verses 7.16 to 7.19.
The answer in one line
The maya that pulls the mind is the Lord's own divine energy, made of the qualities. To cross it by one's own strength is very hard. Those cross it who take refuge in Him alone (Gita 7.14). Why some do not come to this refuge is told in the next verse (Gita 7.15).
Maya is the energy that stops us from seeing rightly and that creates delusion. Surrender does not mean giving up work. It means giving up the pride in our own strength.
What problem this answers
We know what is right, and still we repeat the same mistake. Fear does not go by being explained, and ego stays even after it is recognised. So why can we not get out of this tangle by our own understanding and effort?
The setting
In verses 7.12 and 7.13 the Lord says that all the states of goodness, passion and darkness arise from Him, yet He is not under them. The states are in Him, but He is not in them. Then He says that the whole world, deluded by these three states, does not recognise Him, who is beyond them all (Gita 7.12–13).
Then a question rises: if everything has come from Him, why is it so hard to recognise Him? The next verse gives both the answer and the way.
The verses in order
Verse 7.14: maya is His, the way across is surrender
There are four things in this verse.
The first is that maya is the Lord's own. The verse says "My". It is not the power of some enemy fighting Him. That is why the remedy is with Him too.
The second is that it is made of three qualities. One state leads the mind to peace and clear understanding, another to restlessness and wanting, and a third to dullness and darkness. Our daily moods and pulls are made from these. Maya is not something far away. It works within us every day.
The third is that crossing it is called "hard", not "impossible". To cross by one's own trust alone is heavy. Anyone who has tried to change a habit by willpower alone knows this. The first work of maya is delusion, the false belief that "I understand it all and will manage it."
And the fourth is that those cross who take refuge in Him alone. The one whose power it is knows its ways. A thing that cannot be managed alone is placed in the hands of its owner (Gita 7.14).
What taking refuge means, and what it does not
The commonest mistake is to hear "take refuge" and understand that nothing more is to be done. The Gita does not say that.
Verse 3.30 says: offer all actions to Me, give up hope, the sense of mine and worry, and fight. So there is offering, and there is action (Gita 3.30). In verse 18.73 Arjuna says his delusion is destroyed, and now he will act as the Lord has said (Gita 18.73). The delusion broke, the work did not stop. The work began to be done in a new spirit.
What is given up is the pride of "everything will happen on my strength alone", and the insistence on holding the fruit in the fist. What is not given up is effort, thought and responsibility. The final call is the same, and it is taken up in The Final Counsel: Surrender, Think, Choose.
Set the two conditions side by side. In one who goes only by his own trust, the thought is "I know, I will manage." In one who takes refuge, it is "I do my part, the rest is in His hands." Facing a pull, the first fights with force every time. The second finds a place for the mind to rest. The first one's work goes on, but with a load. The second one's work goes on, but without a tight grip. And the first ends in tiredness and falling in the same way again and again, while the second ends in slow steadiness.
Verse 7.15: why some do not turn
The Lord says that evildoers, the deluded, the lowest of men, whose knowledge maya has taken away and who rest in the demonic nature, do not worship Me (Gita 7.15).
Three reasons can be seen. The first is the taking away of knowledge. The power to see clearly is lost, and right and wrong blur. The second is the demonic nature, a stiff state of "I and mine" that will not bow before anyone. The third is the habit of wrong action, which blurs the sight further. Why should such a person go to refuge? He does not feel any need to go.
Two things are to be kept in mind here.
The first is that this describes a condition. It is not a permanent label. The verse says "do not turn at this time", not "can never turn". Verses 9.30 and 9.31 say that even one of very bad conduct who worships with undivided devotion is to be counted as good, for his resolve is right. He soon becomes righteous and finds lasting peace, and the devotee never perishes (Gita 9.30–31). The door is open.
The second is that the verse is not meant to look down on anyone. It is a warning that applies to all of us. When the ego of "I know" has the upper hand, we too are in that condition. To read it on ourselves and not on others is to read it rightly.
Where else the Gita says this
Verse 14.26 says that one who serves with undivided devotion crosses the three qualities and becomes fit for oneness with Brahman (Gita 14.26). This is the same "crossing", seen from the devotee's side. Devotion is what brings one out of the net of the qualities.
Verse 18.58 says that if you fix your mind on Me, by My grace you will cross all difficulties, and if from ego you do not listen, you will perish (Gita 18.58). There are two roads here, of refuge and of ego. The obstacle is ego.
Verse 4.10 says that many, freed from attachment, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me and purified by the austerity of knowledge, have reached My being (Gita 4.10). So the road is no hearsay. And there is the austerity of knowledge along with refuge. Refuge and effort go together.
Verse 18.66 says to give up all supports of duty and come to Me alone for refuge (Gita 18.66). Its root is here: the binding of maya, the limit of one's own strength, and the road of refuge.
Four common misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is that surrender means doing nothing. That is not so. Arjuna was told to act along with surrender (Gita 3.30), and even after the delusion broke he speaks of action (Gita 18.73).
The second is that maya means the world is false or bad. That is not so. In the verse maya is "Mine" and "divine". The world is not called false. The pull of the qualities leads the mind astray.
The third is that those of verse 7.15 are lost forever. That is not so (Gita 9.30–31). The verse tells today's condition, not tomorrow's verdict.
The fourth is that refuge belongs to one who first makes himself fit. That is not so. There is no precondition. Those who take refuge cross, and this agrees with verses 9.30 and 9.31.
A frame for practice
There is a plain order. First pick one thing that you keep trying to control only by force. Then do your work fully, without slackening (Gita 3.30). Each evening say one line in your own words: "I did my part, the result is not mine to grip." Then catch the feeling "I alone know". Ego is an obstacle to listening (Gita 18.58), so set it to one side. And at the end see what has steadied: has the pull lessened, does the mind rest more?
Questions people ask
If I take refuge, should I give up trying? No (Gita 3.30, Gita 18.73). What goes is the pride in one's own strength, not effort.
Does maya mean the world is false? No. Maya is the Lord's divine energy, made of the qualities, and it deludes the mind (Gita 7.14). The difficulty is not that the world exists, but that it pulls.
Does verse 7.15 mean some people will never improve? No. It describes a condition (Gita 9.30–31).
What is the difference between surrender and giving up? One who gives up leaves both work and hope. One who takes refuge finishes the work and puts his trust in the Lord. There is action, and there is offering (Gita 3.30).
Why does the Lord call the energy that deludes His own? Because everything came from Him and He is not under it (Gita 7.12–13). The one whose power it is has the remedy too. That is why the way across passes through refuge.
If you have to explain it in thirty seconds
Why does our own understanding and effort not break the tangle? Because the energy that pulls the mind, maya made of the qualities, is the Lord's own divine energy, and it is hard to cross alone. Those cross it who take refuge in Him alone (Gita 7.14). Surrender does not mean leaving work. It means giving up the pride of "I will manage alone" and the grip on the fruit (Gita 3.30, Gita 18.73). Those who do not turn have in their way the blur of maya and the stiffness of ego (Gita 7.15). But this is a condition and not a fixed label. Even one of very bad conduct who worships with undivided devotion is counted as good (Gita 9.30–31).
Related hubs: The Path of Devotion (path) · Devotion or the Unmanifest (before) · Four Kinds of Devotees (next) · The Final Counsel: Surrender, Think, Choose