Bhagavad Gita 14.2

idaṁ jñānam upāśritya

mama sādharmyam āgatāḥ

sarge ’pi nopajāyante

pralaye na vyathanti ca

 

Sheltered in this wisdom bright,

They attain my nature’s light;

They are not born when worlds begin,

Nor shaken when worlds fall within.

 

My dear Lord, life’s uncertainties remind me frequently—sometimes forcefully, sometimes even frighteningly—how vulnerable I am, how indispensable my need for shelter is, and how fallible the things I normally seek shelter in are.

O all-embracing Lord, such shelters vary in form and feel—my parents’ love as I was growing up, my abilities and talents discovered over the course of my life, and the inspirations and intuitions that spring spontaneously from within. Even though these shelters are partial and ephemeral, let me not devalue them; help me see that they all come from you and are meant to lead me to you.

O supreme sustainer, your words of wisdom help me see that you are not just an exclusive shelter, attainable only by rejecting all other shelters as false. You are always with me as my most inclusive shelter—the support behind everything that supports and shelters me, even when I am not conscious of you or do not care for you. Alas, why does my heart not flood with love for you, appreciating how you have been my infallible shelter?

O supreme enlightener, I am not yet able to rest fully in your love because of my immature devotion. May I still seek and find shelter in your wisdom—specifically the wisdom that bridges my awareness from my many immediate shelters to you as my ultimate shelter.

***

14.02 By becoming fixed in this knowledge, one can attain to the transcendental nature like My own. Thus established, one is not born at the time of creation or disturbed at the time of dissolution.