Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Now Sri Krishna will give conclusion of this section it is described

Bg 7.12

ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā
rājasās tāmasāś ca ye
matta eveti tān viddhi
na tv ahaṁ teṣu te mayi

Word for word: 

ye — all which; ca — and; eva — certainly; sāttvikāḥ — in goodness; bhāvāḥ — states of being; rājasāḥ — in the mode of passion; tāmasāḥ — in the mode of ignorance; ca — also; ye — all which; mattaḥ — from Me; eva — certainly; iti — thus; tān — those; viddhi — try to know; na — not; tu — but; aham — I; teṣu — in them; te — they; mayi — in Me.

Translation: 

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.

 

So He is saying till now He has given fourteen examples, after giving these fourteen example He gives general principles actually all these are present within three modes so some are Sattvika Bhava some are Rajasa Bhava and some are Tamasa Bhava so here Bhava refers to nature so some are in goodness some are in passion and some are in ignorance. Everything that exists in material world will be in three modes or in its combination but all these three matta eveti tān viddhi comes from me so Krishna has given 14 specific examples of how He is essence of things but He is saying ultimately everything that exists is essentially ultimately Me, It is all present in three modes and matta eveti it all comes from Me but tān viddhi Arjuna you know that ultimately everything is coming from Me, its essence is Me, its source is Me but na tv ahaṁ teṣu te mayi, don’t thing I am reduced only to this, that means I am just existing in everything, or amorphous essence, no I have my own destine personality, my own individuality, and my likes, na tv ahaṁ teṣu te mayi, it is not that I am within them rather they are within Me this is one of my energy as Krishna has also talked about Apara Prakerti So He is talking here about that everything exists in three mode and all of it comes from Me but I am not reduced to it So Krishna is never contained within nature Krishna transcends nature so after giving examples of essence. First Krishna has given example of sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva, I am the unifying underlying thread of everything now would that mean that Krishna is just thread nothing more. No Krishna is saying I am the underlying thread and much more na tv ahaṁ teṣu te, a thread is inside the neckless and the thread is not anywhere else but here Krishna is saying thread is inside the neckless but I am distinctive also I have my own separate existence they are in Me, I am not in them, yes earlier He has said I am in them Rashoham Kaunteya, He is there but His existence is also beyond He is transcendental also so how He is transcendental and what transcendence of Krishna implies that will be discussed in next verse.

End of transcription.