Bhagavad Gita 11.39

vāyur yamo ’gnir varuṇaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ

prajāpatis tvaṁ prapitāmahaś ca

namo namas te ’stu sahasra-kṛtvaḥ

punaś ca bhūyo ’pi namo namas te

 

You are water, moon, death, winds and flames,

You pervade all things and all names;

Creator, grandsire, source of all—

Again, again, before you I fall.

 

My dear Lord, what I remember regularly reflects my present priorities and gradually reshapes my entire worldview. If fame becomes my foremost attachment—the center of my remembrance—then I see the whole world through the filter of fame: whatever helps me become famous has value; everything else doesn’t. Whenever any object of desire occupies the center of my heart, my resulting remembrance impoverishes my existence, because it reduces my world to the availability or non-availability of that object. With such tunnel vision, I become blind to the vast richness of the rest of reality.

Remembrance of you, O all-sustaining Lord, is categorically different. You are not merely one object of thought among many. You are the supreme object of thought—not only because you are the supreme being, but because you are the being who underlies and unifies all beings. Because you exist, everything else exists. Because you possess supreme beauty, all other things reflect some beauty. Because you possess inexhaustible potency, all other things display some power.

O all-attractive Lord, bless me so that I can consciously cultivate appreciation of you in this holistic sense and remember you accordingly. That remembrance will, by your mercy, become the key that unlocks the richness of all being. May it enable me to perceive things in their fullness—not only in their immediate features, but also in their ultimate purpose of leading my heart to you.

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11.39 You are air, and You are the supreme controller! You are fire, You are water, and You are the moon! You are Brahmā, the first living creature, and You are the great-grandfather. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You a thousand times, and again and yet again!