Quiz · 7.1–7.14
Two natures
Cover the answer. Read the Devanagari of the verse before you open it.
1
In 7.5, what case is parām (पराम्), and which nature does it name?
Answer
Accusative feminine. It agrees with prakṛtim (प्रकृतिम्), the other nature he tells Arjuna (अर्जुन) to know. That higher nature is jīva-bhūtām (जीव-भूताम्): it has become the life by which idam jagat (इदम् जगत्) is held. The lower one, in the same verse, is aparā iyam (अपरा इयम्), and 7.4 has already listed it as eight parts.
2
7.4 recites bhūmir āpo 'nalo (भूमिरापोऽनलो). What three words are those, and which sandhi joins them?
Answer
भूमिः + आपः + अनलः bhūmiḥ + āpaḥ + analaḥ. iḥ (इः) before a vowel becomes r (र्), so bhūmiḥ āpaḥ (भूमिः आपः) is recited bhūmir āpaḥ (भूमिरापः). Then अः + अ aḥ + a becomes o (ओ), and the following a (अ) drops, marked by ऽ: āpo 'nalaḥ (आपोऽनलः). Earth, water, fire. The list still has five names after these.
3
What does 7.14 say, in one sentence?
Answer
This divine māyā (माया) of his, made of the guṇa (गुण), is hard to cross, and those who come to him alone cross it.
4
Where does 7.1 through 7.14 sit in the talk between Arjuna (अर्जुन) and Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण)?
Answer
Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) is speaking the whole stretch. Arjuna (अर्जुन) does not answer. At 7.1 he tells him to hear how he will know him whole. He names a lower nature of eight parts and a higher nature that is the life of the world. Nothing is higher than him, and all this is strung on him, as jewels on a thread. The stretch ends at 7.14: his divine māyā (माया), made of the guṇa (गुण), is hard to cross, and coming to him is how it is crossed.
5
Cover the English from 7.4 through 7.7 and say the two natures, then the thread. Which word fails the sitting if it is said wrong?
Answer
The lower nature is the eight of 7.4, closed by aṣṭadhā (अष्टधा). The higher is jīva-bhūtām (जीव-भूताम्). The thread is protam (प्रोतम्): सर्वम् इदम् sarvam idam is strung on him, sūtre maṇi-gaṇāḥ iva (सूत्रे मणि-गणाः इव). If protam (प्रोतम्) comes out as "born," stay on 7.7. If the eight are short a part, stay on 7.4. The part that drops first is ahaṃkāraḥ (अहंकारः).