9.1 Krishna conveyed the word of God: To you, who do not cavil, I shall declare this most secret knowledge, joined with realisation, by knowing which you shall be freed from evil.

9.2 It is the royal knowledge, the royal secret, the supreme purifier, directly perceived, righteous, easy to practise and imperishable.

9.3 Those who have no faith in this way, O scorcher of foes, do not reach Me; they return to the path of death and the bondage of the world.

9.4 This whole universe is encompassed by Me, unseen in form. All beings exist by My command, but I am not contained in them.

9.5 And yet beings do not contain Me — behold My sovereign power! I sustain all beings, yet I am not within them; My will brings them into being.

9.6 As the mighty wind, moving everywhere, ever rests within space, so know that all beings rest within My dominion.

9.7 At the end of the age, O Kaunteya, all beings die by My command; and at the beginning of a new creation I bring them forth again.

9.8 By My own power I begin the creation and then I repeat it — this whole multitude of beings, helpless under My command.

9.9 These works do not bind Me, O Dhanaṃjaya; I remain unaffected, untouched by these actions.

9.10 Under My supervision nature brings forth all that moves and all that is still; for this reason, O Kaunteya, the world revolves.

9.11 The foolish disregard My messenger because he walks in a human body, not knowing My supreme being as the Great Lord of all beings.

9.12 Vain are their hopes, vain their works, vain their knowledge; senseless, they cling to a deceitful nature, fiendish and demonic.

9.13 But the great souls, O Pārtha, holding to a godly nature, worship Me with minds turned to nothing else, knowing Me as the imperishable Origin of beings.

9.14 Ever glorifying Me, striving with firm resolve, bowing down to Me in devotion, ever steadfast, they worship Me.

9.15 Others, offering the sacrifice of knowledge, worship Me as the One, and as the Lord of manifold creation, whose sight encompasses all.

9.16 The rite, the sacrifice, the offering to the forefathers, the healing herb, the sacred formula, the oblation, the fire and the offering — all are for Me alone, and I alone accept them.

9.17 I am the Sustainer and Provider of this world, its Origin, the One to be known, the Purifier, the One Word, and the source of the revelations of the Ṛk, the Sāma and the Yajus.

9.18 I am the Goal, the Supporter, the Lord, the Witness, the Abode, the Refuge, the Friend; the Origin and the End, the Foundation, the Treasure-house, the imperishable Source.

9.19 I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain. Immortality and death, being and non-being, are under My command, O Arjuna.

9.20 Those who follow the threefold ritual, purified of sin, seeking the pleasures of heaven by sacrifice, gain the worlds of their merit and enjoy delights as long as their merit lasts.

9.21 Having enjoyed that vast heaven of pleasure, their merit spent, they return to the world of mortals. So those who follow ritual for the sake of desire gain only what passes away.

9.22 But those who worship Me, meditating on Me alone and on no other, ever steadfast — I Myself provide for them and preserve what they have.

9.23 Even those devoted to other gods, who worship them with faith, O Kaunteya, are astray: worship is due to Me alone, and they act without guidance.

9.24 For I alone am the Lord and the Receiver of all worship; but they do not know Me in truth, and therefore they fall.

9.25 Those devoted to created powers go to those powers; those devoted to the ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship spirits go to the spirits; but those who worship Me come to Me.

9.26 Whoever offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or a little water — I accept that offering of devotion from the pure in heart.

9.27 Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give, whatever discipline you undertake, O Kaunteya — do it as an offering to Me.

9.28 Thus you shall be freed from the bonds of action, with its good and evil fruits; with your soul steadfast in renunciation and devotion, set free, you shall come to Me.

9.29 I am the same towards all beings; to Me none is hateful and none favoured by birth. But those who worship Me with devotion are with Me, and I am with them.

9.30 Even if a man of very evil conduct worships Me with undivided devotion, he must be counted righteous, for he has resolved rightly.

9.31 Swiftly he becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. Know for certain, O Kaunteya, that My devotee never perishes.

9.32 For all who take refuge in Me, O Pārtha — men and women, merchants and labourers, whatever their birth — reach the supreme goal.

9.33 How much more, then, the righteous and the devout, and the saintly kings! Having come into this transient, joyless world, worship Me.

9.34 Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me, bow down to Me. Having thus disciplined yourself, with Me as your supreme goal, you shall come to Me.