अर्जुन उवाच
किं तद्ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम।
अधिभूतं च किं प्रोक्तमधिदैवं किमुच्यते।।8.1।।
।।8.1।। अर्जुन ने कहा हे पुरुषोत्तम वह ब्रह्म क्या है अध्यात्म क्या है तथा कर्म क्या है और अधिभूत नाम से क्या कहा गया है तथा अधिदैव नाम से क्या कहा जाता है,
In the seventh chapter Lord Krishna discoursed on the nature of Parabrahma the Supreme Being, Vasudeva the Supreme cause of all causes, the object of worship being: 1) The spiritual sovereignty of all living entities, sentient and the insentient. 2) The source and cause of all there is. 3) The support and preservation of everything 4) The ultimate reference of all language used as an expression of ideas which normally relate either to the Supreme Lords rupa which is His form, or His guna which are His qualities. The ultimate reference being the Supreme Lord Himself of whom all beings in existence are His transcendental rupa and all things existing arise from His transcendental gunas. 5) Isvara Parama or the Supreme Controller 6) The most exalted and glorious by the possession of omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence, and by the possession of all power, all beauty, all knowledge, all opulence, all fame and all renunciation. Then Lord Krishna went on to explain the reasons why His supreme indomitable nature is concealed and inscrutable for normal human beings due to their committing iniquitous deeds in past lives from time immemorial and also being addicted to gratification of desires with the delights which the physical body and five senses stimulate while being covered with varying degrees of the triple qualities of sattva or goodness, rajas or passion and tamas or ignorance. Lord Krishna then revealed by what means this illusionary delusion can be removed by an embodied being who develops firm faith in the Supreme Lord and surrenders to Him, due to the grace of the spiritual master in Vedically authorised disciplic succession. This faith and resignation to the Supreme Lord manifests in following the instructions of the spiritual master and results in the performance of highly meritorious activities. Lord Krishna also showed how the differences in merit produces differences in results for different aspirants being the atharthis or seekers of fortune, the jijnansur or aspirants for realisation of the soul and jnanis or seekers of the Supreme Lord. It was also shown how out of all these aspirants the jnani was the most exalted. The eminence of the jnanis was derived from their constant devotion and unwavering love for the Supreme Lord exclusively, thus they became an object of the Supreme Lord who loves to reciprocate, warmest affection; but such a devotee of the Supreme Lord is rarely seen and very difficult to find. In conclusion Lord Krishna mentioned several requisites of knowledge which the three classes being atharthis, jijnansurs and jnanis have to be knowledgeable of and act in accordance to in order to realise the individual goals of future felicity which each class aspires for. Arjina continues asking questions in the next verse as well.