I’ll burn you a CD of similar tastings; Afterall, I never properly celebrated your Royal Highnesses recent B.D. Happy belated B.D.!!!

Knowledge of the Absolute

Sri Bhagavan speaking:
Now hear, son of Pritha,
How by yoga practice
In full consciousness of Me,
With mind attached to Me,
You can know Me in full,
And be free from doubt.
I will clarify to you knowledge
Of the phenomenal and noumenal;
Beyond this knowledge
There is nothing further to be known.
Of many thousands of men,
One may endeavor for perfection.
Of those who have achieved perfection,
Hardly one knows Me in truth.

Solid, liquid, gas, and flame;
Sensation, mind, intelligence and false ego.
These are the eight states
Of My separated material energy.
Besides this inferior nature
There is a superior energy of Mine:
All My living entities, Mahabhavo,
Are struggling with material nature
And are sustaining the universe by that struggle.

Of all that is material
And all that is spiritual in this world,
Know for certain, Dhananjaya, that
I am both its origin and dissolution.
There is no Truth superior to Me.
Everything rests on Me
As pearls are strung upon a thread.

I am the taste of water, son of Kunti,
The light of the sun and the moon,
And the syllable Om in the Vedic mantras.
I am sound in space and ability in man.
I am the original fragrance of the earth,
And I am the heat of fire.
I am the life of all that lives,
And I am the penance of all ascetics.
I am the seed of all existence, Partha.
I am the intelligence of the intelligent
And the prowess of the powerful.
I am the strength of those who have overcome lust;
And I am sex properly performed, Bharata Rishi.
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 also independent.
I am not under the influence of the modes of material nature.
Deluded by the three modes,
Goodness, passion and ignorance,
The whole world does not know Me.
I am above the modes and inexhaustible.
This divine energy of Mine
Consisting of the three modes of material nature
Is difficult to overcome.
But those who have accepted Me as I am
Can easily cross beyond it.

Those who do not accept Me as I am
Are foolish miscreants, lowest among mankind,
Whose knowledge is stolen by illusion
And who have a demoniac view of nature.

Four kinds of pious men, Arjuna,
Render devotional service to Me:
One who is distressed,
One who is inquisitive,
One who desires some gain, and
One who is in knowledge, Bharata Rishi.
Of these, the wise one who is in full knowledge,
Who acts in unison with Me
Through pure devotional service,
Is the best.
I am very dear to him
And he is very dear to Me.
All My devotees are undoubtedly fortunate souls,
But he who is situated in knowledge of Me
I consider verily to dwell in Me.
Being engaged in My transcendental service,
He attains My highest abode.
After many births and deaths,
He who is actually in knowledge
Surrenders himself to Me,
Knowing Me to be
The cause of all causes and
All that is.
Such a great soul is very rare.

Those whose minds are distorted by material desires
Surrender themselves to the demigods
And follow rules and regulations of worship
In accordance with their nature.
I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul.
When one desires to worship the demigods,
I make his faith steady
So that he can devote himself to some particular deity.
Endowed with such faith,
He seeks favors of that personality
And obtains his heart’s desires.
But in actuality, Arjuna,
Those benefits are bestowed by Me alone.
Men of small intelligence worship the demigods,
And their rewards are limited and temporary.
Those who worship the demigods
Go to the planets of the demigods,
But My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.

Unintelligent men who do not know Me
Think that I have assumed this form and personality.
Due to their small knowledge,
They do not know My higher nature,
Which is changeless and perfect.
I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent.
For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency;
And so the deluded world does not know Me.
I am unborn and infallible.
Know Me to be the same
In the past, in the present, and in the future, Arjuna.
I know all the living entities,
But no one knows Me.

Overcome by duality, son of Bharata,
By the duality of affection and abhorrence,
All living entities sometimes become deluded,Parantapa.
People who have acted piously,
Whose sinful actions are completely eradicated
Become free from the delusion of duality.
They engage themselves in My service with determination.
Liberated from the ravages of old age and death ,
They take refuge in My devotional service.
They know the Supreme,
And all of their activities are dedicated to Me.
They know Me
As the governing principle of the material and spiritual worlds,
As the One sustaining all sacrifices.
Even at the time of death
They know Me
With steadfast mind.

http://www.geocities.com/mike_aigen/gitaframe.html

love you!

i have that luciano/melchior - father on vinyl, but i never knew that was the words. i can barely hear the words in my headphones, it always sounded like a bunch of mumbling. how did you bring the vocals up so clear? did you turn the mid up?