(25) Who knows how living beings come and go and penetrates all things to win His freedom, who is skillful in nirvanic deeds, cannot be soiled like the lotus.

(11) I have learnt from You at length, Ο lotus-eyed Krishna, of the origin and dissolution of beings, and also of Your inexhaustible greatness.

(13) In the Hindu system of philosophy, each petal of the lotus bears a certain symbol which gives an added clue to the meaning of the flower. The Orientals also used the lotus plant to signify the growth of man through the three periods of human consciousness--ignorance, endeavor, and understanding. As the lotus exists in three elements (earth, water, and air) so man lives in three worlds--material, intellectual, and spiritual. As the plant, with its roots in the mud and the slime, grows upward through the water and finally blossoms forth in the light and air, so the spiritual growth of man is upward from the darkness of base action and desire into the light of truth and understanding, the water serving as a symbol of the ever-changing world of illusion through which the soul must pass in its struggle to reach the state of spiritual illumination. The rose and its Eastern equivalent, the lotus, like all beautiful flowers, represent spiritual unfoldment and attainment: hence, the Eastern deities are often shown seated upon the open petals of the lotus blossoms.

(11) “I salute Him whose eyes are broad like the green Lotus, whose mind is unchanging and serene, who has accumulated countless pure deeds that lead all beings to the extinction of mortality.

(2) The following symbol, likewise, testifies the truth of this. For by the God “ sitting above the lotus ,” a transcendency and strength which by no means come into contact with the mire, are obscurely signified, and also indicate his intellectual and empyrean empire. For every thing belonging to the lotus is seen to be circular, viz. both the form of the leaves and the fruit; and circulation is alone allied to the motion of intellect, which energizes with invariable sameness, in one order, and according to one reason. But the God is established by himself, and above a dominion and energy of this kind, venerable and holy, superexpanded, and abiding in himself, which his being seated is intended to signify. When the God, also, is represented as “ sailing in a ship ,” it exhibits to us the power which governs the world. As, therefore, the pilot being separate from the ship presides over the rudder of it, thus the sun having a separate subsistence, governs the helm of the whole world. And as the pilot directs all things from the stem, giving from himself a small principle of motion to the vessel; thus, also, by a much greater priority, the God indivisibly imparts supernally from the first principles of nature, the primordial causes of motions. These particulars, therefore, and still more than these, are indicated by the God sailing in a ship.

(7) Know Me, Ο son of Prithā, to be the Eternal Seed of all things that exist; I am the intelligence of the intelligent and the daring of the brave.

(7) And, I am the sweet fragrance in the earth, the brilliance in fire, life in all beings, and austerity in ascetics.

(7) Know this (Prakriti) to be the womb of all beings; I am the source of the outcoming of the whole universe, and like-wise the source of its dissolution.

(10) And that which is the seed of all beings— that am I, Ο Arjuna. There is no being, whether moving or unmoving, that can exist without Me.

(2) This wind is honey for all things, and all things are honey for this wind. This shining, immortal Person who is in this wind, and, with reference to oneself, this shining, immortal Person who is breath — he is just this Soul, this Immortal, this Brahma, this All.

(11) Thou art the Imperishable, the Supreme Being to be realized; Thou art the Supreme Support of the universe; Thou art the undying Guardian of the Eternal Dharma; Thou art, in my belief, the Primal Being.

(9) Whosoever offers Me, with devotion, a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water— that I accept, the pious offering of the pure in heart.

(3) 'Know the Self to be sitting in the chariot, the body to be the chariot, the intellect (buddhi) the charioteer, and the mind the reins.'

(3) I have sown and produced, but you have seen the majesties and have stood endlessly.

(13) They who perceive with the eye of wisdom this distinction between the Field and the Knower of the Field, and also the deliverance from Prakriti, the cause of all beings— they attain the Supreme.

(34) You are the eternal realm of eternal realms, the all-perfect one, who is established.

(2) This sun is honey for all things, and all things are honey for this sun. This shining, immortal Person who is in this sun, and, with reference to oneself, this shining, immortal Person who is in the eye — he is just this Soul, this Immortal, this Brahma, this All.

(13) Whatever is born— whether animate or inanimate— know, Ο Bhārata prince, that it is through union of the Field and the Knower of the Field.

(13) The Lord said: This body, Ο son of Kunti, is called the Field, and he who knows it is called the Knower of the Field by those who describe them.

(14) Whatever form is produced, Ο son of Kunti, in any womb, the Great Nature is its womb, and I am the seed-giving Father.