jnyaanayagnena chaapyanye yajanto maamupaasate |
ekatvena prithaktvena bahudhaa vishvatomukham || 15 ||
 
Others, offering the sacrifice of knowledge, worship me with oneness, separateness and also multifaceted diversity.
 
jnyaanayagnena : sacrifice of knowledge
cha : and
api : also
anye : others
yajantaha : offer
maam : me
upaasate : worship
ekatvena : oneness
prithaktvena : separateness
bahudhaa : diversity
vishvatomukham : multifaceted
 
Shri Krishna radically defines our notion of Ishvara worship in this shloka. He says that recalling and remembering the infinite nature of Ishvara throughout our lives is a form of worship called jnyaana yaganya or the sacrifice of knowledge. Unlike most forms of worship, we can perform it without any effort anytime, anywhere. All we have to do is to learn to see Ishvara in everything.
 
There are several spiritual traditions that have somewhat differing notions of Ishvara’s nature. The tradition of Adi Shankaracharya, which this book tries to follow closely, views the jeeva and Ishvara as one. Acharya Ramanuja’s tradition views jeeva as a part of Ishvara. Acharya Madhva’s tradition views the jeeva and Ishvara as separate entities. Shri Krishna enumerates all of these viewpoints in this shloka, then reconciles all three by saying that all are equally valid as sacrifices of knowledge.
 
Regardless of the tradition followed, Shri Krishna urges us to continuously perform the sacrifice of knowledge so that we weaken our individuality while strengthening our faith in Ishvara. When we see more Ishvara in everything and everyone, our likes and dislikes start thinning down as well. We also begin to realize that all our joys and sorrows are tied to our actions, and so we begin to treat everything as a “prasaada” or Ishvara’s gift.
 
Shri Krishna now begins to give us pointers on where and how to see Ishvara.