We can now answer the question which stands at the head of this chapter, What is the _Bhagavadgītā_? It consists of two distinct elements, one old, one original. The philosophy is old; for it is only a very imperfect combination[92] of what is taught in earlier books. The original element is the teaching put into Krishna’s mouth about his own person and the relation in which he stands to his own worshippers and to others. Of this part of the teaching of the _Gītā_ we here give a brief analysis:— Krishna is first of all the source of the visible world. All comes from him,[93] all rests in him.[94] At the end of a Kalpa everything returns to him,[95] and is again reproduced.[96] He pervades all things;[97] and again, in another sense, he is all that is best and most beautiful in nature and in man.[98] But while Krishna is thus the supreme power in the universe,[99] he is altogether without personal interest in the activity therein displayed:[100] he sits unconcerned,[101] always engaged in action,[102] yet controlling his own nature,[103] and therefore never becoming bound by the results of his action.[104] This conception of the Supreme, as at once the centre of all activity and yet completely detached, enables the author, on the one hand, to soften the seemingly hopeless contradiction involved in identifying the king, warrior and demon-slayer, Krishna, with the passionless, characterless _Atman_[105] of the Upanishads, and, on the other to hold up Krishna as the supreme example of Action Yoga. We now turn to Krishna’s relation to his worshippers. Knowledge is good;[106] mental concentration is better;[107] disinterested action is better than either;[108] but the supreme wisdom is faith in Krishna and boundless devotion to him.[109] Such is the teaching of the _Gītā_. The worst epithets are kept for those who fail to recognise him as the Supreme, who disregard him, carp at him, hate him.[110] To those who resort to Krishna,[111] who place faith in him,[112] who shower on him their love, devotion and worship,[113] who rest on him,[114] think of him[115] and remember him[116] at all times,—to them are promised forgiveness,[117] release from the bonds of action,[118] attainment of tranquillity,[119] true knowledge[120] and final bliss[121] in Krishna.[122] Since all the gods come from Krishna,[123] and since he is in the last resort the sole reality,[124] worship offered to other gods is in a sense offered to him.[125] He accepts it and rewards it.[126] This is in accordance with his indifference to men: to him no one is hateful, no one dear.[127] Yet the highest blessings fall only to those who recognize him directly.[128]