CHAPTER 12

Verse 1

arjuna uvāca
evaṁ satata-yuktā ye
bhaktās tvāṁ paryupāsate
ye cāpy akṣaram avyaktaṁ
teṣāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ

Arjuna said: According to Your earlier explanation, there are devotees endowed with niñöhä (firm faith), who continuously engage in the worship of Your Çyämasundara form, and there are also those who worship the impersonal feature. Of these two, who is superior in knowledge of yoga?

Verse 2

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
mayy āveśya mano ye māṁ
nitya-yuktā upāsate
śraddhayā parayopetās
te me yukta-tamā matāḥ

Çré Bhagavän said: Those yogés whose faith is transcendental, or beyond the three binding influences of material nature, and who, fixing their mind on My Çyämasundara form, constantly worship Me with exclusive devotion, are the best among those conversant with the science of yoga. This is My opinion.

Verse 3 – 4

ye tv akṣaram anirdeśyam
avyaktaṁ paryupāsate
sarvatra-gam acintyaṁ ca
kūṭa-stham acalaṁ dhruvam

sanniyamyendriya-grāmaṁ
sarvatra sama-buddhayaḥ
te prāpnuvanti mām eva
sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ

But those who worship My indescribable, unmanifest, allpervading, inconceivable, immutable, eternal and featureless brahma-svarüpa, while controlling their senses, maintaining equal vision in all situations and engaging in activities for the welfare of all beings, also attain Me alone.

Verse 5

kleśo ’dhika-taras teṣām
avyaktāsakta-cetasām
avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ
dehavadbhir avāpyate

Those whose minds are attached to the impersonal feature experience great difficulty, because for those who identify the body with the self, it is difficult to develop steadiness in something that is not manifest.

Verse 6 – 7

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate

teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

But to those who dedicate all their actions to Me in order to attain Me, O Pärtha, absorbing themselves exclusively in worship of Me with unalloyed devotion, I award swift deliverance from the ocean of birth and death.

Verse 8

mayy eva mana ādhatsva
mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya
nivasiṣyasi mayy eva
ata ūrdhvaṁ na saṁśayaḥ

Fix your mind exclusively on My Çyämasundara form and offer your intelligence to Me. Thus, upon leaving your body, you shall certainly come to reside with Me. Of this there is no doubt.

Verse 9

atha cittaṁ samādhātuṁ
na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram
abhyāsa-yogena tato
mām icchāptuṁ dhanañ-jaya

O Dhanaïjaya, if you are unable to fix your mind steadily on Me, then develop an eagerness to attain Me by practice (abhyäsa-yoga).

Verse 10

abhyāse ’py asamartho ’si
mat-karma-paramo bhava
mad-artham api karmāṇi
kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi

If you are unable to engage in this practice, then just devote yourself to those activities that are intrinsically related with Me, because by performing activities such as çravaëa and kértana for My pleasure, you will certainly attain perfection.

Verse 11

athaitad apy aśakto ’si
kartuṁ mad-yogam āśritaḥ
sarva-karma-phala-tyāgaṁ
tataḥ kuru yatātmavān

If, however, you are unable to perform this abhyäsa-yoga, then take shelter of the yoga of offering all your works to Me, and with a controlled mind renounce the results of all your actions.

Verse 12

śreyo hi jñānam abhyāsāj
jñānād dhyānaṁ viśiṣyate
dhyānāt karma-phala-tyāgas
tyāgāc chāntir anantaram

Better than sädhana, devotional service in practice, is the attainment of transcendental knowledge (jïäna), for such knowledge gives rise to meditation upon Me (dhyäna). This leads to incessant contemplation of Me performed in accordance with scriptural injunctions (manana). Through such remembrance, a person easily abandons all attachment to the fruits of his actions, such as the delights of heaven and liberation from repeated birth and death. After such renunciation, one achieves peace of mind.

Verse 13 – 14

adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ
maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ
sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣamī

santuṣṭaḥ satataṁ yogi
yatātmā dṛḍha-niścayaḥ
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir
yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ

My devotee, who is non-envious, compassionate and friendly toward all living beings, free from feelings of possessiveness for sons and family members, devoid of false ego and even-minded in both happiness and distress, who is forgiving, ever-content, endowed with bhakti-yoga, in control of his senses, resolute in determination and dedicated to Me in both mind and intelligence, is very dear to Me.

Verse 15

yasmān nodvijate loko
lokān nodvijate ca yaḥ
harṣāmarṣa-bhayodvegair
mukto yaḥ sa ca me priyaḥ

He who neither disturbs anyone nor is himself disturbed by others, and who is free from mundane happiness, intolerance, fear and anxiety, is certainly dear to Me.

Verse 16

anapekṣaḥ śucir dakṣa
udāsīno gata-vyathaḥ
sarvārambha-parityāgī
yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ

Dear to Me is that devotee who is not dependent on mundane or social activities, who is pure, expert, detached, free from all agitation and careful to avoid any activity unfavourable to bhakti.

Verse 17

yo na hṛṣyati na dveṣṭi
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
śubhāśubha-parityāgī
bhaktimān yaḥ sa me priyaḥ

He who neither delights upon attaining that which is pleasing to the materialists nor detests attaining something undesirable, who neither laments for the loss of anything dear to him nor hankers to attain something he does not have, who renounces pious and impious activities, and who has devotion to Me, that devotee is indeed dear to Me.

Verse 18 – 19

samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca
tathā mānāpamānayoḥ
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu
samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ

tulya-nindā-stutir maunī
santuṣṭo yena kenacit
aniketaḥ sthira-matir
bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ

Being blessed with bhakti, he who looks equally upon friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honour and dishonour, heat and cold, joy and anguish, who does not take any kind of mundane association, who is equal in both praise and criticism, who speaks nothing but bhagavat-kathä, who remains satisfied with whatever comes to him for the maintenance of the body, be it to his taste or otherwise, who has no fixed place of residence and who has unflinching faith in the conclusions of spiritual matters – such a devotee is dear to Me.

Verse 20

ye tu dharmāmṛtam idaṁ
yathoktaṁ paryupāsate
śraddadhānā mat-paramā
bhaktās te ’tīva me priyāḥ

Certainly, those devotees who engage in exclusive devotion to Me with firm faith and who worship this nectarean religion that I have described are exceedingly dear to Me.