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Adhyāya 12 — Bhakti Yogaḥ

The Yoga of Devotion · 20 verses

Overview

from Q&A with KnA

After the overwhelming vision, Arjuna asks the practical question it provokes: of those who worship You with form, and those who worship the formless Imperishable — who are the better versed in Yoga? K answers plainly: those who fix their minds on Him, ever-united and full of faith, He holds the most perfect — though the seekers of the Unmanifest also reach Him, their road is harder, for the formless goal is difficult for embodied beings to grasp. To those who surrender all actions to Him and meditate single-heartedly, He becomes the swift rescuer from the ocean of Saṃsāra. He then lays out a ladder of practice for those who cannot rest the mind at will — fix it on Me; failing that, seek Me by repeated practice; failing that, work for My sake; failing even that, renounce the fruit of all action — each rung within reach of a weaker grip. And he ends with the tender, extended portrait of the devotee dear to Him: without hatred, friendly, compassionate, free of “I” and “mine”, even in pleasure and pain, content, self-controlled, unshaken — the very likeness of the perfected one, of a true Guru, and the pattern a seeker is to grow towards.

Verses

12.1एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते।12.2मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते।12.3ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यमव्यक्तं पर्युपासते।12.4संनियम्येन्द्रियग्रामं सर्वत्र समबुद्धयः।12.5क्लेशोऽधिकतरस्तेषामव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम्।12.6ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्पराः।12.7तेषामहं समुद्धर्ता मृत्युसंसारसागरात्।12.8मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय।12.9अथ चित्तं समाधातुं न शक्नोषि मयि स्थिरम्।12.10अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भव।12.11अथैतदप्यशक्तोऽसि कर्तुं मद्योगमाश्रितः।12.12श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्ध्यानं विशिष्यते।12.13अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च।12.14सन्तुष्टः सततं योगी यतात्मा दृढनिश्चयः।12.15यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः।12.16अनपेक्षः शुचिर्दक्ष उदासीनो गतव्यथः।12.17यो न हृष्यति न द्वेष्टि न शोचति न काङ्क्षति।12.18समः शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयोः।12.19तुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिर्मौनी सन्तुष्टो येनकेनचित्।12.20ये तु धर्म्यामृतमिदं यथोक्तं पर्युपासते।