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Adhyāyas / Bhakti Yogaḥ / verse 16

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
अनपेक्षः शुचिर्दक्ष उदासीनो गतव्यथः। सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी यो मद्भक्तः स मे प्रियः
anapekṣhaḥ śhuchir dakṣha udāsīno gata-vyathaḥ sarvārambha-parityāgī yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

He who has no desires, who is pure, dexterous, impartial, free from fear, and who has renounced every undertaking—such a devotee of Mine is dear to Me.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

जो अपेक्षारहित, शुद्ध, दक्ष, उदासीन, व्यथारहित और सर्वकर्मों का संन्यास करने वाला मेरा भक्त है, वह मुझे प्रिय है।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
अन पेक्षश् शुचिर् दक्षः
उदा सीनो गतव् यथः
सर्वा रम्भ परित्या गी
यो मद् भक् तस् समेप् रियः
॥ १६ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
anapekṣhaḥindifferent to worldly gain
śhuchiḥpure
dakṣhaḥskillful
udāsīnaḥwithout cares
gata-vyathaḥuntroubled
sarva-ārambhaof all undertakings
parityāgīrenouncer
saḥwho
mat-bhaktaḥmy devotee
saḥhe
meto ne
priyaḥvery dear

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
12.13–12.20The characteristics of the Yogin — and hence of a Guru, an Avadhūta, and the pattern for a seeker.

The chapter closes with the long, tender portrait of the devotee “dear to Me” — a checklist not for testing others but for growing oneself, and a description of what the goal looks like when it walks about in a human body. He is: without hatred toward any being, friendly and compassionate, free of “mine” and of egoism, even in pain and pleasure, forgiving; ever content, self-controlled, of firm resolve, his mind and intellect given to Me (12.13–14). He is one “by whom the world is not agitated, and who is not agitated by the world”, free of elation, impatience, fear and anxiety (12.15). He is unconcerned, pure, capable, indifferent, untroubled, renouncing every undertaking (for its fruit); who neither rejoices nor hates, neither grieves nor craves, renouncing good and evil alike (12.16–17); the same to friend and foe, in honour and dishonour, in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, free from attachment; to whom blame and praise are equal, content with whatever comes, homeless-hearted, of steady mind (12.18–19). Read the list slowly: it is at once the description of a jīvanmukta, the marks by which one may recognise a true Guru or Avadhūta, and the very qualities a seeker is asked to cultivate. Every trait is a form of samatva — the one equanimity, wearing many faces (recall 2.48, 5.18, 6.32). And K ends: “those who follow this nectar-law of righteousness (dharmyāmṛtam), full of faith, holding Me supreme — those devotees are exceedingly dear to Me” (12.20). The whole of Yoga, in the end, is to become someone God could love in this way.