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Adhyāyas / Bhakti Yogaḥ / verse 19

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
तुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिर्मौनी सन्तुष्टो येनकेनचित्। अनिकेतः स्थिरमतिर्भक्ितमान्मे प्रियो नरः
tulya-nindā-stutir maunī santuṣhṭo yena kenachit aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ
Anuṣṭubh(!!) irregular in source

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

The person to whom denunciation and praise are the same, who is silent, content with anything, homeless, steadfast-minded, and full of devotion is dear to me.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

जिसको निन्दा और स्तुति दोनों ही तुल्य है, जो मौनी है, जो किसी अल्प वस्तु से भी सन्तुष्ट है, जो अनिकेत है, वह स्थिर बुद्धि का भक्तिमान् पुरुष मुझे प्रिय है।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
तुल्य निन्दा स्तुतिर् मौनी
सन्तुष् टो येन केन चित्
अनि केतस् स्थिर मतिः (!!)
भक्ति मान् मे प्रियो नरः
॥ १९ ॥
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
tulyaalike
nindā-stutiḥreproach and praise
maunīsilent contemplation
santuṣhṭaḥcontented
yena kenachitwith anything
aniketaḥwithout attachment to the place of residence
sthirafirmly fixed
matiḥintellect
bhakti-mānfull of devotion
meto me
priyaḥvery dear
naraḥa person

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.