Chapter 12
Bhakti Yoga
The Yoga of Devotion · 20 verses
This chapter is traditionally called Bhakti Yoga, the yoga or disciplined path of bhakti, which means loving devotion to God. It opens with a question from Arjuna.
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Some people worship God as a person, with a form they can see and love. Others worship God as formless: no shape, no body, just pure presence. Arjuna asks which group is the better yogi. Krishna answers that those who fix the mind on Him with form, in constant union and deep faith, are the most joined. He grants that the formless path also reaches the goal, but calls it harder, since we feel we are the body and the formless gives the mind nothing to hold. Krishna then offers a ladder of easier means. Fix the mind on Him; if you cannot, keep returning it to Him again and again; if not, do works for Him; otherwise act and give up the fruit. Then He turns to the marks of the devotee He holds dear: one who hates no being, is friendly and content, the same in pleasure and pain and in honour and dishonour, and offers his mind and heart to Him. The schools differ on how worship of the form and the formless relate. Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita, and Dvaita each read that relation in their own way.
- 1Arjuna asked: Some devotees worship You with steady, constant love. Others worship the imperishable and the unmanifest. Of these, which know yoga best?
- 2Krishna said: Those who fix their minds on Me and worship Me, ever steadfast and filled with supreme faith: I consider them the most perfect in yoga.
- 3But others worship the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest. It is all-pervading, unthinkable, unchanging, immovable, and eternal.
- 4Restraining all the senses, even-minded everywhere, glad in the welfare of all beings: they too reach Me alone.
- 5For those whose minds cling to the unmanifest, the struggle is greater. The unmanifest goal is hard for the embodied to reach.
- 6But there are those who dedicate all their actions to Me and hold Me as the supreme goal. They worship Me, meditating on Me with undivided devotion.
- 7For those whose minds are absorbed in Me, I soon become the deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
- 8Fix your mind on Me alone. Let your discernment rest in Me. Then you will dwell in Me. Of this there is no doubt.
- 9If you cannot steady your mind on Me, then seek to reach Me through the yoga of repeated practice, Arjuna.
- 10If you cannot even practice, then work for My sake. By doing your actions for Me, you will reach perfection.
- 11If you cannot do even this, then take refuge in My yoga. With your mind controlled, let go of the fruits of all action.
- 12Knowledge is better than practice. Meditation is better than knowledge. Letting go of the fruits of action is better than meditation. From such letting go, peace follows at once.
- 13He hates no living being. He is friendly and compassionate. He has no sense of 'mine' and no sense of 'I'. He is the same in sorrow and in happiness, and he is forgiving.
- 14He is always content. He is steady in practice, self-controlled, and firm in conviction. He has given his mind and discernment to me. Such a devotee is dear to me.
- 15The world is not disturbed by him, and he is not disturbed by the world. He is free from joy, impatience, fear, and anxiety. He is dear to me.
- 16He wants nothing. He is pure, capable, impartial, and free from distress. He has given up every undertaking. Such a devotee is dear to me.
- 17He does not rejoice, nor hate, nor grieve, nor crave. He lets go of both good and bad, and he is full of devotion. He is dear to me.
- 18He is the same toward friend and foe, the same in honor and dishonor. He is the same in cold and heat, in happiness and sorrow. He is free from attachment.
- 19Blame and praise are the same to him. He is silent, content with whatever comes. He has no fixed home, his mind is steady, and he is full of devotion. Such a person is dear to me.
- 20But those who hold to this immortal teaching, just as I have declared it, who have faith and look to me as the supreme goal, those devotees are exceedingly dear to me.