Chapter Twelve

                          The Path of Devotion

                                Bhakti-yoga

1) Arjuna inquired: You have now described the devotees who
engage in Your exclusive devotional service and worship You (as
Syamasundara, Your original humanlike form). You have also
mentioned others who concentrate upon the impersonal aspect of
the Absolute. Please tell me, which of the two is the superior?

2) The Supreme Lord said: Those who, with unalloyed faith, fully
absorb their consciousness in thought of this divine
Syamasundara form of Mine, and worship Me constantly by the
path of exclusive devotion, are definitely the most superior
knowers of divine unity (yoga). Indeed, this is My opinion.

3-4) However, those who fully control their senses, adopt the
vision of equality towards everything, engage in deeds for the
welfare of all beings, and engage in the worship of the indefinable,
formless, attributeless, neverincreasing, neverdecreasing, all-
pervading, and eternal impersonal aspect of the Absolute they can
also approach Me. That is, they attain to My personal dazzling
Brahman effulgence.

Commentar: The Lord's statement, "The worshipers of impersonal
Brahman certainly also reach Me", must not be misconstrued to mean
that the impersonalists (Mayavadis) are on an equal footing with the
devotees (Vaisnavas). The clue to how the impersonalists can also
reach Krsna has been given by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur in his
commentary on Sri Gita:

"A person attains liberation from the mundane plane by following the
path of selfless action up to the stage of meditation, as described in the
first six chapters of the Gita. Then he may undergo great difficulty in
searching for the Lord on the path of impersonalism. But when he
progresses to the stage of dedicating himself to perform welfare work
for others (sarva-bhuta-hite ratah), he may get the chance to render
service to a pure devotee."

For example, if one engages in the general public welfare work of
opening or running a hospital, if some service is even unknowingly
rendered to a Vaisnava, one's devotional merit begins (ajnata-sukrti).
By the association with a devotee (sadhu-sanga), one develops faith in
the original, divine personal form of the Lord, and automatically
abandons the attempt of attaining to the impersonal Brahman. Having
become faithful to the path of devotion, one takes shelter of a bona
fide guru, engages in the devotional practices based on hearing and
chanting the glories of the Lord, and progressing on the path back to
home, back to Godhead. Thus Lord Krsna is saying:
"I am the ultimate goal, and the Brahman is only a relative position. It
is not the final absolute, because the absolute position is Mine. Only if
the Mayavadis serve others and thereby get the chance to serve a
Vaisnava, can they actually come to Me because the only way to come
to Me is through a Vaisnava."
rahuganaitat tapasa na yati
na cejyaya nirvapanad grhad va
na cchandasa naiva jalagni-suryair
vina mahat-pada-rajo 'bhisekam
(Bhag. 5.12.12)
(The sage Jada Bharata said to King Rahugana:) "O Rahugana,
without bathing the soul in the dust of the holy feet of the pure
devotees (mahabhagavata vaisnavas), one cannot know the Supreme
Lord by adopting the religious life of brahmacarya, grhastha,
vanaprastha, or sannyasa, or by worshiping the gods of water, fire, and
sun, etc."
naisam matis tavad urukramanghrim
sprsaty anarthapagamo yad arthah
mahiyasam pada-rajo 'bhisekam
niskincananam na vrnita yavat
(Bhag. 7.5.32)
(Prahlada Maharaj said:) "As long as one has not been bathed by the
dust of the feet of Lord Krsna's sold-out devotee, he cannot touch
Krsna's lotus feet, which are the destroyer of all evils."
To consider that the Lord has taken the personal and impersonal
aspects to be equal is a mistake very commonly committed. In reply to
Arjuna's doubt in this respect, the Lord has clearly replied that the
personalists are superior to the impersonalists yet, the impersonalists
are also given a chance to reach Him, because without Him, no
ultimate goal exists. Without coming to the path of devotion, the
worshipers of impersonal Brahman will reach that Brahman, which is
the dazzling effulgence of the divine form of Lord Sri Krsna.

5) Persons whose minds are attached to the impersonal Brahman
undergo excessive tribulation, because for embodied souls, the
means and end of impersonalism is attained in an unhappy way.

6-7) But those who offer their every action unto Me, take refuge in
Me alone, think of Me constantly in pure devotion unadulterated
by exploitation or renunciation, and who thus worship and adore
Me O Partha, I swiftly deliver those devoted souls from the
deathly ocean of material suffering.

8) Therefore, steady your mind exclusively upon Me
Syamasundara and remember Me constantly. When your
intelligence has thus become reposed in Me, you will definitely
reside with Me after death. Of this there is no doubt.

9) O Dhananjaya, and if you cannot establish your mind in Me
with firm faith, then try to reach Me by the repeated practice of
remembering Me.

10) If you are ineffective in that practice as well, then engage
devoutly in actions related to Me. You will surely attain to
perfection even when engaged in actions, as long as they are
conducted for My satisfaction and based on devotionally hearing
and chanting My glories.

11) And if you cannot even do that, then perform your every
action as an offering unto Me. With a controlled mind, taking
shelter of such conviction, give up all consideration of the fruits of
your actions.

12) Divine realization of Me is better than the attempt of self-
exertion, and full absorption of the heart in pure devotional
meditation on Me is better than that realization. From meditation,
desire for heavenly happiness or liberation is dispelled, and when
one finally becomes desireless, the peacefulness arising from
indifference to mundane enjoyment becomes manifest.

13-14) That devotee of Mine who is devoid of violence toward all
living beings, but rather, friendly toward them, who is
compassionate toward the needy, free from undue attachment for
son, wife, family and associated objects, free from the egoistic
pride of bodily identification, equipoised in both happiness and
unhappiness, forbearing, always content with due gain, engaged in
devotional service, endowed with fortitude, fully resolved in
exclusive devotion, and whose mind and intelligence are dedicated
in Me certainly such a personality is My beloved.

15) One on whose account no one is ever disturbed, who is never
disturbed by anyone, and who is liberated from mundane
happiness, anger, fear, and agitation certainly he is very dear to
Me.

16) My devotee who is free from expectations in his general
dealings, who is detached, externally and internally pure, expert,
undisturbed, and free from all kinds of exploitative endeavors
certainly he is very dear to Me.

17) One who is neither elated by mundane gain nor disgusted by
the contact of undesirable things, who neither laments over the
loss of any material valuables nor yearns for any unattained
objects, and who remains detached from both pious and sinful
actions a truly devoted personality of that nature is near and dear
to Me.

18-19) A person who sees equally enemies and friends, honor and
dishonor; who maintains equilibrium in the presence of cold, heat,
pleasure, and pain; who is completely free from obsession; who
considers equally abuse and praise; whose speech is controlled;
who is content in gain without endeavor; who is unattached to
hearth and home; whose intelligence is steady in the divine, and
who is a true devotee certainly he is My beloved.

20) And those devotees who take refuge in Me with sublime faith
and worship this ambrosial path of devotion, are adored by Me as
My very own.

INDEX