Chapter 12 : Bhakti Yog
1
Arjuna
inquired: Which are considered to be more perfect, those who are always
properly engaged in Your devotional service or those who worship the impersonal
Brahman, the unmanifested?
2
The Supreme
Personality of Godhead said: Those who fix their minds on My personal form
and are always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith
are considered by Me to be most perfect.
3-4
But those
who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception
of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, fixed and
immovable -- the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth -- by controlling
the various senses and being equally disposed to everyone, such persons,
engaged in the welfare of all, at last achieve Me.
5
For those
whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the
Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline
is always difficult for those who are embodied.
6-7
But those
who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted
to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating
upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Prtha -- for them I
am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
8
Just fix your
mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence
in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.
9
My dear Arjuna,
O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation,
then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way develop
a desire to attain Me.
10
If you cannot
practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then just try to work for Me,
because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage.
11
If, however,
you are unable to work in this consciousness of Me, then try to act giving
up all results of your work and try to be self-situated.
12
If you cannot
take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge.
Better than knowledge, however, is meditation, and better than meditation
is renunciation of the fruits of action, for by such renunciation one can
attain peace of mind.
13-14
One who is
not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think
himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness
and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged
in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed
on Me -- such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.
15
He for whom
no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anyone, who is
equipoised in happiness and distress, fear and anxiety, is very dear to
Me.
16
My devotee
who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure,
expert, without cares, free from all pains, and not striving for some result,
is very dear to Me.
17
One who neither
rejoices nor grieves, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces
both auspicious and inauspicious things -- such a devotee is very dear
to Me.
18-19
One who is
equal to friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honor and dishonor,
heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame and infamy, who is always free
from contaminating association, always silent and satisfied with anything,
who doesn't care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and who is
engaged in devotional service -- such a person is very dear to Me.
20
Those who
follow this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely
engage themselves with faith, making Me the supreme goal, are very, very
dear to Me.
Bhakti Yog |