Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12: Devotional Service
Chapter 12. Devotional Service
Chapter 12, Verse 1.
Arjuna inquired: Which is considered to be more perfect, those who are properly engaged in Your devotional service, or those who worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested?
Chapter 12, Verse 2.
The Blessed Lord said: He whose mind is fixed on My personal form, always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith, is considered by Me to be most perfect.
Chapter 12, Verse 3-4.
But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 6-7.
For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Prtha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
Chapter 12, Verse 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 9.
My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulated principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way you will develop a desire to attain to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 11.
If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated.
Chapter 12, Verse 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 13-14.
One who is not envious but who is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor, who is free from false ego and equal both in happiness and distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and whose mind and intelligence are in agreement with Me--he is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 15.
He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 16.
A devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure, expert, without cares, free from all pains, and who does not strive for some result, is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 17.
One who neither grasps pleasure or grief, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things, is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 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 contamination, always silent and satisfied with anything, who doesn't care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and engaged in devotional service, is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 20.
He who follows this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely engages himself with faith, making Me the supreme goal, is very, very dear to Me.
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12: Devotional Service
This short chapter does not waste many words, so i have left none of it behind the link. Krishna tells Arjuna the four ways of getting on the Path to the Supreme Eternal -- vision (grace), yoga (meditation), knowledge, and selfless work., ranked from best to good.
Then there is a lengthy (?) list of the behaviors and attitudes of the spiritual traveler. Similar lists will be found in chapters 13 and 16. Together these lists contain about 45 to 50 items when duplications are eliminated. These attributes are consistent with the sage advice of the other great (and small) spiritual and mystical traditions. Most of what you will find in the eight-fold path, the sermon on the mount, the Tao Te Ching, etc., etc., will be here. But i do imagine some interesting peculiarities.
The devotion to God, found in the Gita, is also found in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism (a melding of Islam and Hinduism) but seemingly absent from Buddhism and Taoism (and many other traditions) But i may be comparing apples with oranges here. The takes on Buddhism and Taoism which i best know and love are more philosophical than religious. Also, a case be made that Hinduism is actually monotheistic. When the ancient spirits enter more complex social entities they become gods, and when their societies become hierarchical, the gods arrange themselves into a hierarchy as well. In monotheism, the lesser gods do not disappear; they become angels and other divine and semidivine beings, superhuman messengers or enemies of the High God. The Bhagavad Gita is monotheistic (Brahman), it simply continues to refer to some of its angels and demons as Gods. Zen Buddhism and Taoist philosophy prefer silence as their default approach to the unknowable.
There is an ambiguity about scripture which the Gita shares with Western mysticism. God must be known by the heart rather than the mind, but since the scriptures also come from God they should be studied. Buddhism insists that all you ever need to know is already inside you, while Taoism asks why should we study the words of dead sages when what we need to know cannot be taught by words?
There is also a concern for "righteousness" (as opposed to "right") which occurs repeatedly in the Gita. Yes, there are "better" ways to live advocated by Buddhism and Taoism, but the notion of "sin" is missing and Taoism insists the "righteousness" is but a poor substitute for flowing with the Tao.
These concerns give the Gita a much more "conservative" flavor than appears in the Tao Te Ching or the Dhammapada, or even in Western mysticism. I miss the anarchic quality, the political irrelevance that i find in the TTC, Buddhism, and the Sermon on the Mount. This makes meditating on the Gita very challenging for me, and a deep bias probably prevents me from finding much of the spiritual and mystical value that is there.
Teach me and make me teachable.
Chapter 12, Verse 1.
Arjuna inquired: Which is considered to be more perfect, those who are properly engaged in Your devotional service, or those who worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested?
Chapter 12, Verse 2.
The Blessed Lord said: He whose mind is fixed on My personal form, always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith, is considered by Me to be most perfect.
Chapter 12, Verse 3-4.
But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 6-7.
For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Prtha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
Chapter 12, Verse 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 9.
My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulated principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way you will develop a desire to attain to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 11.
If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated.
Chapter 12, Verse 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.
Chapter 12, Verse 13-14.
One who is not envious but who is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor, who is free from false ego and equal both in happiness and distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and whose mind and intelligence are in agreement with Me--he is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 15.
He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 16.
A devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure, expert, without cares, free from all pains, and who does not strive for some result, is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 17.
One who neither grasps pleasure or grief, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things, is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 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 contamination, always silent and satisfied with anything, who doesn't care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and engaged in devotional service, is very dear to Me.
Chapter 12, Verse 20.
He who follows this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely engages himself with faith, making Me the supreme goal, is very, very dear to Me.
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12: Devotional Service
This short chapter does not waste many words, so i have left none of it behind the link. Krishna tells Arjuna the four ways of getting on the Path to the Supreme Eternal -- vision (grace), yoga (meditation), knowledge, and selfless work., ranked from best to good.
Then there is a lengthy (?) list of the behaviors and attitudes of the spiritual traveler. Similar lists will be found in chapters 13 and 16. Together these lists contain about 45 to 50 items when duplications are eliminated. These attributes are consistent with the sage advice of the other great (and small) spiritual and mystical traditions. Most of what you will find in the eight-fold path, the sermon on the mount, the Tao Te Ching, etc., etc., will be here. But i do imagine some interesting peculiarities.
The devotion to God, found in the Gita, is also found in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism (a melding of Islam and Hinduism) but seemingly absent from Buddhism and Taoism (and many other traditions) But i may be comparing apples with oranges here. The takes on Buddhism and Taoism which i best know and love are more philosophical than religious. Also, a case be made that Hinduism is actually monotheistic. When the ancient spirits enter more complex social entities they become gods, and when their societies become hierarchical, the gods arrange themselves into a hierarchy as well. In monotheism, the lesser gods do not disappear; they become angels and other divine and semidivine beings, superhuman messengers or enemies of the High God. The Bhagavad Gita is monotheistic (Brahman), it simply continues to refer to some of its angels and demons as Gods. Zen Buddhism and Taoist philosophy prefer silence as their default approach to the unknowable.
There is an ambiguity about scripture which the Gita shares with Western mysticism. God must be known by the heart rather than the mind, but since the scriptures also come from God they should be studied. Buddhism insists that all you ever need to know is already inside you, while Taoism asks why should we study the words of dead sages when what we need to know cannot be taught by words?
There is also a concern for "righteousness" (as opposed to "right") which occurs repeatedly in the Gita. Yes, there are "better" ways to live advocated by Buddhism and Taoism, but the notion of "sin" is missing and Taoism insists the "righteousness" is but a poor substitute for flowing with the Tao.
These concerns give the Gita a much more "conservative" flavor than appears in the Tao Te Ching or the Dhammapada, or even in Western mysticism. I miss the anarchic quality, the political irrelevance that i find in the TTC, Buddhism, and the Sermon on the Mount. This makes meditating on the Gita very challenging for me, and a deep bias probably prevents me from finding much of the spiritual and mystical value that is there.
Teach me and make me teachable.