The Gita says that even a person of very bad conduct, if he worships the Lord with undivided devotion, is to be regarded as righteous (Gita 9.30). Some readers find that hard to accept: how can someone who has done wrong count as good? Others find it a relief: is there really room for me?
The answer is that the Lord judges a person by the resolve he has made today, not by his past record, since he has resolved rightly. And that resolve does not leave the conduct as it was: he quickly becomes righteous. Here we take the five verses in order, see where the promise reaches and where it stops, and end with the call that closes chapter 9.
Where these verses stand
Chapter 9 is called the royal knowledge: the knowledge that is the highest and also open to everyone. Just before, the Lord has said that He accepts even a humble gift offered with devotion. He has also said that He is equal toward all beings. No one is hateful to Him, and no one is dear in the sense of being favoured (Gita 9.29). A Lord who is not partial cannot have a door that is shut on someone in advance. The chapter ends by testing this on the hardest case, and then with a call.
9.30: bad conduct does not shut the door
साधुरेव स मन्तव्यः सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि सः ॥ ९.३० ॥
sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ || 9.30 ||
Even if one of very bad conduct worships Me with exclusive devotion, he should be regarded as righteous, for he has resolved rightly.
Three things are said.
First, "even if". The Lord does not claim that such a person is really not bad. He accepts that the conduct is very bad and gives the promise for exactly that case.
Second, "undivided". The devotion must be whole: nothing else stands beside the Lord as a second support. And the person is worshipping now; the verse speaks of the present.
Third, the reason: "he has resolved rightly". That is why he is to be regarded as righteous. The verdict rests on this resolve, not on what came before.
9.31: he quickly becomes righteous
कौन्तेय प्रतिजानीहि न मे भक्तः प्रणश्यति ॥ ९.३१ ॥
kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśhyati || 9.31 ||
He quickly becomes righteous and attains eternal peace. O son of Kunti, declare boldly that My devotee never perishes.
Two promises follow. He quickly becomes righteous, which means his conduct begins to change. And he reaches lasting peace. Note the wording: the verse does not say he is righteous, it says he becomes righteous. That one word is the answer to the question of why this verse is not a licence.
Why does the conduct change? Arjuna once asked what makes a person do wrong even against his will, as though pushed by force, and the Lord named desire and anger (Gita 3.36–37). Devotion sets a second pull against that pull. This is why the Gita says elsewhere that those whose wrong has come to an end worship with firm resolve (Gita 7.28).
Then the Lord tells Arjuna to declare boldly that His devotee never perishes. This is the Lord's own word, and it is to be spoken openly. "Never perishes" does not mean no hardship comes. It means that the way and the goal are not lost. The Gita says the same in other places: no one who strives for good meets a bad end (Gita 6.40), and no effort on this path is wasted (Gita 2.40).
A turn made in distress is not a lesser turn
The Gita lists four kinds of devotees, and the first is the one in distress (Gita 7.16). It then says that all of them are noble (Gita 7.18). So if someone turns because he has been hurt by his own mistake, or because life has become unbearable, his devotion is not counted as smaller. Whatever the cause of the turning, the turning is the thing.
Others have walked this road
Many people, freed from attachment, fear and anger, with their minds on the Lord and taking refuge in Him, have been purified and have reached Him (Gita 4.10). A person like Anil should not think he is attempting something unheard of.
9.32: no birth or station blocks the way
स्त्रियो वैश्यास्तथा शूद्रास्तेऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम् ॥ ९.३२ ॥
striyo vaiśhyās tathā śhūdrās te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim || 9.32 ||
O Arjuna, those who take refuge in Me, even those considered to be of humble birth, such as women, vaiśyas (merchants) and śūdras (laborers), also attain the supreme goal.
The verse names people whom the society of that time counted as lower: those of births that were looked down on, women, merchants and servants. The Lord says that they too reach the highest goal if they take refuge in Him. The verse does not accept the ranking; it removes it from the road. Whatever the label, it does not stand between a person and the goal. The Gita says the same in another way: the knower sees one self in a brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste (Gita 5.18), and the Lord is equal to all (Gita 9.29).
9.33: how much more the virtuous
अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम् ॥ ९.३३ ॥
anityam asukhaṁ lokam imaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām || 9.33 ||
What then to speak of virtuous brahmins and devoted royal sages? Having come into this impermanent and joyless world, devote yourself to Me.
If these can reach the goal, how much more can the virtuous devotees, the brahmins and the royal sages. This does not rank people. It removes a doubt: the virtuous do not need a separate road, and those who are not virtuous are not shut out.
Then comes the call. This world is not lasting and offers no lasting happiness, so having come into it, turn to the Lord. This is not despair. It is a wake-up: what does not last cannot hold the whole weight of a life.
Wholly devoted means one resolve
The deeper sense of "wholly" is found in chapter 2. On the path of action, the resolved mind is one, while the minds of the unresolved have many branches and no end (Gita 2.41). Half-hearted devotion looks like this: one day the mind faces the Lord, the next day the old habit, and the day after some other support. The "right resolve" of the verse is the opposite: a single direction, repeated daily.
What the verses say and what they do not
| The verses say | The verses do not say |
|---|---|
| Even a person of very bad conduct can turn to the Lord | That the conduct is not bad |
| Whoever turns wholly is to be regarded as righteous | That a half-hearted or show-only turn will do |
| He quickly becomes righteous | That everything is complete in an instant |
| Birth and station are no obstacle | That the Gita approves the social ranking of the time |
| The devotee never perishes | That no difficulty will come to his life |
Where the Gita answers the fear of wrong
The fear of wrong is present at the very start of the Gita, when Arjuna says that killing these men will bring only sin on them (Gita 1.36). The answer comes at the end: do not grieve (Gita 18.66). The verses of chapter 9 show, in between, the way for someone who is truly weighed down by wrong.
There is another line for guilt. A person should lift himself and not let himself sink, since the mind is both friend and enemy (Gita 6.5). Constant self-reproach makes the mind an enemy. Turning to the Lord is the first step toward making it a friend again.
Why the Gita teaches it this way
The promise is not alone in the Gita. The boat of knowledge carries a person across even if he is the worst of all sinners (Gita 4.36). At the very end the Lord says: give up all supports and come to Me alone; I will free you from all wrong; do not grieve (Gita 18.66). That last verse is taken up in The Final Counsel.
The real obstacle is placed elsewhere. The Lord says that with the mind on Him a person crosses every difficulty, but if out of ego he will not listen, he falls (Gita 18.58). The danger is not a bad record; it is ego. A person who has done wrong but turns humbly is nearer than a good person who is proud and listens to no one.
And a guard stands beside the promise. One who sets aside the rule and acts on whim gains neither success, nor happiness, nor the highest goal (Gita 16.23). So this is not a licence.
Four common mistakes
"Then do whatever you like and worship later." The verse says the person becomes righteous. One who keeps devotion apart from conduct has not completed the turn.
"He was good all along." The verse says "even if", which means the conduct really was bad. The Lord does not call it good; He counts the resolve.
"This is only for the pure." The reverse is true: the promise is given to the hardest case.
"Quickly means at once." The verse says "becomes", and becoming takes time. Quickly means the movement is fast, not that everything past is erased in a moment.
An example
Take Anil, who is forty-five and runs a small shop. For years he has added a little to every bill, spoken harshly to his staff, and lost an old friend that way. One night everything feels heavy. He folds his hands to pray and stops: "With what face can I ask?"
The Gita's answer begins with its first point: what is needed is not a face but a turning. Anil cannot put everything right tonight, but he can say one sentence: "I turn to You." The next day he checks the scale honestly and makes the bill what it is. On the third day he speaks gently to one employee. Not everything has changed in three days, but he sleeps a little lighter. The turn came first, and the mending followed.
The steps the Gita gives
What does the Lord ask of someone like Anil? The closing verse says it.
मामेवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवमात्मानं मत्परायणः ॥ ९.३४ ॥
mām evaiṣhyasi yuktvaivam ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ || 9.34 ||
Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me and bow down to Me. Thus uniting your whole self with Me and taking Me as your supreme goal, you shall come to Me alone.
The call has four parts: fix your mind on Me, be My devotee, worship Me, bow to Me. Mind, feeling, action and body are all involved. Then: joining yourself to Me in this way and holding Me as your highest refuge, you will come to Me. The same words come again in the last chapter, with the added line "you are dear to Me" (Gita 18.65).
The Lord does not press this on anyone. In the last chapter He says: reflect fully, and then do as you wish (Gita 18.63). He says it because Arjuna is dear to Him (Gita 18.64). The call comes with affection, and the choice stays with the one who hears it.
A small form for one day: in the morning, turn the mind to the Lord once. In the day, offer one task to Him. In the evening, bow once. At night, name before Him what went wrong. One more thread can be added: do whatever you do as an offering to the Lord (Gita 9.27), because that is how a person is freed from the bonds of good and bad results (Gita 9.28).
- What have I decided is closed to me?
- What second support is quietly sitting beside my devotion?
- What one act could I do today that goes the other way?
Questions readers ask
Why "even if"? Is devotion not for good people?
Devotion is for all. "Even if" names the hardest case so that no one thinks himself outside. What is true for the hardest case is surely true for the rest.
Does "regarded as righteous" mean the wrong is erased?
The verse gives two things: he is to be regarded as righteous, and he quickly becomes righteous. So the way he is seen and the way he acts both change. The Lord promises freedom from all wrong at the end of the Gita (Gita 18.66), and the way of mending runs through the turning itself, then through offering one's actions to the Lord (Gita 9.27) and meeting others as the devotee does, without hatred and with friendliness (Gita 12.13–14).
If the devotee never perishes, why do devotees still suffer?
To perish is to lose the way and the goal, not to meet difficulty. The verse says the devotee's way does not break. Elsewhere the Gita says even a little of this practice saves from great fear (Gita 2.40).
Why "My devotee", if the Lord is equal to all?
The Lord is not partial: no one is hateful to Him and no one is favoured. He is the kind friend of all beings (Gita 5.29), and yet those who worship Him with devotion are in Him and He in them (Gita 9.29). Nothing changes on the Lord's side; the person who turns has come close.
Must I already have all the marks of a devotee?
No. The marks, free of hatred, friendly and kind, describe a devotee (Gita 12.13–14); they show where devotion leads, and are not a condition for turning. They are described in The Devotee Dear to the Lord.
The answer, once more
So to a person who has done much wrong, the Lord's answer is this: your record does not decide who you are. When you turn to Me with your whole mind, you are to be seen as righteous, and you begin to become so. The way is not shut by birth, station or past, and the call is to all. What it asks is simple.
For the same verses in a plainer form, see the simple reading. For the words, the hard questions and the commentators' streams, see the deeper reading.