Suppose you want to turn towards God, but the moment you sit down your mind starts wandering. You ask which way is meant for someone like you. Chapter 12 answers that question. There is a way, and it is meant for every kind of starting point. If your mind can rest on the Lord, the way is direct. If it cannot, the Lord comes down step by step and shows what you can do today.
The chapter has twenty verses in three parts. First, Arjuna asks which way is best. Then the Lord gives four steps. Last, he describes the devotee he holds dear, and that description shows what devotion is for: a person who hates no one, and whom no one fears. Here we take the three parts in order. Each has its own reading, named in its place. The whole set is arranged in the path Yoga of Devotion: Chapter 12, and this is its first stop.
Why this chapter comes right after the cosmic form
At the end of chapter 11 Arjuna has just seen the cosmic form. The Lord tells him that it cannot be seen through study of the Vedas, austerity, giving or sacrifice (Gita 11.53). Only undivided devotion can know it, see it and enter it (Gita 11.54). Then he gathers the whole chapter into one verse: the person who works for him, holds him as the highest goal, is his devotee, is free from attachment and bears enmity to no being, comes to him (Gita 11.55).
Arjuna's question grows out of this. If devotion is so high, who is better: those who live this way, or those who worship the unmanifest (Gita 12.1)? And chapter 12 then takes the phrases of that verse one at a time. "Holding me as the goal" is in the first promise and in the last verse (Gita 12.6, Gita 12.20). "Work for me" is the third step (Gita 12.10). "No enmity" is the first mark of the dear devotee (Gita 12.13), and "free from attachment" is in the last list (Gita 12.18). So the chapter is less a new teaching than the unfolding of that one verse.
What Arjuna asks and what the Lord answers (12.1-5)
Arjuna has two kinds of seekers in mind. One kind is always devoted to the Lord and worships him with form. The other worships the imperishable, unmanifest Absolute. He asks which of the two knows yoga best (Gita 12.1). The Lord replies:
मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते ।
श्रद्धया परयोपेतास्ते मे युक्ततमा मताः ॥ १२.२ ॥
mayy āveśhya mano ye māṁ nitya-yuktā upāsate |
śhraddhayā parayopetās te me yuktatamā matāḥ || 12.2 ||
The Blessed Lord said: Those who fix their mind on Me, who are ever steadfast, and who worship Me with supreme faith, are considered by Me to be the most perfect in yoga.
Those who fix the mind on him, ever joined to him and worshipping with supreme faith, are in his view the best yogis. The sixth chapter says the same: of all yogis, the one who loves the Lord and worships him with faith is the highest (Gita 6.47). In chapter 12 the verdict is repeated as a direct answer to Arjuna's question.
The Lord does not set the other path aside. Those who worship the imperishable, the indescribable, the unmanifest, the all-pervading and the unchanging (Gita 12.3), who keep the senses in hand, see all alike and work for the good of all beings, reach him as well (Gita 12.4). The difference is in the difficulty. For those whose minds are set on the unmanifest the trouble is greater, because that goal is hard for beings who live in a body (Gita 12.5). The full reading is Devotion or the Unmanifest.
Four steps for a mind that will not stay (12.6-12)
Next the Lord speaks to the person for whom even the high way is heavy. He gives his promise first. Those who offer all their actions to him, hold him as their goal and meditate on him with undivided devotion are soon lifted by him out of the sea of worldly life that ends in death (Gita 12.6, Gita 12.7). Then the four steps, each for someone who could not manage the one before:
निवसिष्यसि मय्येव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशयः ॥ १२.८ ॥
nivasiṣhyasi mayy eva ata ūrdhvaṁ na saṁśhayaḥ || 12.8 ||
Fix your mind on Me alone, and let your intellect rest in Me. Thereafter you will live in Me alone; there is no doubt about this. Krishna now gives Arjuna the direct instruction: let both the feeling mind and the deciding intellect be centred on the Lord, and the result will be a life lived in constant union with Him.
| Step | What to do | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fix mind and intellect on the Lord alone (Gita 12.8) | One whose mind can stay |
| 2 | If it cannot, return to him again and again through practice (Gita 12.9) | One whose mind wanders |
| 3 | If practice is hard, work for the Lord's sake (Gita 12.10) | One who finds sitting hard but does his work |
| 4 | If even that fails, keep mind and senses in hand and give up the fruit of every action (Gita 12.11) | One for whom everything feels hard |
The fourth step looks the lightest. Yet the next verse places it highest:
ध्यानात्कर्मफलत्यागस्त्यागाच्छान्तिरनन्तरम् ॥ १२.१२ ॥
dhyānāt karma-phala-tyāgas tyāgāch chhāntir anantaram || 12.12 ||
Knowledge is better than mere mechanical practice, meditation is better than knowledge, renunciation of the fruits of actions is better than meditation, and from such renunciation peace follows immediately. The verse presents a progression in which each step deepens the one before it, culminating in the immediate peace that comes from releasing attachment to the results of action.
Knowledge is better than practice without understanding, meditation is better than knowledge, and giving up the fruit of action is better than meditation, because peace follows renunciation at once. One stream of commentators takes this as a real ranking. Another takes it as praise of the easiest step, so that no one will think it small. Both agree on one thing: the last step is not for the weak. Its result is peace, and it comes immediately.
Before the steps comes a promise that should not be skipped: the deliverer is "I" (Gita 12.7). The devotee does not cross alone. Chapter 9 says it another way: for those who worship with undivided mind, the Lord himself carries what they lack and protects what they have (Gita 9.22). Chapter 18 adds that by his grace all difficulties are crossed (Gita 18.58). So the four steps are not an examination; they are support given for the walking.
The third step is the same teaching of offering found in the third chapter: place all actions in the Lord, drop hope and the sense of "mine", and work without fever (Gita 3.30). The first step echoes the ninth chapter, where the Lord says: fill your mind with me, be my devotee, worship me, bow to me (Gita 9.34). The full reading of these steps is The Ladder of Devotion.
The devotee the Lord holds dear (12.13-20)
The last part has eight verses, and Arjuna asks nothing in them. The Lord himself says what his dear devotee is like. The list is about conduct:
निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी ॥ १२.१३ ॥
nirmamo nirahankāraḥ sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣhamī || 12.13 ||
One who bears hatred toward no being, who is friendly and compassionate toward all, who is free from possessiveness and ego, who remains balanced in pain and pleasure, and who is forgiving... (the sentence is completed in the next verse, where Krishna says such a devotee is dear to Him). Here Krishna begins his portrait of the ideal devotee, starting with the qualities that shape one's attitude toward others and toward oneself.
One detail is easy to miss. The devotee of the next verse is described as one who has given mind and intellect to the Lord (Gita 12.14), and that was the instruction of the very first step (Gita 12.8). What was a command there becomes a portrait here: the first teaches a person to walk, and the second shows what he is like after walking. The word "dear" then returns through the verses (Gita 12.14–17, Gita 12.19) and in the last verse becomes "exceedingly dear" (Gita 12.20).
It helps to sort the marks into four groups.
- Towards others. No hatred for any being, friendliness and compassion for all (Gita 12.13); no one is alarmed by him and he is alarmed by no one (Gita 12.15).
- Within himself. Ever content, self-controlled, firm in resolve, with mind and intellect given to the Lord (Gita 12.14); free from expectation, pure, skilful, impartial and untroubled (Gita 12.16).
- In events. Neither elated nor hating, neither grieving nor craving (Gita 12.17); the same to foe and friend, in honour and dishonour (Gita 12.18), in praise and blame (Gita 12.19).
- In needs. Content with whatever comes, with no clinging to any one place, and steady in mind (Gita 12.19).
Nothing in this list is a count of rituals. It is all temperament and conduct. And "dear" does not mean that others are not loved. In the ninth chapter the Lord says he is the same to all beings, with no one hated and no one favoured; but those who worship him with love are in him and he is in them (Gita 9.29). It is a closeness, not a partiality. The Lord calls the whole teaching an "immortal dharma", and says that those who live it with faith, holding him as their highest goal, are exceedingly dear to him (Gita 12.20). The full reading is The Devotee Dear to the Lord.
The marks on an ordinary day
A list of marks can feel far away. But they are tested on small, ordinary occasions. Here are a few (the cases are illustrations):
| Occasion | The mark that helps | Verse |
|---|---|---|
| A colleague cuts across what you said | No hatred, and friendliness | 12.13 |
| Back home late, irritated by your child's chatter | Not alarming others | 12.15 |
| Something has gone wrong and worry takes over | Free from expectation and worry, and skilful in mending it | 12.16 |
| A sting when someone else succeeds | No hatred, no grief, no craving | 12.17 |
| Praise and criticism arrive on the same day | The same in both | 12.19 |
| What you received feels too little | Content with whatever comes | 12.19 |
In every one of these something inside takes hold, and the hold spills into behaviour. That is why the Lord lists the marks, and gives the steps before them.
The whole chapter in one view
| Verses | Question | Answer | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.1-5 | Which way is best? | The mind fixed on the Lord with faith; the unmanifest way also arrives, but is harder | Devotion or the Unmanifest |
| 12.6-12 | What if the mind will not stay? | Four steps; peace comes at once after the lightest | The Ladder of Devotion |
| 12.13-20 | Who is dear to the Lord? | One free from hatred, friendly, compassionate, even and content | The Devotee Dear to the Lord |
Where else the Gita says this
- The devotee is the highest yogi (Gita 6.47): the first verdict of chapter 12 comes from chapter 6. Here it is placed beside Arjuna's direct question.
- Devotion leads to knowing the Lord (Gita 18.55): through devotion a person knows the Lord as he truly is, and having known him enters into him. So devotion and knowledge do not compete; devotion becomes the means of knowing.
- The knower who loves is dear (Gita 7.17): the wise one who is ever joined and devoted to one alone is exceedingly dear to the Lord, and the Lord to him. See Four Kinds of Devotees.
- The same marks under other names (Gita 2.55–57, Gita 14.24–25): evenness in pleasure and pain, in honour and dishonour, between friend and foe appears in the devotee of chapter 12, in the steady-minded person of chapter 2 and in the one who has gone beyond the three qualities in chapter 14. It is one portrait. Here it is seen from the side of love. The reading on evenness is Samatva.
Three common misreadings
Devotion means giving up work and knowledge. Yet every step passes through action: offering all actions (Gita 12.6), working for the Lord (Gita 12.10), giving up the fruit of action (Gita 12.11). And knowledge is ranked above practice without understanding (Gita 12.12). In chapter 8 the Lord tells Arjuna the same: remember me at all times, and do your duty as well (Gita 8.7). The devotee gives up nothing; he turns everything towards the Lord.
The formless path is wrong. The Lord says plainly that those who follow it reach him too (Gita 12.4); it is harder only for beings in a body (Gita 12.5). It is a comparison of paths and not a condemnation of one.
Evenness means killing feelings. The list that calls the devotee neither elated nor grieving (Gita 12.17) begins with friendliness and compassion (Gita 12.13). A mind that hates no one and has compassion for all cannot be cold. What goes is hatred, alarm and craving, not love.
An example
Take Anil, who works long hours and finds that even in the evening his mind is at the office. On Sunday he tries the first step: sitting and fixing his mind on the Lord. After five minutes he is tired. Then he takes the second: ten minutes each day, and when the mind wanders he brings it back without irritation. Some days are missed.
So he takes the third. When he opens his first task at work he pauses and says: this work is for the Lord. One bad day a proposal of his is turned down. That day he tries the fourth: he finishes his work and drops the tug-of-war over how it will be received. By evening his mind is lighter. And at home, for the first time in a while, he does not snap at his child. The lightness is what the Lord calls supreme peace (Gita 12.12), and the changed way of speaking is the mark of a devotee who alarms no one (Gita 12.15).
How to read the chapter
Twenty verses can be read in three sittings: on the first day Arjuna's question and its answer (Gita 12.1–5), on the second the four steps (Gita 12.6–12), on the third the marks of the dear devotee (Gita 12.13–20). Each time, ask one thing. First: where does my mind stand today? Second: which of these steps can I honestly take today? Third: which of these marks is hardest for me?
On the first day read the whole chapter once. On the second, choose one step and do it today. On the third, choose one mark, for example not answering anyone sharply, and keep to it all day.
- Which of the four steps can I honestly take today?
- Which mark of the dear devotee is hardest for me?
- Who is alarmed by me, or whom am I alarmed by?
Questions readers ask
How do formless worshippers reach the Lord?
The Lord says both things. Those who fix the mind on him and worship with faith are best in his view (Gita 12.2), and those who worship the unmanifest reach him too (Gita 12.4). The ranking is about the ease of the road, not the goal: for embodied beings the unmanifest road is harder (Gita 12.5).
Must the four steps be taken in order?
Both readings have been held, and neither is wrong. One stream takes the steps as a choice by capacity: do what you can. Another takes them as the journey of one person, who stands on one step at one time and on another at another. In both, every step is real and none is small (Gita 12.8–12).
Is this the steady-minded person of chapter 2?
Largely, yes. Chapter 2 describes evenness in pleasure and pain and freedom from craving (Gita 2.55–57), and chapter 14 describes the one beyond the qualities (Gita 14.24–25). The difference is the starting point: here the list opens with friendliness and compassion (Gita 12.13), so the steadiness appears to grow out of love.
Can a person with a job and a home be this devotee?
Yes. Two of the steps are taken in the middle of work (Gita 12.10, Gita 12.11), and the devotee's marks include skill (Gita 12.16) and contentment with whatever comes (Gita 12.19). Having no clinging to any one place does not mean leaving home. It means not being bound to it.
Begin where you stand
The answer of chapter 12 is that you can begin where you are. If the mind can rest on the Lord, rest it there. If not, practise. If that is heavy, offer your work. If even that fails, let go of your grip on the result. After the last step no higher goal remains to be reached first; peace comes at once. And the sign that it is working is that people feel at ease with you. The chapter ends on this note:
श्रद्दधाना मत्परमा भक्तास्तेऽतीव मे प्रियाः ॥ १२.२० ॥
śhraddadhānā mat-paramā bhaktās te 'tīva me priyāḥ || 12.20 ||
Those who follow this immortal teaching of righteousness, exactly as it has been declared, with faith and with Me as their supreme goal, such devotees are exceedingly dear to Me. This concluding verse of the chapter turns the whole portrait of the ideal devotee into a call to action: the teaching must be lived, not merely admired.
Going deeper
For a shorter version for a tired reader, there is the simple reading; for the four places where the chapter seems to pull two ways, with the commentators' streams, there is the deeper reading. The three parts have their own readings: Devotion or the Unmanifest, The Ladder of Devotion and The Devotee Dear to the Lord. After devotion the Gita turns to knowledge: the next chapter opens with Arjuna wanting to know the field, the knower of the field and knowledge (Gita 13.1). For anyone who feels that their wrongs are too heavy to begin, chapter 9 has The Worst Sinner Turned Devotee.