This summary is about verses 12.13 to 12.20 of the twelfth chapter of the Gita. There are eight verses. It is the tenth stop on The Path of Devotion. Before it is The Ladder of Devotion, which holds the steps for one whose mind does not stay. Here is the person who comes to be by walking those steps. After it comes Knowing His Glory Leads to Devotion. Two words keep returning: friendliness and compassion, which are the positive arms of the absence of hatred.
The answer in one line
The marks in these verses fall into four relationships: with beings, with one's own feelings, with events, and with work. All four come from one centre, and that centre is mind and intellect given to the Lord (Gita 12.14). Where this centre is, the Lord says: "He is dear to Me."
So the marks are not to be won one by one. Keep returning to the centre, and the rest change along with it.
What problem this answers
At the beginning of the chapter Arjuna asked who the best yogi is. The last part of the answer comes not in a rule but in the picture of a person, and again and again the sentence returns: "He is dear to Me." So long a list looks like a leaflet at first. How is this picture formed, and what are we to do?
The setting
Verses 12.1 and 12.2 say that those who fix the mind on the Lord and worship with faith are the best (Gita 12.1–2). Verses 12.6 to 12.12 give the four steps for one whose mind does not stay (Gita 12.6–12). Then the chapter ends not with a rule but with a person. The answer to "who is best?" is given not by a definition but by a living picture.
The eight verses in order
Verse 12.13: no hatred, friendliness, compassion
The sentence is unfinished. "Is dear" comes in verse 12.14. There are four pairs.
The first is the relation with beings. The absence of hatred is the root. Its positive arms are friendliness, toward all, and compassion, which wakes at the sight of the suffering. In the Gita its form is being engaged in the good of all beings (Gita 12.4, Gita 5.25).
The second is the two knots, "mine", meaning freedom from possessiveness, and "I am the doer", meaning freedom from ego. Only when both are loosened does peace come (Gita 2.71).
The third is evenness in pleasure and pain. Both come and go, and can be borne (Gita 2.14).
And the fourth is forgiveness, that the mind does not sit holding on to someone's wrong.
Verse 12.14: the centre of the whole picture
The devotee is always content. This contentment comes from within, not from outer supports (Gita 4.20). His mind and senses are under control. His resolve is firm, meaning the intellect is set in one direction and not scattered among branches (Gita 2.41). And he has given both mind and intellect to the Lord. After this the Lord says: "Such a devotee of Mine is dear to Me."
Why are both named? Because the mind wants and feels, while the intellect decides. If only the mind leans to the Lord and the decisions come from elsewhere, devotion stays a feeling. In verse 8.7 it is the same: remember Me always, and do your duty too (Gita 8.7). This is the first step of the ladder (Gita 12.8). Everything that follows comes out of this centre.
Verse 12.15: calm in both directions
This verse says that the world is not disturbed by him, and he is not disturbed by the world.
The first direction gets less notice. One who is shaken within hands out the same outside: a sharp tone, hurry, a taunt. The austerity of speech is that words do not disturb anyone (Gita 17.15). Steadiness within is also kindness to others.
Freedom from four feelings is named. Joy that turns into a surge, because pride and fear of loss come with it. Intolerance, which is being unable to bear another's rise or one's own insult. Fear. And agitation.
Verse 12.16: in the world of work
Five qualities are given. He is free of expectation, meaning nothing outside is needed without which the work would stay incomplete. He is pure. He is skilful, for yoga is skill in action (Gita 2.50). He is impartial, not one who does not care but one whose decisions do not bend by his own pulls. And he is free of distress.
He is one who gives up all undertakings. What is given up here is the undertaking begun from self-interest, not duty. One whose every undertaking is free of desire is called wise (Gita 4.19). One with a body cannot give up action wholly, and the true relinquisher is one who gives up attachment to the fruit (Gita 18.11).
Verse 12.17: four things the mind does not do
This mind neither surges, nor hates, nor grieves, nor craves. And it has given up attachment to the good and the bad alike. Not clinging to the good, and not loathing the bad. This is the steady intellect of verses 2.54 to 2.57 (Gita 2.54–57).
At the end comes the word "devoted". This steadiness is not apart from devotion.
Verses 12.18 and 12.19: equanimity, a light grip, silence
This is one sentence ending in "dear to Me". There are five pairs: foe and friend, honour and insult, cold and heat, pleasure and pain, blame and praise. In the middle is the root word: free of attachment. That is, equanimity comes not from coldness but from a lighter grip. It is taken up in Equanimity.
Verse 12.19 adds four more. Silent and thoughtful, with speech and thought quiet. Content with whatever comes, meaning what comes easily and no anxious watching (Gita 4.22). Not attached to any dwelling. This is no order to leave home. It speaks of dropping possessiveness, the absence of attachment to home and family (Gita 13.10), as Janaka became perfect while doing his work (Gita 3.20). And steady in intellect. These qualities are open to any human being. They are not for one class.
Verse 12.20: living as it was said
It begins with "but". It separates those who praise the picture and stop from those who live as it was said, with faith, holding the Lord as the supreme goal. Before it was "dear". Now it is "exceedingly dear".
The picture is not for looking at. It is for walking. As fully as one walks, so near one comes.
The whole picture at a glance
At the centre are mind and intellect given to the Lord, contentment, restraint and firm resolve (Gita 12.14).
With beings, the devotee has no hatred. He has friendliness, compassion and forgiveness, and he disturbs no one (Gita 12.13, Gita 12.15).
With his own feelings, he neither surges nor hates nor grieves nor craves, and is free of fear and agitation (Gita 12.15, Gita 12.17).
With events, he is even in pleasure and pain, honour and insult, blame and praise, and friend and foe, and content with what comes (Gita 12.13, Gita 12.18–19).
And with work and life, he is free of expectation, pure, skilful and impartial. He gives up self-interested undertakings, has no possessiveness and a steady intellect (Gita 12.16, Gita 12.19).
Where else this person appears in the Gita
In the steady intellect of verses 2.54 to 2.57 the language is nearly the same. He is unshaken in pain, free of longing in joy, and free of attachment, fear and anger. Here it is joined to "dear to Me" (Gita 2.54–57).
In verses 14.24 and 14.25 is the one beyond the qualities, even in pleasure and pain, blame and praise, honour and insult, friend and foe, who has given up all undertakings (Gita 14.24–25).
In verses 6.9 and 6.32 the even-minded one is the same toward well-wisher and foe, saint and sinner, and one who sees the pleasure and pain of others as his own is the best yogi. This is the source of compassion (Gita 6.9, Gita 6.32).
Verse 11.55 says that the Lord is reached by one who acts for Him, free of attachment and without enmity toward any being (Gita 11.55). And in verse 18.54 the seeker is even in all beings, has no grief or craving, and gains supreme devotion (Gita 18.54).
The twelfth chapter's own gift is three things: a clear name for friendliness and compassion, the giving of mind and intellect, and the relation of "dear".
Why a picture and not a rule
There are three reasons.
First, the question was "who is best?", and the answer is clearest in a picture. A rule says "do this". A picture says "this is how one who is living it looks".
Second, marks cannot be grown by force one at a time. Pressing down anger does not bring peace. Peace comes when the centre changes. That is why the list has offering at its centre (Gita 12.14). And for one whose centre does not stay, the steps of practice and giving up the fruit were already given (Gita 12.6–12).
Third, the order is steps first, then the person. First how to walk, then what the walker becomes.
"Dear" was said to Arjuna early
The order looks reversed. In verse 2.7 Arjuna comes as a disciple full of weakness and confusion, seeking refuge (Gita 2.7). Yet the Lord calls him "devotee and friend" (Gita 4.3). And at the end He says, "You are exceedingly dear to Me" (Gita 18.64), when the doubts had not yet gone. The doubts went at the end of the eighteenth chapter, and the answer was the same centre: "I will act as You have said" (Gita 18.73).
So "dear" is said even at the start of the road. The picture is what forms by walking.
Common misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is that "dear" means the others are not dear to the Lord. That is not so. He is even in all, yet the devotee is in Him and He is in the devotee (Gita 9.29). Nearness is made by the devotee's turning.
The second is that this is an examination to be passed first. That is not so. Even a person of bad conduct is counted a saint once he turns (Gita 9.30–31), and for one who cannot keep to the higher step, the lower steps were given (Gita 12.6–12). The picture is a direction.
The third is that equanimity is coldness. That is not so. In the first verse itself are friendliness and compassion. Equanimity comes from a lighter grip, not from dying feeling.
The fourth is that "no attachment to any dwelling" means leave your home. That is not so. The question is not of the house but of possessiveness.
The fifth is that "giving up undertakings" means do nothing. That is not so. Verse 12.16 itself asks for skill. What goes is the undertaking begun from self-interest.
How this picture sees anger, envy, comparison and speech
Anger has a chain: dwelling on objects, attachment, desire, anger when blocked (Gita 2.62), then confusion, loss of memory and ruin of the intellect (Gita 2.63). This devotee is not caught at the last link. He stays light on the first links. His "mine and I" is loose and he is free of attachment (Gita 12.13, Gita 12.18–19). So the spark gets no fuel. In practice, when the mind says "this should have been so", stop right there.
Envy and comparison are forms of intolerance (Gita 12.15). In verse 4.22 the one who acts without being bound is easily content, beyond the pairs, and free of envy. Comparison needs someone else's bag. One whose contentment rests within (Gita 4.20) has no measuring tape at all. When it stings, the question should not be "why did he get it?" The question should be where my centre is today.
And before speaking, from verse 17.15, there are three questions. Will this disturb anyone? Is it true? Is it for the good? If the answers do not come right, pause for two breaths.
A seven-day practice
On the first day return to the centre: today hand over mind and decisions (Gita 12.14). On the second day, work on hatred: for a person who seems bitter, say that may he too be well (Gita 12.13). On the third day, work on agitation: notice when you are shaken, and keep your speech soft once (Gita 12.15, Gita 17.15). On the fourth day, work on expectation: put down one expectation and finish the work (Gita 12.16, Gita 2.47). On the fifth day name the four feelings: surging, hatred, grief and craving (Gita 12.17). On the sixth day hear blame and praise alike and return to the work (Gita 12.18–19). And on the seventh day look at your notes and choose one mark for the coming week (Gita 12.20).
Questions people ask
With so many marks, which one first? Start from the centre, mind and intellect given to the Lord (Gita 12.14). If the centre does not stay, there are the steps of practice and giving up the fruit (Gita 12.8, Gita 12.6–12).
Does "free of expectation" mean giving up ambition? No. Full skill is needed (Gita 2.50). What goes is the grip on the fruit. The right is to action, not to the fruit (Gita 2.47).
What does "no possessiveness" mean for a family person? Keep the home as it is, but not the clutch of possessiveness (Gita 13.10, Janaka: Gita 3.20). It is no advice to keep or leave a home.
Why are "pure" and "skilful" in a list on devotion? Because work is part of devotion. Worship is done through one's natural work (Gita 18.45–46), and work offered is work done with skill.
The words of the fourteenth chapter are the same. Is it the same person? The marks are the same and the angle is different. There it is going beyond the qualities (Gita 14.24–25), and here it is the picture of "dear" from the side of devotion. The two complete each other.
If you have to explain it in thirty seconds
In verses 12.13 to 12.20 the Lord gives not a rule but the picture of a person dear to Him. He is without hatred toward beings, friendly and compassionate. He is steady in his feelings. He is even in pleasure and pain, honour and insult, blame and praise. And in work he is free of expectation and skilful. All the marks come from one centre: mind and intellect given to the Lord (Gita 12.14). So the list is not to be won one by one. Keep returning to the centre, and the rest change along with it. And this is not an examination but a direction. "Dear" was said to Arjuna at the start, and the picture is what forms by walking (Gita 12.20).
Related hubs: The Path of Devotion (path) · The Ladder of Devotion (before) · Knowing His Glory Leads to Devotion (next) · Equanimity