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Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 12
Bhakti Yoga
The Yoga of Devotion
The warmest chapter: form or formless, which path is higher? Krishna answers for embodied hearts — the personal way is nearer — then offers the great ladder of practice and closes with thirty-five qualities of the devotee dear to God.
All 20 verses
Each verse links to its full Sanskrit text, transliteration, plain-English meaning, key learning and practical application.
Gita 12.1evaṃ satatayuktā ye bhaktāstvāṃ paryupāsate | ye cāpyakṣaramavyaktaṃ teṣāṃ ke yo…Arjuna said: Those devotees who, ever harmonised, worship You, and those who worship the Imperishable Unmanifest, which …Gita 12.2mayyāveśya mano ye māṃ nityayuktā upāsate | śraddhayā parayopetāḥ te me yuktatam…The Blessed Lord said: Those who fix their minds on Me and worship Me, ever harmonised, endowed with supreme faith, them…Gita 12.3-4ye tvakṣaramanirdeśyamavyaktaṃ paryupāsate | sarvatragamacintyañca kūṭasthamacal…But those who worship the Imperishable, the indefinable, unmanifest, omnipresent, inconceivable, immovable, unchanging, …Gita 12.5kleśo'dhikatarasteṣāmavyaktāsaktacetasām | avyaktā hi gatirduḥkhaṃ dehavadbhirav…Greater is the difficulty of those whose minds are set on the Unmanifest; for the goal of the Unmanifest is hard for the…Gita 12.6-7ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi mayi saṃnyasya matparāḥ | ananyenaiva yogena māṃ dhyāyanta…But those who, renouncing all actions in Me, intent on Me as the supreme, worship Me with undivided yoga, meditating on …Gita 12.8mayyeva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṃ niveśaya | nivasiṣyasi mayyeva ata ūrdhvaṃ na…Fix your mind on Me alone, let your understanding dwell in Me; you shall live in Me alone hereafter, of this there is no…Gita 12.9atha cittaṃ samādhātuṃ na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram | abhyāsayogena tato māmicchāptuṃ…If you are unable to fix your mind steadily on Me, then seek to reach Me by the yoga of constant practice, O Dhananjaya.Gita 12.10abhyāse'pyasamartho'si matkarmaparamo bhava | madarthamapi karmāṇi kurvansiddhim…If you are incapable even of practice, be intent on working for Me; even performing actions for My sake, you shall attai…Gita 12.11athaitadapyaśakto'si kartuṃ madyogamāśritaḥ | sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṃ tataḥ kuru y…If you are unable to do even this, then, taking refuge in My yoga, renounce the fruit of all action, acting with self- r…Gita 12.12śreyo hi jñānamabhyāsājjñānāddhyānaṃ viśiṣyate | dhyānātkarmaphalatyāgastyāgācch…Better indeed is knowledge than practice; better than knowledge is meditation; better than meditation is renunciation of…Gita 12.13-14adveṣṭā sarvabhūtānāṃ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca | nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ samaduḥkhasuk…One who hates no being, who is friendly and compassionate, free from possessiveness and ego, equal in pain and pleasure,…Gita 12.15yasmānnodvijate loko lokānnodvijate ca yaḥ | harṣāmarṣabhayodvegairmukto yaḥ sa …One from whom the world does not shrink, and who does not shrink from the world, free from elation, impatience, fear, an…Gita 12.16anapekṣaḥ śucirdakṣa udāsīno gatavyathaḥ | sarvārambhaparityāgī yo madbhaktaḥ sa…One who is free from wants, pure, capable, impartial, untroubled, renouncing all undertakings, that devotee of Mine is d…Gita 12.17yo na hṛṣyati na dveṣṭi na śocati na kāṅkṣati | śubhāśubhaparityāgī bhaktimānyaḥ…One who neither rejoices nor hates, neither grieves nor desires, renouncing the pleasant and the unpleasant, full of dev…Gita 12.18-19samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ | śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅgav…Equal to enemy and friend, in honour and dishonour, in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, free from attachment; alike in …Gita 12.20ye tu dharmyāmṛtamidaṃ yathoktaṃ paryupāsate | śraddadhānā matparamā bhaktāste't…But those who follow this immortal dharma as declared, endowed with faith, holding Me as the supreme, those devotees are…
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All 18 chapters
1Arjuna Vishada YogaThe Yoga of Arjuna's Despair2Sankhya YogaThe Yoga of Knowledge3Karma YogaThe Yoga of Action4Jnana Karma Sanyasa YogaKnowledge & Renunciation of Action5Karma Sanyasa YogaThe Yoga of Renunciation6Dhyana YogaThe Yoga of Meditation7Jnana Vijnana YogaKnowledge of the Absolute8Akshara Brahma YogaThe Imperishable Absolute9Raja Vidya Raja Guhya YogaThe Royal Knowledge & Royal Secret10Vibhuti YogaThe Yoga of Divine Glories11Vishvarupa Darshana YogaThe Vision of the Universal Form12Bhakti YogaThe Yoga of Devotion13Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga YogaThe Field & the Knower of the Field14Gunatraya Vibhaga YogaThe Three Gunas15Purushottama YogaThe Supreme Person16Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga YogaThe Divine & Demonic Natures17Shraddhatraya Vibhaga YogaThe Three Kinds of Faith18Moksha Sanyasa YogaLiberation through Renunciation