🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 12.20
Chapter 12 · भक्तियोग · Bhakti-Yoga · "The Yoga of Devotion" · Verse 20 of 20
🪷 English Translations
Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.
Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition
12.20 Verily those who love the spiritual wisdom as I have taught, whose faith never fails, and who concentrate their whole nature on Me, they indeed are My most beloved."
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
12.20 They verily who follow this immortal Dharma (law or doctrine) as described above, endowed with faith, regarding Me as their supreme goal, they, the devotees, are exceedingly dear to Me.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
12.20 Tu, but; ye bhaktah, those devotees of Mine, the monks who have resorted to the highest devotion consisting in the knowledge of the supreme Reality; mat-paramah, who accept Me as the supreme Goal, to whom I, as mentioned above, who am identical with the Immutable, am the highest (parama), unsurpassable Goal; and sraddadhanah, with faith; paryupasate, seek for, practise; idam, this; dharmyamrtam, ambrosia that is indistinguishable from the virtues-that which is indistinguishable from dharma (virtue) is dharmya, and this is called amrta (ambrosia) since it leads to Immortality-; yatha-uktam, as stated above in, 'He who is not hateful towards any creature,' etc.; te, they; are ativa, very; priyah, dear; me, to Me.
After having explained what was hinted in, 'For I am very much dear to the man of Knowledge৷৷.'(7.17), that has been concluded here in, 'Those devotees are very dear to Me.'
Since by seeking for this ambrosia which is indistinguishable from the virtues as stated above one becomes very dear to Me, who am theLord Vishnu, the supreme God, therefore this nectar which is indistinguishable from the virtues has to be diligently sought for by one who is a seeker of Liberation, who wants to attain the coveted Abode of Visnu. This is the purport of the sentence. [Thus, after the consummation of meditation on the alified Brahman, one who aspires after the unalified Brahman, who has the alifications mentioned in, 'He who is not hateful towards any creature,' etc., who is pre-eminently fit for this purpose, and who practises sravana etc. has the possibility of realizing the Truth from which his Liberation logically follows. Hence, the conclusion is that the meaning of the word tat (in the sentence tattvamasi) has to be sought for, since his has the power to arouse the comprehension of the meaning of that sentence, which is the means to Liberation.]
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
12.20 But those who follow Bhakti Yoga - 'which is a nectar of virtuous duty,' i.e., which is at once virtuous duty and nectar, and which even as a menas, is eal to its end in conferring bliss on those who follow is as stated above, i.e., in the manner taught in the stanza beginning with 'Those who, focusing their minds on Me' (12.2) - such devotees are exceedingly dear to Me.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
12.20. Those, who resort, as instructed above, to this duty [conducive to] immortality, who have faith [in it] and have Me alone their goal - those devotees are exceedingly dear to Me.
🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices
The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.
Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
12.20 ये who? तु indeed? धर्म्यामृतम् immortal Dharma (Law)? इदम् this? यथोक्तम् as declared (above)? पर्युपासते follow? श्रद्दधानाः endowed with faith? मत्परमाः regarding Me as their Supreme? भक्ताः devotees? ते they? अतीव exceedingly? मे to Me? प्रियाः dear.Commentary The Blessed Lord has in this verse given a description of His excellent devotee.Amrita Dharma Amrita is the lifegiving nectar. Dharma is righteousness or wisdom. Dharma is that which leads to immortality when practised. The real devotees regard Me as their final or supreme refuge.Above Beginning with verse 13.A great truth that should not go unnoticed is that the devotee? the man of wisdom and the Yogi have all the same fundamental characteristics.Priyo hi Jnaninotyartham (I am exceedingly dear to the wise man) (VII.12) has thus been explained at length and concluded here thus? Te ativa me priyah (they are exceedinlgy dear to Me).He who follows this immortal Dharma as described above becomes exceedingly dear to the Lord. Therefore? every aspirant who thirsts for salvation? and who longs to attain the Supreme Abode of the Lord should follow this immortal Dharma with zeal and intense faith.Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita? the science of the Eternal? the scripture of Yoga? the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna? ends the twelfth discourse entitledThe Yoga of Devotion.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
12.20 Tu, but; ye bhaktah, those devotees of Mine, the monks who have resorted to the highest devotion consisting in the knowledge of the supreme Reality; mat-paramah, who accept Me as the supreme Goal, to whom I, as mentioned above, who am identical with the Immutable, am the highest (parama), unsurpassable Goal; and sraddadhanah, with faith; paryupasate, seek for, practise; idam, this; dharmyamrtam, ambrosia that is indistinguishable from the virtues-that which is indistinguishable from dharma (virtue) is dharmya, and this is called amrta (ambrosia) since it leads to Immortality-; yatha-uktam, as stated above in, 'He who is not hateful towards any creature,' etc.; te, they; are ativa, very; priyah, dear; me, to Me.
After having explained what was hinted in, 'For I am very much dear to the man of Knowledge৷৷.'(7.17), that has been concluded here in, 'Those devotees are very dear to Me.'
Since by seeking for this ambrosia which is indistinguishable from the virtues as stated above one becomes very dear to Me, who am theLord Vishnu, the supreme God, therefore this nectar which is indistinguishable from the virtues has to be diligently sought for by one who is a seeker of Liberation, who wants to attain the coveted Abode of Visnu. This is the purport of the sentence. [Thus, after the consummation of meditation on the alified Brahman, one who aspires after the unalified Brahman, who has the alifications mentioned in, 'He who is not hateful towards any creature,' etc., who is pre-eminently fit for this purpose, and who practises sravana etc. has the possibility of realizing the Truth from which his Liberation logically follows. Hence, the conclusion is that the meaning of the word tat (in the sentence tattvamasi) has to be sought for, since his has the power to arouse the comprehension of the meaning of that sentence, which is the means to Liberation.]
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
12.20 But those who follow Bhakti Yoga - 'which is a nectar of virtuous duty,' i.e., which is at once virtuous duty and nectar, and which even as a menas, is eal to its end in conferring bliss on those who follow is as stated above, i.e., in the manner taught in the stanza beginning with 'Those who, focusing their minds on Me' (12.2) - such devotees are exceedingly dear to Me.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
12.15-20 Yasmat etc. upto Me priyah. One who has no fixed thought : One who has no resolution, [in his mundane life] like 'This alone must be done by me'. He, who enjoys, with contentment, both pleasure and pain as they come, and has his mind completely absorbed in Supreme Lord - that person happily (or easily) attains the Supreme Isolation (Emancipation)
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।12.20।। यथोक्त अमृत धर्म उपर्युक्त पंक्तियों में सनातन धर्म का सार दिया गया है। वस्तुत हिन्दू धर्म के अनुयायियों के जीवन का लक्ष्य आत्मसाक्षात्कार करके उसे जीवन को अपने व्यक्तित्व के सभी स्तरों शारीरिक? मानसिक और बौद्धिक पर जीने का है। उसके लिये केवल इतना पर्याप्त नहीं है कि वह इस ज्ञान को बौद्धिक स्तर पर समझता है अथवा नियमित रूप से शास्त्रग्रन्थ का पाठ करता है? या उन्हें अच्छी प्रकार दूसरों को समझा भी सकता है। उसे चाहिए कि वह शास्त्रीय ज्ञान को आत्मसात् करके स्वयं पूर्ण पुरुष बन जाये। इसलिए? भगवान् कहते हैं कि उसे श्रद्धावान् होना चाहिए यहाँ श्रद्धा शब्द का अर्थ है स्वयं के अनुभव के द्वारा शास्त्र प्रतिपादित आत्मज्ञान्ा को आत्मसात् करने की क्षमता।ऐसे भक्त मुझे अतिशय प्रिय हैं इस श्लोक के साथ भक्त के लक्षणों का वर्णन करने वाले इस प्रकरण का षष्ठ भाग तथा यह अध्याय भी समाप्त होता है। यद्यपि इसमें और कोई नया लक्षण नहीं बताया गया है? तथपि इसमें भगवान् का समस्त साधकों को दिया हुआ पुनराश्वासन है कि उक्त गुणों से सम्पन्न साधकों को भगवान् की परा भक्ति प्राप्त होगी।conclusion तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषस्तु ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रेश्रीकृष्णार्जुन संवादे भक्तियोगोनाम द्वादशोऽध्याय।।इस प्रकार श्रीकृष्णार्जुन संवाद के रूप में ब्रह्मविद्या और योगशास्त्रस्वरूप श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतोपनिषद् का भक्तियोग नामक बारहवां अध्याय समाप्त होता है।
🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā
- This is verse 20 of 20 in Chapter 12 · Bhakti-Yoga (The Yoga of Devotion)
- Chapter theme: Supreme devotion · the 39 qualities of the dear-bhakta · na cirāt rescue
- Ṣaṭka grouping: TAT-Ṣaṭka (BG 7-12 · the Lord)
- Chapter hub: /bhakti-yoga
🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷
सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)