Chapter XII - The Yoga of devotion
Brief introduction
Arjuna
asks: “Are You the Supreme Person? Sometimes You refer to Yourself as
Parama-purusha—Supreme Person.
Sometimes
You say that You are indestructible, transcendent, and impossible even to
conceive. In what way are we to worship You, O Lord? There are people who adore
You as the Supreme Mahapurusha, Purushottama.
With
immense devotion they sing of You, they dance in ecstasy by taking Your name,
they adore You day in and day out, and glorify You in all ways.
There
are others who are unified in their being with Your indestructible Super Being.
Between these two great souls, whom do You regard as the best of yogins?”
Krishna
replies, “I consider those people very near to Me and really united with
Me whose mind is fixed on Me, who worship Me ever considering Me as their
highest beloved, who have faith in Me only, and center their faith in nothing
else.
I
certainly consider them as united with Me because their mind is wholly centered
in Me in their utter devotion. But there are others who are united with Me in a
different way.”
The
distinction drawn here is between those devotees who worship the Supreme Being
as the Parama Purushottama and those who are devoted to the Universal
Inclusiveness, outside which even they do not exist.
We
may call these two ways of approach as bhakti and jnana,
if we like; but the jnana referred to here is actually a kind
of bhakti in the highest sense. It is called para
bhakti, which is the same as jnana.
The Lord goes on to describe the qualities that a true devotee
possesses. He neither attaches himself to anything nor does he have
any aversion to things.
He has a balanced mind under all circumstances. He is not
agitated by the happenings of the world, nor does he himself cause
any agitation in others.
He is perfectly desire less and rejoices in the Lord within.
He sees equality everywhere, being untouched by sorrow, fear, honor
as also dishonor. He is perfectly content as he has surrendered his entire
being to the Lord.
The path of devotion communicated during the conversation between
Sri Arjuna and Lord Krishna is highlighted by providing answer to the following
key questions:
1. Should One Worship a Personal or an Impersonal God?
2. What are the four Paths to God Realization explained in this
chapter?
3. Why Karma-Yoga is recommended to be the Best Starting Point for
God Realization?
4. What are the Key Attributes of a true devotee?
5. Finally, why One Should Sincerely Strive to develop Divine
Qualities?
Love.
