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CHAPTER TWELVE Devotional ServiceTEXT 1: Arjuna inquired: Which are considered to be more perfect,
those who are always properly engaged in Your devotional service or those who
worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested? TEXT 2: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Those who fix
their minds on My personal form and are always engaged in worshiping Me with
great and transcendental faith are considered by Me to be most perfect. TEXTS 3-4: But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that
which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading,
inconceivable, unchanging, fixed and immovable – the impersonal conception of
the Absolute Truth – by controlling the various senses and being equally
disposed to everyone, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at last
achieve Me. TEXT 5: For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested,
impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make
progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied. TEXTS 6-7: But those who worship Me, giving up all their
activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in
devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds
upon Me, O son of Pṛthā
– for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death. TEXT 8: Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me
always, without a doubt. TEXT 9: My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your
mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of
bhakti-yoga. In this way develop a desire to attain Me. TEXT 10: If you cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga,
then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the
perfect stage. TEXT 11: If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness
of Me, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be
self-situated. TEXT 12: If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself
in the cultivation of knowledge. Better than knowledge, however, is
meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of
action, for by such renunciation one can attain peace of mind. TEXTS 13-14: One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all
living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from
false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant,
always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with
determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me – such a devotee of Mine
is very dear to Me. TEXT 15: He by whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not
disturbed by anyone, who is equipoised in happiness and distress, fear and
anxiety, is very dear to Me. TEXT 16: My devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of
activities, who is pure, expert, without cares, free from all pains, and not
striving for some result, is very dear to Me. TEXT 17: One who neither rejoices nor grieves, who neither laments
nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things – such
a devotee is very dear to Me. TEXTS 18-19: One who is equal to friends and enemies, who is
equipoised in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame
and infamy, who is always free from contaminating association, always silent
and satisfied with anything, who doesn’t care for any residence, who is fixed
in knowledge and who is engaged in devotional service – such a person is very
dear to Me. TEXT 20: Those who follow this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely engage themselves with faith, making Me the supreme goal, are very, very dear to Me. |