Bhagavad Gita

भगवद् गीता

Text & Audio

with paraphrase

Chapter 12

1. Audio

By Swami Brahmananda
Duet
By Jagannath Vedalankar

अर्जुन उवाच:

एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते ।

ये चाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमाः ॥

arjuna uvāca:

evaṃ satatayuktā ye bhaktāstvāṃ paryupāsate,

ye cāpyakṣaramavyaktaṃ teṣāṃ ke yogavittamāḥ.

Arjuna said: Those devotees who thus by a constant union seek after Thee, and those who seek after the unmanifest lummutable, which of these have the greater knowledge of Yoga?

श्रीभगवानुवाच:

मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते ।

श्रद्धया परयोपेताः ते मे युक्ततमा मताः ॥

śrībhagavānuvāca:

mayyāveśya mano ye māṃ nityayuktā upāsate,

śraddhayā parayopetāḥ te me yuktatamā matāḥ.

The Lord said: Those who found their mind in Me and by constant union, possessed of a supreme faith, seek after Me, I hold to be the most perfectly in union of Yoga.

ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यं अव्यक्तं पर्युपासते ।

सर्वत्रगमचिंत्यंच कूटस्थं अचलंध्रुवम् ॥

ye tvakṣaramanirdeśyaṃ avyaktaṃ paryupāsate,

sarvatragamaciṃtyaṃca kūṭasthaṃ acalaṃdhruvam.

संनियम्येन्द्रियग्रामं सर्वत्र समबुद्धयाः ।

ते प्राप्नुवन्ति मामेव सर्वभूतहिते रताः ॥

saṃniyamyendriyagrāmaṃ sarvatra samabuddhayāḥ,

te prāpnuvanti māmeva sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ.

But those who seek after the indefinable unmanifest Immutable omnipresent, unthinkable, self-poised, immobile, constant, they also by restraining all their senses, by the equality of their understanding and by their seeing of one self in all things and by their tranquil benignancy of silent will for the good of all existences, arrive to Me.

क्लेशोऽधिकतरस्तेषां अव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम् ॥

अव्यक्ताहि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते ॥

kleśo’dhikatarasteṣāṃ avyaktāsaktacetasām.

avyaktāhi gatirduḥkhaṃ dehavadbhiravāpyate.

The difficulty of those who devote themselves to the search of the unmanifest Brahman is greater; it is a thing to which embodied souls can only arrive by a constant mortification, a suffering of all the repressed members, a stern difficulty and anguish of the nature.

ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्परः ।

अनन्येनैव योगेन मां ध्यायन्त उपासते ॥

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi mayi saṃnyasya matparaḥ,

ananyenaiva yogena māṃ dhyāyanta upāsate.

तेषामहं समुद्धर्ता मृत्युसंसारसागरात् ।

भवामि न चिरात्पार्थ मय्यावेशितचेतसाम् ॥

teṣāmahaṃ samuddhartā mṛtyusaṃsārasāgarāt,

bhavāmi na cirātpārtha mayyāveśitacetasām.

But those who giving up all their actions to Me, and wholly devoted to Me, worship meditating on Me with an unswerving Yoga, those who fix on Me all their consciousness, O Partha, speedily I deliver them out of the sea of death-bound existence.

मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय ।

निवसिष्यसि मय्येव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशयः ॥

mayyeva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṃ niveśaya,

nivasiṣyasi mayyeva ata ūrdhvaṃ na saṃśayaḥ.

On Me repose all thy mind and lodge all thy understanding in Me; doubt not that thou shalt dwell in Me above this mortal existence.

अथचित्तं समाधातुं न शक्नोषि मयि स्थिरम् ।

अभ्यासयोगेन ततो मामिच्छाप्तुं धनंजय ॥

athacittaṃ samādhātuṃ na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram,

abhyāsayogena tato māmicchāptuṃ dhanaṃjaya.

And if thou art not able to keep the consciousness fixed steadily in Me, then by the Yoga of practice seek after Me, O Dhananjaya.

अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भव ।

मदर्थमपि कर्माणि कुर्वन्सिद्धिमवाप्स्यसि ॥

abhyāse’pyasamartho’si matkarmaparamo bhava,

madarthamapi karmāṇi kurvansiddhimavāpsyasi.

If thou art unable even to seek by practice, then be it thy supreme aim to do My work; doing all actions for My sake, thou shalt attain perfection.

अथैतदप्यशक्तोऽसि कर्तुं मद्योगमाश्रितः ।

सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं ततः कुरु यतात्मवान् ॥

athaitadapyaśakto’si kartuṃ madyogamāśritaḥ,

sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṃ tataḥ kuru yatātmavān.

But if even this constant remembering of Me and lifting up of your works to Me is felt beyond your power, then renounce all fruit of action with the self controlled.

श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्ध्यानं विशिष्यते ।

ध्यानात्कर्मफलत्यागस्त्यागाच्छांतिरनन्तरम् ॥

śreyo hi jñānamabhyāsājjñānāddhyānaṃ viśiṣyate,

dhyānātkarmaphalatyāgastyāgācchāṃtiranantaram.

Better indeed is knowledge than practice, than knowledge, meditation is better; than meditation, renunciation of the fruit of action, on renunciation follows peace.

अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च ।

निर्ममो निरहंकारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी ॥

adveṣṭā sarvabhūtānāṃ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca,

nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ samaduḥkhasukhaḥ kṣamī.

संतुष्टः सततं योगी यतात्मा दृढनिश्चयः ।

मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिर्यो मद्भक्तः स मे प्रियः ॥

saṃtuṣṭaḥ satataṃ yogī yatātmā dṛḍhaniścayaḥ,

mayyarpitamanobuddhiryo madbhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ.

He who has no egoism, no I-ness and my-ness. who has friendship and pity for all beings and hate for no living thing, who has a tranquil equality to pleasure and pain, and is patient and forgiving, he who has a desireless content, the steadfast control of self and the firm unshakable will and resolution of the Yogin and a love and devotion which gives up the whole mind and reason to Me, he is dear to Me.

यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः ।

हर्षामर्षभयोद्वेगैर्मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः ॥

yasmānnodvijate loko lokānnodvijate ca yaḥ,

harṣāmarṣabhayodvegairmukto yaḥ sa ca me priyaḥ.

He by whom the world is not afflicted or troubled, who also is not afflicted or troubled by the world, who is freed from the troubled agitated lower nature and from its waves of joy and fear and anxiety and resentment, he is dear to Me.

अनपेक्षः शुचिर्दक्ष उदासीनो गतव्यथः ।

सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी यो मद्भक्तः स मे प्रियः ॥

anapekṣaḥ śucirdakṣa udāsīno gatavyathaḥ,

sarvārambhaparityāgī yo madbhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ.

He who desires nothing, is pure, skilful in all actions, indifferent to whatever comes, not pained or afflicted by any result or happening, who has given up all initiative of action, he, My devotee, is dear to Me.

यो न हृष्यति न द्वेष्टि न शोचति न काङ्क्षति ।

शुभाशुभपरित्यागी भक्तिमान्यः स मे प्रियः ॥

yo na hṛṣyati na dveṣṭi na śocati na kāňkṣati,

śubhāśubhaparityāgī bhaktimānyaḥ sa me priyaḥ.

He who neither desires the pleasant and rejoices at its touch nor abhors the unpleasant and sorrows at its touch, who has abolished the distinction between fortunate and unfortunate happenings (because his devotion receives all things equally as good from the hands of his eternal Lover and Master), he is dear to Me.

समः शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयोः ।

शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु समः संगविवर्जितः ॥

samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ,

śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅgavivarjitaḥ.

तुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिर्मौनी संतुष्टो येन केनचित् ।

अनिकेतः स्थिरमतिर्भक्तिमान्मे प्रियो नरः ॥

tulyanindāstutirmaunī saṃtuṣṭo yena kenacit,

aniketaḥ sthiramatirbhaktimānme priyo naraḥ.

Equal to friend and enemy, equal to honour and insult, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, grief and happiness, heat and cold (to all that troubles with opposite afiections the normal nature), silent, content and well-satisfied with anything and everything, not attached to person or thing, place or home, firm in mind (because it is constantly seated in the highest self and fixed for ever on the one divine object of his love and adoration), that man is dear to Me.

ये तु धर्म्यामृतमिदं यथोक्तं पर्युपासते ।

श्रद्दधाना मत्परमा भक्तास्तेऽतीव मे प्रियाः ॥

ye tu dharmyāmṛtamidaṃ yathoktaṃ paryupāsate,

śraddadhānā matparamā bhaktāste’tīva me priyāḥ.

But exceedingly dear to Me are those devotees who make Me (the Purushottama) their one supreme aim and follow out with a perfect faith and exactitude the immortalising Dharma described in this teaching.