Bhagavad Gita · 12.7 · The Yoga of Devotion·7 of 20
तेषामहं समुद्धर्ता मृत्युसंसारसागरात्।भवामि नचिरात्पार्थ मय्यावेशितचेतसाम् ॥
teṣhām ahaṁ samuddhartā mṛityu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na chirāt pārtha mayy āveśhita-chetasām
Sanskrit recitation
Many paths, one devotion · 12.1–12.12 · Teaching
Translation
To those whose minds are set on Me, O Arjuna, verily I soon become the savior out of the ocean of Samsara.
Meaning
Mortal Samsara The round of birth and death. The devotee who does total, unconditional, and ungrudging selfsurrender to the Lord, who places himself completely at the mercy of the Lord, and who fixes of actions by offering them to the Lord and who thus destroys any power in the actions to bear fruit, and who has abandoned even the idea of liberation, is soon lifted by the Lord from the mortal plane to the abode of Immortality.I redeem such persons who have become Macchitta i.e., mind united with Me, from the ocean of the mortal world or worldly life, without delay. (Cf.X.10.11XII.6and7)
After Swami Sivananda
Many paths, one devotion· 12.1–12.12→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 12.1Arjuna said, "Which of them are better versed in Yoga—those who steadfastly worship You, or those who worship the imperishable and the unmanifested?"
- 12.2The Blessed Lord said, "In My opinion, those who fix their minds on Me, worship Me ever steadfastly, and are endowed with supreme faith, are the best in Yoga."
- 12.3Those who worship the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest, the omnipresent, the unthinkable, the immovable, and the eternal.
- 12.4Having restrained all the senses, being even-minded everywhere, and intent on the welfare of all beings, they verily come unto Me.
- 12.5Greater is their trouble whose minds are set on the unmanifested, for the goal of the unmanifested is very hard for the embodied to reach.
- 12.6But to those who worship Me, renouncing all actions in Me, regarding Me as the supreme goal, meditating on Me with single-minded yoga.
12.7To those whose minds are set on Me, O Arjuna, verily I soon become the savior out of the ocean of Samsara.
- 12.8Fix your mind on Me, and your intellect in Me. Then you will certainly live in Me alone hereafter.
- 12.9If you are unable to fix your mind steadily on Me, then seek to reach Me through the yoga of constant practice, O Arjuna.
- 12.10If you are unable to practice even this Abhyasa Yoga, be intent on doing actions for My sake; even by doing actions for My sake, you will attain perfection.
- 12.11If you are unable to do even this, then, resort to union with Me and renounce the fruits of all actions with self-control.
- 12.12Better indeed is knowledge than practice; better than knowledge is meditation; better than meditation is the renunciation of the fruits of actions: peace immediately follows renunciation.
Word-by-word→
- na
- not
- aham
- I
- mayi
- with me
- chirāt
- after a long time
- pārtha
- Arjun, the son of Pritha
- bhavāmi
- (I) become
- teṣhām
- of those
- samuddhartā
- the deliverer
- āveśhita chetasām
- of those whose consciousness is united
- mṛityu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
- from the ocean of birth and death
Related verses
- 4.39The one who is full of faith, devoted to it, and has subdued their senses obtains this…
- 6.10Let the yogi constantly strive to keep the mind steady, remaining in solitude, alone, with…
- 7.1The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, hear how you shall, without doubt, know Me fully, with…
- 7.25I am not manifest to all, veiled as I am by the Yoga-Maya. This deluded world does not…