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Bhagavad Gita · 12.13 · The Yoga of Devotion·13 of 20

अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव चनिर्ममो निरहङ्कारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी

adveṣhṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ maitraḥ karuṇa eva cha

nirmamo nirahankāraḥ sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣhamī

Sanskrit recitation

The devotee’s everyday virtues · 12.13–12.20 · Teaching

Translation

He who hates no creature, is friendly and compassionate to all, is free from attachment and egoism, is balanced in pleasure and pain, and is forgiving.

Meaning

Lord Krishna gives a description of the nature of a Bhagavata or a sage in the following eight verses. These eight verses are called Amritashtakam.The devotee who is established in God bears illwill to none. He looks on all with love and great compassion. He regards all beings as himself. He does not hate even a single being, not even the creature which gives him intense pain. He who entertains mercy towards suffering people and tries to relieve their sufferings is a man of Karuna. He puts himself in the position of the sufferer and feels the pain himself. Mercy is a divine attribute. God is allmerciful. If you wish to hold communion with the Lord, and if you desire to attain Godhead, you must also become allmerciful.The perfect devotee offers full security of life (Abhayadana) to all beings. He is a Paramahamsa Sannyasi. The devotee only can really understand the mysterious ways of the Lord. He beholds the Lord everywhere. He sees the Lord in all creatures. That is the reason why he has eal vision. He is like the sun or the river. The sun sheds its light eally on a palace or a cottage. Anyone can drink the water of a river. A river enches the thirst of cows as well as tigers and lions. The idea of mineness and Iness never arises in the devotees mind. He has no sense of mine and thine. He is indifferent to pleasure and pain. He is not attached to pleasant objects

After Swami Sivananda

The devotee’s everyday virtues· 12.13–12.20

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

Word-by-word
cha
and
eva
indeed
sama
equipoised
duḥkha
distress
sukhaḥ
happiness
kṣhamī
forgiving
maitraḥ
friendly
nirmamaḥ
free from attachment to possession
karuṇaḥ
compassionate
adveṣhṭā
free from malice
nirahankāraḥ
free from egoism
sarva-bhūtānām
toward all living beings

Related verses

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