Bhagavad Gita · 12.13 · The Yoga of Devotion·13 of 20
अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च।निर्ममो 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.
12.13He 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.
- 12.14Ever content, steady in meditation, self-controlled, possessing firm conviction, with the mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he, My devotee, is dear to Me.
- 12.15He whom the world does not agitate, and who cannot be agitated by the world, and who is freed from joy, anger, fear, and anxiety—he is dear to Me.
- 12.16He who is free from wants, pure, expert, unconcerned, and free from pain, renouncing all undertakings and commencements, he who is devoted to Me is dear to Me.
- 12.17He who neither rejoices nor hates, nor grieves nor desires, renouncing both good and evil, and who is full of devotion, is dear to Me.
- 12.18He who is the same to foe and friend, and also in honor and dishonor, who is the same in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, and who is free from attachment.
- 12.19He to whom censure and praise are equal, who is silent, content with anything, homeless, of a steady mind, and full of devotion; that man is dear to me.
- 12.20They who follow this immortal Dharma, endowed with faith and regarding Me as their supreme goal, are exceedingly dear to Me.
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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- 12.17He who neither rejoices nor hates, nor grieves nor desires, renouncing both good and evil,…
- 16.2Harmlessness, truth, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness,…