CONTENTS • INTRODUCTION • CHAPTER I • CHAPTER II • CHAPTER III • CHAPTER IV • CHAPTER V • CHAPTER VI • CHAPTER VII • CHAPTER VIII • CHAPTER IX • CHAPTER X • CHAPTER XI • CHAPTER XII • CHAPTER XIII • CHAPTER XIV • CHAPTER XV • CHAPTER XVI • CHAPTER XVII • CHAPTER XVIII

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Chapter XII
Bhakityog or "The Book of the Religion of Faith"

Arjuna:

Lord! of the men who serve Thee - true in heart As God revealed; and of the men who serve, Worshipping Thee Unrevealed, Unbodied, far, Which take the better way of faith and life?

Krishna:

Whoever serve Me - as I show Myself Constantly true, in full devotion fixed, These hold I very holy. But who serve Worshipping Me The One, The Invisible, The Unrevealed, Unnamed, Unthinkable, Uttermost, All-pervading, Highest, Sure Who thus adore Me, mastering their sense, Of one set mind to all, glad in all good, These blessed souls come unto Me.

Yet, hard The travail is for whoso bend their minds To reach th' Unmanifest. That viewless path Shall scarce be trod by man bearing his flesh! But whereso any doeth all his deeds, Renouncing self in Me, full of Me, fixed To serve only the Highest, night and day Musing on Me - him will I swiftly lift Forth from life's ocean of distress and death Whose soul clings fast to Me. Cling thou to Me! Clasp Me with heart and mind! so shalt thou dwell Surely with Me on high. But if thy thought Droops from such height; if thou be'st weak to set Body and soul upon Me constantly, Despair not! give Me lower service! seek To read Me, worshipping with steadfast will; And, if thou canst not worship steadfastly, Work for Me, toil in works pleasing to Me! For he that laboreth right for love of Me Shall finally attain! But, if in this Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure! find Refuge in Me! let fruits of labor go, Renouncing all for Me, with lowliest heart, So shalt thou come; for, though to know is more Than diligence, yet worship better is Than knowing, and renouncing better still Near to renunciation - very near Dwelleth Eternal Peace!

Who hateth nought Of all which lives, living himself being, Compassionate, from arrogance exempt, Exempt from love of self, unchangeable By good or ill; patient, contended, firm In faith, mastering himself, true to his word, Seeking Me, heart and soul; vowed unto Me, That man I love! Who troubleth not his kind, And is not troubled by them; clear of wrath, Living too high for gladness, grief, or fear, That man I love! Who, dwelling quiet-eyed,¹ Stainless, serene, well-balanced, unperplexed, Working with Me, yet from all works detached, That man I love! Who, fixed in faith on Me, Dotes upon none, scorns none; rejoices not, And grieves not, letting good and evil hap Light when it will, and when it will depart, That man I love! Who, unto friend and foe Keeping an equal heart, with equal mind Bears shame and glory, with an equal peace Takes heat and cold, pleasure and pain; abides Quit of desires, hears praise or calumny In passionless restraint, unmoved by each, Linked by no ties to earth, steadfast in Me, That man I love! But most of all I love Those happy ones to whom 'tis life to live In single fervid faith and love unseeing, Eating the blessed Amrit of my Being!

[Footnote 1: "Not peering about," - anapeksha.]

Here endeth Chapter XII. of the Bhagavad-Gita, entitled "Bhakityogo," or "The Book of the Religion of Faith"

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