Chapter 12: Bhakti-yoga – Practice and Attainment of Devotion: Verse 16
अनपेक्ष: शुचिर्दक्ष उदासीनो गतव्यथ: ।
सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी यो मद्भक्त: स मे प्रिय: ॥
anapekṣa: śucir-dakṣa
udāsīno gatavyatha:
sarvārambha-parityāgī
yo mad-bhakta: sa me priya: – 12.16
The devotee who is free from expectations, pure outwardly and inwardly, efficient, indifferent and impartial, free of any strong afflictions, who keeps away all sense of doership in all that he does or proposes to do, is dear to Me (the Supreme).
Chapter 12: Bhakti-yoga – Practice and Attainment of Devotion - Verse 16
Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Devotional pursuit must enrich and empower the mind every time. Only then the devotee will be peaceful, contented and efficient. Mind can be enriched only by inner qualities and virtues. Dedication to the Supreme should lead to dropping all expectations. Expectation constricts the mind, preventing its full application.
A devotee must be dexterous in whatever he does. Neither his striving nor its fruition should become a cause of suffering for him. He must have a refined indifference towards activities and their outcomes. About what he does or how it fruitions, he should have no torment.
Let the triple gunas of Nature look after the course of life and world. Have no undue concern about anything. A devoted mind should not feel any doership about whatever is done or to be done. Devotion implies such nourishing freedom and harmony.
