अनपेक्ष: शुचिर्दक्ष उदासीनो गतव्यथ: |
सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी यो मद्भक्त: स मे प्रिय: || 16||
anapekṣhaḥ śhuchir dakṣha udāsīno gata-vyathaḥ
sarvārambha-parityāgī yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ
anapekṣhaḥ—indifferent to worldly gain; śhuchiḥ—pure; dakṣhaḥ—skillful; udāsīnaḥ—without cares; gata-vyathaḥ—untroubled; sarva-ārambha—of all undertakings; parityāgī—renouncer; saḥ—who; mad-bhaktaḥ—my devotees; saḥ—he; me—to Me; priyaḥ—very dear
Translation:
He who is free from desire, who is pure in body and mind, who is competent and ready-willed, who is unconcerned, free from anxiety and sorrow, who has renounced all sense of doership (or who has renounced all acts of desire, prohibited by the ‘sastras’), who is devoted to Me – is dear to Me.
Commentary:
Suchih: Purity is many times emphasised by the Lord. The devotee should be clean in body and mind, and the place where he lives should also be clean. Such purity of body is essential for purity of mind.
dakshah: He should be competent and ever alert in carrying out his ‘sadhana’. A moment’s negligence is enough for ‘maya’ to strike him down.
gatavyathah: Anxiety and fear are the two real enemies of all men. Having taken refuge with the Lord, it would be foolish for a devotee still to be anxious and struck with fear about anything in the world.
sarvarambhaparityagi: This does not mean that the devotee becomes dull and inactive. It means that he has renounced all sense of doership in all actions. Or it may mean that he has renounced all desire-prompted actions prohibited by the ‘Sastras’. Having given up the feeling of doership, though he is engaged in good work, still he is one who has not done anything.
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
After taking some of the sweets, the Master, with a smile, began to speak to Vidyasagar. Meanwhile the room had become filled with people; some were standing and others were seated.
MASTER: “Ah! Today, at last, I have come to the ocean. Up till now I have seen only canals, marshes, or a river at the most. But today I am face to face with the sagar, the ocean.” (All laugh.)
VIDYASAGAR (smiling): “Then please take home some salt water.” (Laughter.)
MASTER: “Oh, no! Why salt water? You aren’t the ocean of ignorance. You are the ocean of vidya, knowledge. You are the ocean of condensed milk.” (All laugh.)
VIDYASAGAR: “Well, you may put it that way.
The pundit became silent. Sri Ramakrishna said: “Your activities are inspired by sattva. Though they are rajasic, they are influenced by sattva. Compassion springs from sattva. Though work for the good of others belongs to rajas, yet this rajas has sattva for its basis and is not harmful. Suka and other sages cherished compassion in their minds to give people religious instruction, to teach them about God. You are distributing food and learning. That is good too. If these activities are done in a selfless spirit they lead to God. But most people work for fame or to acquire merit. Their activities are not selfless. Besides, you are already a siddha.” (Literally, “perfect” or “boiled”; the word is applied both to the perfected soul and to boiled things.)
VIDYASAGAR: “How is that, sir?”
MASTER (laughing): “When potatoes and other vegetables are well cooked, they become soft and tender. And you possess such a tender nature! You are so compassionate!” (Laughter.)
VIDYASAGAR (laughing): “But when the paste of kalai pulse is boiled it becomes all the harder.”
MASTER: “But you don’t belong to that class. Mere pundits are like diseased fruit that becomes hard and will not ripen at all. Such fruit has neither the freshness of green fruit nor the flavour of ripe. Vultures soar very high in the sky, but their eyes are fixed on rotten carrion on the ground. The book-learned are reputed to be wise, but they are attached to ‘woman and gold’. Like the vultures, they are in search of carrion. They are attached to the world of ignorance. Compassion, love of God, and renunciation are the glories of true knowledge.“
Vidyasagar listened to these words in silence. The others, too, gazed at the Master and were attentive to every word he said.
—–
MASTER: “Just see how picturesque this universe is! How many things there are! The sun, moon, and stars; and how many varieties of living beings! — big and small, good and bad, strong and weak — some endowed with more power, some with less.”
VIDYASAGAR: “Has He endowed some with more power and others with less?”
MASTER: “As the All-pervading Spirit He exists in all beings, even in the ant. But the manifestations of His Power are different in different beings; otherwise, how can one person put ten to flight, while another can’t face even one? And why do all people respect you? Have you grown a pair of horns? (Laughter.) You have more compassion and learning. Therefore people honour you and come to pay you their respects. Don’t you agree with me?”
Vidyasagar smiled.
The Master continued: “There is nothing in mere scholarship. The object of study is to find means of knowing God and realizing Him. A holy man had a book. When asked what it contained, he opened it and showed that on all the pages were written the words ‘Om Rama’, and nothing else.
“What is the significance of the Gita? It is what you find by repeating the word ten times. It is then reversed into ‘tagi’, which means a person who has renounced everything for God. And the lesson of the Gita is: ‘O man, renounce everything and seek God alone.’ Whether a man is a monk or a householder, he has to shake off all attachment from his mind.
“Chaitanyadeva set out on a pilgrimage to southern India. One day he saw a man reading the Gita. Another man, seated at a distance, was listening and weeping. His eyes were swimming in tears. Chaitanyadeva asked him, ‘Do you understand all this?’ The man said, ‘No, revered sir, I don’t understand a word of the text.’ ‘Then why are you crying?’ asked Chaitanya. The devotee said: ‘I see Arjuna’s chariot before me. I see Lord Krishna and Arjuna seated in front of it, talking. I see this and I weep.’ (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 12 
(20 Verses)
