BhagavadgitaWilkins12

                                      The Bhagavad-Gītā
                                                                                                               Or
                                  Dialogues of Krishna and Arjuna
                                                            The Eighteen Lectures
                                                                                           With Notes
                                             TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL 

                              IN THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF THE BRAHMAN

                                 By CHARLES WILKINS     1785                                        

                                                                                   L E C T U R E. 12.   

                                      OF SERVING THE  DEITY IN HIS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE FORMS.

(Worship of the Personal Lord is better than Meditation

of the Absolute. Dr. Radhakrishnan)            

LECTURE XII. 

OF SERVING THE  DEITY IN HIS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE FORMS.

 [98]

ARJUN

Of those thy servants who are always thus employed, which know their duty best?  those who worship thee as thou now art; or those who serve thee in thy invisible and incorruptible nature?

KRISHNA            

Those who having placed their minds in me, serve me with constant zeal, and are endued with steady faith, are esteemed the best devoted. They too who, delighting in the welfare of all nature, serve me in my incorruptible, ineffable, and invisible form; omnipresent, incomprehensible, standing on high fixed and immoveable, with subdued passions and understandings, the same in all things, shall also come unto me. Those whose minds are attached to my invisible nature have the greater labour to encounter; because an invisible path is difficult to be found   by corporeal beings. They also who, preferring me, leave

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All works for me, and, free from the worship of all others contemplate and serve me alone, I presently raise them up· from the ocean of this region of mortality, whose minds are thus attached to me. Place then thy heart on me, and penetrate me with thy understanding, and thou shalt, without doubt, hereafter enter unto me.  But if thou shouldst be unable, at once, steadfastly to fix thy mind on me, endeavor to find me by means of constant practice.  If after practice thou art still unable, follow me m my works supreme; for by performing works for me, thou shalt attain perfection.  But shouldst thou find thyself unequal to this task, put thy trust in me alone, be of humble spirit and forsake the fruit of every action. Knowledge is. better than practice, meditation is distinguished from knowledge€, forsaking the fruit of action from meditation, for happiness. hereafter is derived from such   forsaking.

He my servant is dear unto me, who is free from enmity, the friend of all nature, merciful, exempt from pride and selfishness, the same in pain and pleasure, patient of wrongs, contented, constantly devout, of subdued passions, and firm resolves, and whose mind and understanding are fixed on me alone. He also is my beloved of whom mankind are not afraid, and who of 

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mankind is not afraid; and who is free from the influence of joy, impatience, and the dread of harm.   He my servant is dear unto n1e who is unexpecting, just and pure, impartial, free from distraction of mind, and who hath forsaken every enterprise. He also is worthy of my love, who neither rejoiceth nor findeth fault; who neither lamenteth nor coveteth, and, being my servant, hath forsaken both good and evil fortune. He also is my beloved servant, who is the same in friendship and in hatred, in honor and in dishonor, in cold and in heat, in pain and pleasure; who is unsolicitous about the event of things; to whom   praise and blame are as one; who is of little speech, and pleased with whatever cometh to pass; who owneth no home, and who is of a steady mind. They who seek this Amṛta IOI of religion even as I have said, and serve me faithfully before all others, are, moreover, my dearest friends.