Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 12, Verse 6: Krishna to Arjuna — Bhakti-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Those who renounce (sannyasya) all actions into Me, the Ishvara (lord), holding Me as supreme (mat-para), meditate on Me through yoga (samadhi) that has no other support (ananya) — releasing every other basis of the mind, they fix awareness on Me as the universal form (vishvarupa). Shankara's commentary reads 'ananya' as: the one whose yoga has no other prop whatsoever besides Me. This verse, for Shankara, describes the nirguna-qualified upasaka who, having relinquished all karmic and cognitive supports, rests in undivided contemplation — a threshold state preparatory to the dawn of jnana.

  divergence: Advaita does not read 'mam' as personal Bhagavan but as Ishvara-as-Brahman-approximate; true fruit is jnana, not bhakti.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Those who surrender (sannyasya) all actions — worldly acts of sustenance, Vedic rites of yajna, dana, homa, tapas — entirely to Me with a mind wholly turned toward the self (adhyatma-cetasa), holding Me as the sole goal (mat-para, 'mad-eka-prapyah'), and worship Me through exclusive yoga (ananya-yoga): they perform dhyana, arcana, pranama, stuti, kirtana as acts that are themselves supremely dear and equal in quality to reaching Me. Ramanuja reads this as full kainkarya (service-devotion) where the very acts of worship are already a form of attaining.

  divergence: Vishishtadvaita reads ananya-yoga as the full five-fold devotional practice, not mere samadhi; the jiva retains distinct identity in loving service.

• Madhvadvaita

  Those devotees (bhaktas) who worship the Person (Purusha) Vasudeva with exclusive devotion (ananya-devata) — surrendering all karmas to Him as the eternally distinct, supremely independent Hari — find that no distress (klesha) comes near them. Madhva cites Saukarayana-shruti: 'What is there lacking for those who worship the Purusha Vasudeva?' and the Mokshadharma: 'I alone am their goal; they are the highest among ekantin devotees.' The jiva is eternally other than the Lord; the surrender here is real surrender by a real distinct being, not a provisional step toward non-difference.

  divergence: Dvaita uniquely emphasizes eternal jiva-Brahman distinction: ananya-yoga means 'no other deity', not 'no other support for the mind'; klesha-freedom is the promised fruit.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Those who, surrendering (sannyasya) all actions — worldly and Vedic alike — unto Me their Master (svamin) and Served (sevya), holding Me as supreme, worship Me through the single ekanta-bhakti-yoga described above: they perform dhyana, arcana, sevana, pranama, shravana, kirtana in forms that are themselves supremely dear and identical in nature to reaching Me. Vallabha's reading adds a second interpretation: the Vraja-priya devotees (the gopis, indicated by 'yat' in the verse) who, while Me their Paramatman is ever-dear, renounce all external and internal karma and rest near Me (mat-samipa asate) by the yoga of pure anuvrtti (unbroken remembrance-relation) alone — without any condition or expectation.

  divergence: Shuddhadvaita's distinctiveness: the Vraja-priya path (gopis) transcends even the standard ekanta-bhakti; it is seva through pure anuvrtti, not meditative yoga.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  For Sridhara Svami, this verse declares that the devotees (mad-bhaktas) attain success (siddhi) effortlessly (anayasatah) through My grace (mat-prasada). Those who surrender (samarpya) all karmas to Me the Supreme Lord (parameshvara), becoming mat-para (devoted to Me), and meditate on Me through ekanta-bhakti-yoga — yoga in which there is no other object of worship (na vidyate anyah bhajaniyah yasmin) — such is their upasana. The grace-structure is primary: it is not the intensity of the devotee's effort but the Lord's prasada that makes the path easy.

  divergence: Sridhara centers grace (prasada) as the operative cause; bhakti is the path, prasada is the mechanism, anayasa (effortlessness) is the sign.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusudana Sarasvati addresses a prior objection: if the fruit of saguna-upasana (Brahmaloka, then kaivalya later) ultimately equals the fruit of nirguna-jnana, why prefer the harder path? His answer: saguna-bhaktas, with all obstacles removed by the Lord's prasada, attain tattva-jnana through a Vedanta-vakya that arises spontaneously (svayam avirbhuta) — without the labor of shravana-manana-nididhyasana. After enjoying Brahmaloka, they behold the Purusha who dwells in the cave of the heart (purisha-yam purusham iksate — shruti), the non-dual Paramatman beyond even Hiranyagarbha, and are liberated. Those who surrender all karmas to Me the saguna Vasudeva and meditate with ekanta-bhakti-yoga — contemplating His two-armed or four-armed form, His flute filling the world with seven notes, His lotus hands holding conch and disc, or His Narasimha form, His Rama form — such deep absorption (aveshita-cetah) causes Me the Bhagavan to lift them swiftly from the ocean of samsara.

  divergence: Advaita-bhakti synthesis: saguna-bhakti becomes the grace-vehicle for nirguna-jnana; the devotee need not choose — prasada bridges the two.