Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 12, Verse 7: Krishna to Arjuna — Bhakti-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  For those who, having fixed their mind (citta) entirely in Me as Ishvara (the universal self-ruler), engage in single-pointed upasana (meditative worship), I — the Lord — swiftly become their samuddharta (complete lifter-out) from the ocean of samsara marked by mrityu (death-bound recurrence). The ocean of mrityu-samsara is hard to cross because attachment to body and name persists so long as avidya (nescience) stands; once citta is lodged without remainder in the universal self, the very cause of bondage dissolves. The uplifting is not from outside but from within — it is the Lord, who is non-different from the deepest Self, removing the veil that constituted the 'ocean.'

  divergence: Shankara: 'tesham madu-pasana-eka-paranam aham ishvarah samuddharta... mayi vishva-rupe aveshitam samahitam cetah yesham' — the citta must be absorbed (samahita) in Me as the all-form; that absorption IS the deliverance, not a subsequent reward.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Those devotees who dedicate (sannyas) every action — worldly sustenance, Vedic rites of yajna (fire-sacrifice), dana (gift), homa (oblation), tapas (austerity) — entirely to Me as their sole end (mat-para), and who then meditate upon Me through exclusive (ananya) yoga that is itself filled with acts of arcana (icon-worship), pranama (prostration), stuti (praise), and kirtana (recitation): for these I become the uplifter from the ocean of samsara that is experienced as hostile to union with Me (mat-prapti-virodhi). The speed of uplift is 'acirena' — without long delay — because the obstruction has already been removed by the total surrender of karman.

  divergence: Ramanuja: 'mat-prapti-virodhi-taya mrityu-bhutan samsara-sagarat aham acirena eva kalena samuddharta bhavami' — the ocean is defined as that which opposes obtaining Me; once works are surrendered and meditation is exclusive, the opposition is extinguished.

• Madhvadvaita

  The devotees who are ekantins (single-allegiance worshippers) of Vasudeva alone — offering all actions to Hari, free of any competing deity — are the supreme among the mat-upasaka (My worshippers); for these nirashin karmakarin (desireless actors in service), I alone am gati (destination, refuge, and means). Their liberation is not self-earned but received: the jiva (individual soul) is eternally and ontologically distinct from the Lord, and deliverance comes only because Hari wills it as sovereign grace toward those whose bhakti is exclusive and unwavering.

  divergence: Madhva cites Moksha-dharma (Mahabharata 12): 'ekantinah shresthah te ca eva ananya-devatah / aham eva gatih tesham nirashih karma-karinam' — the single-pointed ones who take no other deity are the highest, and I alone am their refuge. The Saukarayana-shruti confirms: what is lacking to those who worship Vasudeva?

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Those whose citta has become absorbed in Me experience that I am bound to them by their bhakti — 'bhakta-paradhin' (subject to the devotee), as the Bhagavata declares: 'vasha kurvantu mam bhaktya' (they bring even the Lord of truth under their sway). The deliverance from mrityu-samsara is not a distant event but an immediate reality: because the devotee's desire (kama) has been re-rooted in the Lord's own svarupa (essential form), that desire loses its seed-nature (nirbijatva) and cannot perpetuate samsara. The uplift is through vastu-shakti (the power of the Real itself), not through the devotee's striving.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'mayi aveshita-dhiyam kamah kamaya na kalpate' — desire fixed in Me does not produce binding fruit; and 'kevala bhavena gopya gavah naga mrigah... siddhah mam iyur anjasa' (Bhagavata 11.12.8) — even animals, trees, and serpents attained Me by pure bhava alone, without method.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  For those who have truly lodged their citta (inner instrument of awareness) in Me, I become the complete uplifter (samyag-uddharta) from the ocean of samsara that is bound up with mrityu (death) — and this uplift comes 'acirena eva,' quickly, without long delay.

  divergence: Sridhara: 'mayi aveshitam ceto yaih tesham mrityu-yuktat samsara-sagarat aham samyag-uddharta acirena eva bhavami' — the commentary is brief and devotionally clean; no metaphysical elaboration is added. Bhashya is thin for this verse; rendering tracks his literal gloss.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  The apparent tension between saguna-upasana (worship of the qualified Lord) and nirguna-brahma-jnana (knowledge of the attributeless Absolute) is resolved by Ishvara's prasada (grace): the devotee who surrenders all karman to the saguna Vasudeva and meditates with ananya-yoga (exclusive union), engaging in dhyana (contemplation) of whatever form — two-armed, four-armed, Narasimha, Raghunandana, Varaha — reaches Brahmaloka, and there, at the end of that brahma-loka-bhoga (enjoyment), through spontaneously arisen Vedanta-pramana empowered by Ishvara's grace, the nirguna-vidya-phala (fruit of attributeless knowledge) dawns without the prior toil of shravana-manana-nididhyasana (hearing-reflecting-meditating). The Lord's being samuddharta 'naci-rat' (quickly, in that very birth) thus means: even without the laborious jnana-path, saguna devotees attain the supreme kaivalya (aloneness of pure consciousness) through bhagavat-prasada.

  divergence: Madhusudan: 'vinapi pragukta-klesha-guna saguna-brahma-vidanam ishvara-prasadena nirguna-brahma-vidya-phala-praptih' — without the prior afflictions of the jnana-path, those who know the saguna Brahman still obtain the fruit of nirguna knowledge, through grace. Shruti cited: 'sa etasmat jiva-ghanat parat param purishaiyam purusham ikshate.'