Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 4, Verse 12: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Those who desire swift results from ritual action worship the devas — Indra, Agni, and the rest — here in the human world, for it is only here that scriptural authority (adhikāra) over varṇāśrama duties operates. The worshipper who approaches a deity as other than himself, thinking 'that is different, I am different,' is like a beast among the gods, as the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.4.10) declares. Since karma-born fruit ripens quickly in the human realm, fruit-seekers take the easy road of separate-deity worship — while the question of why all creatures follow the Lord's path and not another's points toward the deeper teaching yet to come.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Every worldly person, weighed down by the beginningless accumulation of karma (pāpa-saṁcaya), craves swift fruit — sons, cattle, grain, heaven — and so worships Indra and the other devas through prescribed rites, without understanding that the Lord is the inner soul (ātmabhūta) of all those devas and the true enjoyer of every sacrifice. No one tormented by saṁsāra actually takes up the karma-yoga described in the preceding verses as an act of service (kainkarya) to Bhagavān, because the fruit of devatā-worship appears quickly in this very human world. The Lord now proceeds to name the sin-destroying cause that makes even this preliminary karma-yoga possible.

• Madhvadvaita

  The reason all beings follow the Lord's path is precisely that swift fruit (kṣipra-phala) accrues to them through Him — for even devatā-worship succeeds only because Hari is the antarātman of all devas, and apart from Him no fruit arises. The Chāndogya Upaniṣad (1.7.6) confirms: 'those who know this become wealthy (dhana-sanaya).' The jīva who seeks quick results through limited deities unknowingly worships Hari indirectly, since no deity possesses independent power to grant results; only the eternally distinct Lord bestows karma-phala as its ultimate dispenser.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Why do people worship other devas instead of Kṛṣṇa? Because the fruit born of action (karma-ja siddhi) — mundane, prākṛta — comes swiftly through those devas, whereas Bhagavān, being unconditional (nirupādhika), cannot dispense conditioned desires without prior examination, purification, and testing of the seeker, which takes time. People thus prefer Indra and other upādhika devas precisely because they dispense conditioned results without that delay. The verse exposes — without condoning — this calculus of spiritual impatience, implying that those who desire the Lord's gift rather than mere karma-fruit must accept His deliberate, refining delay.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  The verse answers the implicit question: if liberation is available through the Lord, why does almost no one approach Him directly? Most people in this human world, desiring the fruit of their actions, worship devas like Indra — because karma-born fruit arrives quickly, whereas the fruit of jñāna, namely kaivalya (liberation), is extremely difficult to attain (duṣprāpya). Śrīdhara notes the asymmetry plainly: quick fruit draws the crowd to devatā-worship; the rarity of seekers willing to undertake the long road of jñāna explains why the Lord's direct worshippers are so few.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Why does no one take refuge directly in Bhagavān Vāsudeva? Because those who desire karma-phala — blocked by avidyā (ajñāna-pratihata) — are not dispassionate (niṣkāma); they find that karma-born fruit comes quickly in the human world through devatā-worship. The fruit of jñāna, by contrast, requires the prior purification of the inner instrument (antaḥkaraṇa-śuddhi) and therefore cannot arise quickly. Madhusūdana adds that by specifying 'in the human world,' the Lord implicitly signals that karma-phala from varṇāśrama-transcending actions can be won in other realms too — but in any realm, the desire-bound turn to minor deities and never reach Vāsudeva, the ultimate goal.