Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 9, Verse 13: Krishna to Arjuna — Rāja-Vidyā-Rāja-Guhya-Yoga
The great-souled ones, sheltered in divine nature, worship me with undivided minds, knowing me as the imperishable source of all beings.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
The mahātmā (great-souled one) — whose mind is not small (akṣudra-citta) — takes refuge in the daivī prakṛti (divine nature) characterized by qualities such as śama (inner stillness), dama (sense-restraint), dayā (compassion), and śraddhā (trust in the guru-śāstra). With ananya-manas (undivided mind), he knows Me as bhūtādi (the origin of all beings, from ākāśa onward), the avyaya (the inexhaustible, without transformation), and worships accordingly. Such worship is not dualistic devotion but the recognition of Īśvara as the very ground from which the apparent multiplicity arises — a recognition that stabilizes the sādhaka in niṣkāma orientation until jñāna ripens.
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
Those who have exhausted the accumulation of merit across many births (puṇya-sañcaya) take refuge in Bhagavān and, with all their sins dissolved, stand in the daivī prakṛti (divine nature) — they become mahātmā (great-souled) by this very act of refuge. Knowing Me as bhūtādi avyaya (the inexhaustible origin of all existence), whose name, form, and nature transcend speech and mind, who descends as a human out of sovereign compassion (parama-kāruṇika) to protect the sādhu — they worship Me with ananya-manas (single-pointed mind) such that they cannot sustain their mind, self, or outer senses without the continuous act of bhajana (worship) itself.
- Madhvadvaita
Madhva's bhāṣya here is minimal: the verse is invoked to show that the devāḥ (celestial, hari-oriented souls) do not harbor dveṣa (hatred or aversion) toward the Lord — in sharp contrast to the āsura disposition condemned in 9.12. The mahātmā is the soul who, knowing Hari as the nitya-svatantra (eternally independent), acts from daivī prakṛti, which is constituted by natural dependence on and worship of Him. The jīva's distinction from Hari is never dissolved; bhajana is the jīva's natural and eternal mode of being in relation to the supreme independent reality.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
The mahātmā is one born in the final birth (antima-janman), purified by accumulated merit across countless rebirths (janma-janmāntara-kṛta-aneka-sukṛta-sañcaya), unafraid and cleansed of sin — the very one for whom the daivī svabhāva (divine natural disposition) described from 'abhayaṃ sattva-saṃśuddhiḥ' (16.1) onward is fulfilled. Such a one, guided by the ācārya of the Bhagavān-mārga, knows Me as 'sarva-bhūtādi avyaya' — the unchanged, purely blissful origin of all (ānanda-mātra-kara-pāda-mukha), and worships Puruṣottama alone, with mind fixed on no other — not even on Akṣara.
- Śrīdharabhakti
Śrīdhara asks: who then actually worships the Lord? The mahātmā — those whose citta (mind) is not overpowered by kāma (desire) and similar impurities — because they have taken refuge in the daivī prakṛti (divine nature) as will be elaborated from 'abhayaṃ sattva-saṃśuddhiḥ' onward. For this precise reason their manas (mind) does not rest anywhere outside of Me. Knowing Me as bhūtādi (the cause of the universe), avyaya (eternal and unchanging), they perform bhajana.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
Madhusūdana opens with the wretchedness (śocyatā) of those who are bhagavad-vimukha (turned away from Bhagavān): their karma, śāstric knowledge, and their very desire for fruit all come to nothing — they lack both other-worldly and this-worldly fruits, because they are devoid of viveka-vijñāna (discriminative wisdom). Against that backdrop, the mahātmā is the one whose ātman and antaḥkaraṇa have been refined across many births, not overwhelmed by kāma, and who has taken shelter in the daivī sāttvikī prakṛti. This person knows Bhagavān as Īśvara — the avyaya (imperishable) cause of all worlds — and thus performs bhajana, with no manas directed at anything other than the Lord.