Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 9, Verse 29: Krishna to Arjuna — Rāja-Vidyā-Rāja-Guhya-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  The Lord is equal (sama) among all beings as fire is equidistant by nature — yet fire warms only those who approach it. Śaṅkara anchors this: the bhakta draws near and receives anugraha (grace) not because Īśvara develops rāga (passion) for them, but because proximity to the Self naturally removes concealment. The asymmetry is in the devotee's orientation, never in Brahman.

  divergence: अग्निवत् अहम् — समीपम् उपसर्पतां अपनयति; न मम रागनिमित्तम् — स्वभावत एव वर्ते

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Bhagavān is samāśraṇīya (fit to be approached) equally by all — from the highest deva to the lowest sthāvara (immovable being) — without caste, form, or knowledge as precondition for eligibility. Rāmānuja's crucial move: one who is utterly dependent on the Lord for ātma-dhāraṇa (sustenance of the self) and worships from that utter need abides in Bhagavān as His own quality, and Bhagavān in turn abides in such a one as their sustaining ground. Sameness is the condition of entry; bhakti is the condition of mutual indwelling.

  divergence: अत्यर्थमत्प्रियत्वेन मद्भजनेन विना आत्मधारणालाभात् मद्भजनैकप्रयोजना ये मां भजन्ते — मयि एव वर्तन्ते अहम् अपि तेषु वर्ते

• Madhvadvaita

  Madhva reads the mutual-indwelling not as advaitic identity but as a bilateral sovereignty: "myi te" — they become His; "teṣu cāpy aham" — He becomes bound to them. He cites the Paiṅgi-khilas: those who worship the supreme Puruṣa become His and He becomes theirs. Crucially, Madhva distinguishes conscious (buddhi-pūrvaka) from unconscious (abuddhi-pūrvaka) modes of being in His sway — Uddhava represents the former, Śiśupāla the latter. Impartiality is not sameness of result but sameness of the underlying ontological order.

  divergence: मम ते वशाः तेषामहं वश इति — बुद्धिपूर्वाबुद्धिपूर्वकत्वेन भेदः; उद्धवादिवच्छिशुपालादिवच्च

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha reframes impartiality through kalpavṛkṣa (wish-fulfilling tree): just as a wish-granting tree fulfills no wish for one who never approaches it, no vaiṣamya (partiality) can be attributed to it. Bhakti alone constitutes approach. The Bhāgavata verse (9.4.63–68) is Vallabha's anchor: Bhagavān declares Himself "bhakta-parādhīna" — genuinely subject to His devotees, as a faithful wife holds her husband. The devotee's heart is Bhagavān's residence; Bhagavān's heart is the sādhu's residence — prasāda flows by structural law, not personal preference.

  divergence: भक्तपराधीनो ह्यस्वतन्त्र इव द्विज — कल्पतरुस्वभावत्वात् — अनाश्रितानां कामाद्यसिद्ध्या वैषम्यं वक्तुमुचितम्

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara holds the fire and wish-tree analogies in balance without choosing one: the Lord's impartiality is real and total, yet bhakti-mahimā (the glory of devotion) accounts for the devotee's special proximity without impugning divine equanimity. Those who worship abide in Him; He abides in them as the anugrāhaka (bestower of grace) — the asymmetry is not God's favoritism but devotion's own gravitational pull. Bhakti is the operative cause; God's sama-bhāva (equanimity) is the metaphysical ground.

  divergence: यथाग्नेः स्वसेवकेष्वेव तमःशीतादिदुःखमपाकुर्वतोऽपि न वैषम्यम् — मद्भक्तेरेवं महिमेति

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana gives the most architecturally complete reading: Bhagavān pervades all as sva-rūpa (essential nature) and antaryāmin (inner controller), as does sunlight the sky — no bias possible. The bhakta, through niṣkāma-karma (desireless action) offered entirely to the Lord, purifies the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) until it becomes svaccha (pellucid). In a pellucid mirror Brahman is reflected (pratibimbita); in a clouded one (asvacha) it is not — the difference is purely in the receiving surface. Rāga and dveṣa cannot be attributed to the sun because a dusty mirror does not receive its image.

  divergence: स्वच्छे भक्तचित्तेऽभिव्यज्यमानोऽस्वच्छे चाभक्तचित्तेऽनभिव्यज्यमानः — यथा सर्वत्र विद्यमानोऽपि सावित्रः प्रकाशः स्वच्छे दर्पणादावेवाभिव्यज्यते