Verse 12.18-19

Verse 12.18: “He who is the same to an enemy or to a friend, same also in honour and dishonour; who is the same in cold and heat, weal and woe, and is free from attachment:

Verse 12.19: “To whom all alike is censure as well as praise, and who maintains silence, being content with anything whatsoever; not cumbered by a home, firm in judgment: he that is (thus) devoted to Me, is dear unto Me. (197)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

Oh Partha, one in whom there is absolutely no feeling of differentiation, and who treats alike both his foes and friends; one who like a (lit) lamp does not possess the narrow outlook of giving light to those of his own household, and withholding it from strangers: (one who like) a tree gives an equal shade to both viz. the person who proceeds to cut that very tree with an axe, and the one who planted it: or (one who like) the sugarcane does not give sweet taste only to one who waters and grows it, and bitter taste to the other who puts it in a press and squeezes it: one who conducts himself evenly with both the foes and friends, and has the same feeling in the case of honour or dishonour; one who remains the same in all the three seasons just as the sky does; one who faces (firmly and serenely) both pleasures and pain that confront him in natural course, in the way the Mountain Meru does, when facing the northern and southern winds: one who conducts himself evenly with all the living beings, in the way the lunar rays give the same pleasure both to the king and the poorest: one who is considered necessary (or is desired for) by all the three worlds, just as water is by the entire world: one who remains pleased and tranquil within his own self, dropping all the attachment for the enjoyment of sense-objects; one who neither minds any slander nor feels elated by praise, as the sky remains, unbesmeared by the clouds, and treats both slander and praise on the same level, and moves about with a steady temper both in public and in solitary woods: one whose silence remains unbroken even though some of his utterances might be true and some false, and never turns his back while experiencing the Brahmic stage named Unmani (unmanī), one who never feels joy at any gain nor feels any grief at any loss, in the way the sea never gets dry (even) if there be no rains: one who never takes any resort in a house, just as the wind does not remain confined to any particular place: one who makes the entire world his abode, in the way the winds ever pervade the entire sky: one whose mind has become steady (in the knowledge) that, “the entire universe is his home”—nay he has himself become the entire universe both moveable and immoveable, and Oh Partha, one, who even having reached this stage feels great pleasure and faith in my worship—I place such a one on my head as a crown. Is there anything to be wondered at, that the head should be bent low before what is (considered to be) exalted? Yet I, the very water touched by whose foot is held in high regard in all the three worlds, entertain great respect for my devotees of high faith, and to be able to know to what extent I do so, one has to secure ‘Sadashiva’ (God Shankar) as his preceptor. Let that however alone: to praise God Mahesh (God Shiva) is really to indulge in self-praise.

“Therefore,” said Lord Krishna, the Lord of Rama, “I would not refer to it but (would say this much) that I hold such a devotee on my head. Oh Arjuna: one, who enters into the path of devotion and holding in his hand emancipation (mokṣa), the fourth object of man’s existence, goes on dispensing it to all the worlds: one who brings in his grasp the absorption into the divine essence, and handles freely (soḍībāndhī) the wealth in the form of emancipation, and yet accepts for himself the position of the lowest level, like the flow of water: to such a devotee I bow and carry him on my head as a crown, and bear his kicks on my chest: I adorn my faculty of speech by the singing of his praise, and deck the ears with ornaments in the form of hearing of his praise. Although without eyes, I have got a vision in order to satisfy the longing for beholding such a devotee. I worship him with the lotus in my adorned hand. I have come (equipped) with one more pair of arms over the usual two, in order to be able to embrace his body (simultaneously on both the sides).

Though bodiless, I have assumed the body-form to be able to enjoy the happiness of his association. In short, it is not possible to describe adequately by any simile, the extent of my love for such a devotee. There is nothing strange in that; he is such a friend of mine: yet those that hear as also sing the life-history of such a devotee, are undoubtedly dearer to me than my life. Oh Arjuna, I have told you in detail this Yoga of devotion—the greatest of all the Yogas—that Yoga on account of which I hold the devotee in love, meditate upon him, and hold him on my head,—that Yoga which possesses such a great strength.