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Chapter 12 · Verse 17 · Bhakti Yoga

Bhagavad Gita 12.17

devotional Bhakti & Devotion Attachment & Letting Go

Sanskrit

यो न हृष्यति न द्वेष्टि न शोचति न काङ्क्षति।शुभाशुभपरित्यागी भक्ितमान्यः स मे प्रियः।।12.17।।

Transliteration

yo na hṛiṣhyati na dveṣhṭi na śhochati na kāṅkṣhati śhubhāśhubha-parityāgī bhaktimān yaḥ sa me priyaḥ

Word by Word

yaḥ who
na neither
hṛiṣhyati rejoice
na nor
dveṣhṭi despair
na neither
śhochati lament
na nor
kāṅkṣhati hanker for gain
śhubha-aśhubha-parityāgī who renounce both good and evil deeds
bhakti-mān full of devotion
yaḥ who
saḥ that person
me to me
priyaḥ very dear
Simplified Perspective

The Lord reveals the heart-signature of true devotion: a soul unshaken by the world's dualities, neither clinging to good fortune nor fleeing from hardship, yet fully alive in love for the Divine. This is not indifference but the deepest engagement—the devotee acts with full presence while holding all outcomes in God's hands.

In our modern restlessness, this verse invites us to release the exhausting grip of winning and losing, and discover the freedom that blooms when our hearts belong entirely to something greater than our circumstances.

Listen

Bhagavad Gita 12.17 — BG 12.17

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Sanskrit text from the Bhagavad Gita (public domain). Commentary © Mahakatha.

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