What’s the best way to connect with the Divine?
Through a personal relationship with a God you can name, picture, pray to, and love or through meditation on something infinite, formless, and beyond personality?
That’s the practical question Arjuna asks Krishna in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12. Krishna’s answer opens a conversation about Bhakti Yoga, devotion, meditation, and what to do when spiritual practice feels difficult.
In this episode:
🔹 Why devotion and meditation on the formless Divine can lead to the same destination, but one may be easier for the human heart and mind
🔹 The compassionate “ladder” Krishna offers when constant devotion feels impossible
🔹 How the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras approach practice differently
🔹 Why Krishna says spiritual maturity is measured not by mystical experiences, but by patience, compassion, forgiveness, steadiness, and how we treat others
It’s easy to measure practice by how often we meditate, how much yoga we do, or the experiences we’ve had.
But Chapter 12 asks a more uncomfortable question: What is your practice producing in your character?
Want to go deeper between episodes? Subscribe to my new Uplifted Substack for yoga philosophy, reflections, teachings, and conversations delivered straight to your inbox: https://substack.com/@upliftedtrainings
📖 Different translations explored:
Barbara Stoler Miller: https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-Krishnas-Counsel-Bantam-Classics/dp/0553213652
Godsong by Amit Majmudar: https://www.amazon.com/Godsong-Verse-Translation-Bhagavad-Gita-Commentary/dp/1524733474
Eknath Easwaran: https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-2nd-Eknath-Easwaran/dp/1586380192
Bhagavad-Gita As It Is by Swami Prabhupada: https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-As-Bhaktivedanta-Swami-Prabhupada/dp/0892131233
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Relevant Blog: Discover the Benefits of the Gobinday Mukunday Mantra for Well-Being
Relevant to Today’s Episode:
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🎧 Also Listen to:
#427 – What Is Bhakti Yoga? Krishna’s Most Confidential Teaching (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9)
#430 – How the Divine Speaks: The Neuroscience of Sacred Storytelling (Part 2)
#433 – Vibhuti Yoga – See the Sacred Everywhere: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10
© 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com
Transcript
Brett Larkin:
What’s the best way to connect with the divine? Is it through a personal relationship with a deity you can name, picture, pray to, and love? Or is it through meditation on something infinite, formless, and beyond personality altogether? This is the surprisingly practical question Arjuna asks Krishna in chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita. You do not need to have
Any prior knowledge of the Gita or have been following along with some of the episodes in this series in order to get so much out of this episode because Krishna’s answer opens up a fascinating conversation about bhakti yoga, janana yoga, and why relationship may be easier for the human mind and heart, and what to do if neither of these pathways feel particularly easy.
keep listening because as chapter twelve of this beautiful ancient text continues to unfold, Krishna takes the conversation somewhere I wasn’t expecting.
He asks, how do you, listener, know if any of your spiritual practices are actually working?
Let’s dive in.
gita 12 (02:11)
The last chapter we looked at in the Gita ended with one of the most dramatic visions in all of sacred literature. Krishna reveals himself as the infinite creator of the universe. Time collapses. Arjuna is completely overwhelmed. Krishna, Arjuna thought was essentially his cousin, and then they start having this, you know, very spiritual dialogue. He kind of gets that, you know, this isn’t just a wise elder, this is maybe someone else. But then he asked to see.
Krishna in his true form, and it’s like blinding lights, glitter, a thousand heads. It’s just crazy to the extent where Arjuna is so overwhelmed by this vision of the divine that he says, Yo, can you just please turn into my cousin again? Because this is just too much. I can’t take it. And that’s exactly what Krishna did. He turned back into the more approachable form of himself.
And so now we are here at
Chapter twelve
And it’s really interesting to think about or to see like what is Arjuna gonna ask next? He asked to see Krishna in all his glory, he got that, it was totally overwhelming. Finally Krishna’s normal again, his human cousin who he can look at. What is he gonna ask?
And here’s what he doesn’t ask. He doesn’t ask, hey, can I see that again? He doesn’t ask, whoa, let’s like tell me more about the vision that I just had of you. Instead, he actually asks something incredibly practical. He says, How am I supposed to relate to you? Should I relate to you, God, as Krishna, the person standing in front of me, my cuz, or as Brahman, the infinite unmanifest reality we’ve been
talking about together on this battlefield through this whole conversation through these past twelve chapters.
What’s so interesting about this is the essence of Arjuna’s question that kicks off this twelfth teaching, this twelfth chapter, is
And this is a paraphrase, but Arjuna essentially saying, Should I approach God through relationship, through f connection to you, or through realization, meaning
Austerities, disciplines, and practices where I’m connecting to something infinite and unmanifest.
Arjun is basically asking, what’s the better path here? And if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, you’ll recognize these as the two great paths that later become known as Bhakti Yoga, that path of relationship, that path of loving devotion, and janana yoga, the path of knowledge, contemplation, realizing the absolute infinite.
And what’s super cool about this chapter that we’re about to explore is that Krishna’s answer may surprise you. He doesn’t say one path is right and the other’s wrong. He said, actually both paths lead to the same destination. But one is much easier because of the way human beings are made.
This is such a big teaching. This is so uh incredibly potent and practical. And I think it’s one of the most beautiful teachings in the entire Bhagavad Gita. So before we dive in and go kind of into these verses and into this overall question of how do we relate to God, or do you even need to believe in God in order to have a deep spiritual practice?
Let’s look at what some different translations call this chapter. So uh Barbara Stoller Miller calls this twelfth chapter devotion.
The God Song translation, which is our more kind of poetic translation, calls this twelfth chapter, Devote Yourself, very similar.
the Bhagavad Gita as it is our translation from an Indian Swami, chapter 12, is called Devotional Service. So very similar. And I actually want to stick with this translation for the opening verse, which is Arjuna inquired. And remember, this is the moment where Krishna just became like his human form again. Arjuna inquired, which are considered to be more perfect?
Those who are always properly engaged in your devotional service are those who worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested.
So up to this point, Krishna has explained throughout the previous chapters about the personal, the impersonal, the universal, all kinds of devotees and yogis and practices and austerities. And basically, people who are pursuing this spiritual path can be divided into two classes the impersonalist and the personalist. So the personalist is the devotee who engages himself with all energy in the service of Krishna.
And the impersonalist also engages himself, but not so much like worshiping Krishna or worshiping a god of their choice, but more in meditation on the impersonal Brahman, this idea of an unmanifest.
impersonal power meaning it’s not represented by a deity like a figure.
Like Krishna or Jesus or Buddha or anything like that.
So if any of you have ever wondered, like, do I want a more traditional religious practice where I believe in God, like with a capital G? Or am I more interested in like transcendental meditation where
I’m connecting to the infinite. Like Arjuna’s asking the exact same question here that you’re asking. He’s asking, what’s better? Those devoted to you, Krishna, or those devoted to the imperishable unmanifest?
Is it better that I’m devoted to a deity like you?
And you can swap this out for any deity that you would choose to believe in, like Jesus or Buddha or Mohammed or whatever. Is it better to be devoted to like a a God figure? And that would be bhakti yoga, relationship, prayer, devotion, love, singing, offering a personal relationship with the divine? Or is Janana Yoga the better path, which would be like that transcendental meditation example? Meditation, inquiry, pure awareness, contemplating Brahman.
thinking about the unchanging reality beyond name and form and trying to connect to that. So no image attached, no personality attached, no relationship attached, just the infinite.
So this isn’t about like which religion is right. It’s like broad strokes which path, Arjuna is asking, like how do human beings best connect with the divine?
And then verse two, I’m staying with the Gita as it is, Indian translation.
Krishna basically responds, those who fix their minds on my personal form and are always engaged in worshiping me with great faith are considered by me be the most perfect.
So Krishna is saying
Those who are in a relationship with me, the Bhakti Yoga path wins. Is better. But, but
He expands in the next two verses, three and four. He basically says those devoted to the unmanifest also reach me, but the path is much harder.
Switching to Barbara Stoller Miller’s translation, verse three, Men reach me too who worship what is imperishable, ineffable, unmanifest, omnipresent, inconceivable, immutable at the summit of existence, aka uh
People who are focusing on pure awareness, contemplating Brahhan.
No image, no personality, no relationship, just meditating on the infinite, they also can reach me. And then he describes what they do a little bit in verse four. He says, Mastering their senses with equanimity towards everything, they reach me, rejoicing in the welfare of all creatures.
But then he says in verse five, but it is more arduous when their reason clings to my unmanifest nature. For men constrained by bodies, the unmanifest way is hard to attain. So he’s basically like if you’re a human here on earth in a human meat suit, it is more arduous, it is more difficult to use the janana yoga path and cling to something unmanifest. He’s saying if you’re a human, it’s actually easier.
To focus on the bhakti yoga relationship path. He is not saying bhakti is philosophically superior, he’s saying it’s psychologically easier.
The shortest distance between the human heart and the divine is relationship. That’s what he’s saying here. Humans, let’s think about it. If you’re a human, how do you learn? What do you connect with? Faces, right? Faces. Why do you think advertisements and billboards feature people or big smiling faces? It’s because we’re like hardwired to connect with other faces. How else do humans learn that we’ve actually been talking a lot about on the podcast this year? Stories. Storytelling is huge.
Humans learn through faces, through stories, through names, through relationship. Think about how a child bonds with their parents, the gazing of a newborn into its mother’s eyes.
Kids don’t bond with concepts, they bond with people. stories are remembered 22 times more than facts alone. So we remember stories far more than abstract philosophy. This is why we see Buddha talking in cones, Jesus talking in parables. Like everything is storytelling because that’s how humans are hardwired to connect and learn.
That’s why every spiritual tradition tells stories. The human nervous system is relational.
We see this in the Bible.
If you look at the Old Testament, God, it’s very abstract, right? He’s He’s like a fire, he’s cloud, he’s a voice, he’s a holy presence, he’s the infinite. He’s kind of much more like the unmanifest. And then what happens? The word became flesh from John 1, right? The infinite actually becomes personal, becomes manifest in the form of Jesus, like here on earth, and becomes someone that people could eat with, talk to, hang out with, go on boat rides.
around the Galilean Sea with.
So whether you’re reading the Gita or the New Testament, like both of these texts.
recognize something profoundly human that that we connect through relationship.
Arjuna right now is not on a battlefield oming and doing like the Janana Yoga path of trying to connect with the unmanifest as he faces this terrible decision. No, he’s in a relationship with the manifest God of Krishna and they’re connecting through their deep relationship.
human to human, but God h in this instance has taken on human form.
So if you’re like me, you start wondering, you’re like, Well, wait, where do the Yoga Sutras fit onto all of this? Because that’s the text that most of us are
Familiar with through either our yoga teacher training, or I mean it’s it’s the most famous yogic text here in the West is the Yoga Sutras. And I think it’s really important to pause and reiterate that the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras have very different goals. The Gita is asking, and this is why the Gita is so worth spending time with, and why I’m so glad you’re going through these podcast episodes if you are and looking at the text yourself as well. The Gita is asking.
How do I live a spiritual life in the world? That’s its thesis. That’s its question. That’s why we see Arjuna in the middle of a battlefield freaking out just like we’re struggling every single day. He has awful circumstances around him, similar to us. And the question is, how do I do this? How do I live a spiritual life, do what’s right, do my dharma in a broken, broken world where I’m literally in a civil war with like my family members?
The Yoga Sutras, in contrast, are asking the thesis of that book is how do I still the fluctuations of the mind? How do I still the fluctuations of the mind? Those are very different projects. Patanjali’s primary path is attention, meditation, discernment, practice, dispassion. That’s much closer to what later traditions are going to call Janana Yoga.
Patanjali is deeply interested in your awareness, witness consciousness, your ability to discriminate, Viveka, how you might liberate yourself through through direct knowing as opposed to relying on some scaras and past assumptions.
However, one of the most famous sutras, Yoga Sutra 1.23, Ishvara Pranidana Va, which is often translated or through devotion to Ishvara, that tiny word va means or, or, meaning like you can do this or that. And it’s almost like a little caveat or out that Patanjali’s put in his book that basically says, like, if sitting here trying to quiet your mind feels difficult today,
Here’s another doorway. Or you can do this through devotion to Ishvara.
So to put this a little bit more into context, in these verses.
in the Yoga Sutras one dot nineteen, one dot twenty.
Patanjali’s going over details about samadhi.
There’s cognitive samadhi, there’s discriminative insight, there’s mindfulness. verse one dot twenty-one. He says to the keen and intent practitioners, samadhi comes very quickly.
Verse 1.22, Patanjali says the time necessary for success also depends on whether the practice is mild, moderate, or intense. Verse 123, or samadhi is attained by devotion with total dedication to God, Ishvara. So up to this point in the sutras, the focus has been on practices that work directly with modifications of the mind, right? By redirecting your attention or holding your attention. But here, it’s like two little sutras.
That Patanjali gives us a path out. He gives us another path to self realization. He says, devotion.
can also work. And then most of the rest of his book goes on to talk about what his main thesis is, right? Which is how to achieve samadhi through the eight-limbed path and the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. However,
similar to what we’re seeing here, he hints at another way.
What’s different is that Krishna is saying something much stronger. It’s not like a little hint of like, well, if you can’t still the fluctuations of your mind, like you could focus on a personal god and have a relationship with it. Krishna is saying, like, yo, both of these paths can reach me, but the relationship path is easier for most people. Patanjali doesn’t really admit or say that. He just says devotion to Ishvara is one valid means of attaining samadhi. Very understated. And it’s not the focus of his book. It’s just not the focus of it.
Krishna is saying humans are deeply relational. And he’s telling us this in a relationship with us. We’re the stand-in for Arjuna in this story. You, me, and Arjuna, we’re the same thing. We’re the person in this story, talking to Krishna and having a relationship with Krishna through this conversation with a manifest deity in front of us who’s in human form. So Krishna saying humans are relational. Patanjali is saying humans are distracted.
Very different diagnosis, very different emphasis.
Okay, so now we’re gonna read verses six through twelve, going back to the chapter twelve of the Gita. And these are really beautiful. I love this section and I think you’re gonna see why.
So let’s pick up with verse eight. So
Krishna is saying, focus your mind on me, let your understanding enter me, then you will dwell in me without a doubt. If, though, verse nine, if you cannot concentrate your thought firmly on me, then seek to reach me, Arjuna, by discipline in practice. Even if you fail in practice, dedicate yourself to action, performing actions for my sake, you will achieve success. Verse 11, if you are powerless to do even this.
Rely on my discipline, be self-controlled, and reject all fruit of action. Knowledge is better than practice. Meditation better than knowledge. Rejecting fruits of action is better still. It brings peace.
Let’s look at the Godsong translation of some of these same verses.
So with God’s song, let’s look at verse five. The strain is greater on those minds that fix on the unmanifest. To get to the unmanifest, a body goes through pain. But those who lay down all their works in me, exalting me, whose yogic focus does not wander when they worship me. This is Bhakti Yoga. Such people Arjuna, I salvage soon enough from the ocean of death and rebirth. I absorb their thought. Keep your mind on me alone.
Have me absorb your intellect, that that is like merging with a deity in deep relationship. And from then on, without a doubt, you will reside in me. then you will reside in me. Very similar to abide in me, right? That Jesus talks about in the Bible. Reside, abide. I am the vine. You are the branches. Abide in me. It’s this relationship between you and a deity.
Or verse nine, different translation, same thing we just looked at. If you can’t keep on thinking steadily of me, then practice yoga, Arjuna, to seek and reach me. If you cannot practice even that, make my works your highest goal. Merely doing work for me you will reach perfection. If even this is something you can’t quite do, take refuge in my power, let go of all the fruits of action, and act with self-control.
So, what you’re seeing here is a ladder where Krishna is saying, you know I think we should be in a relationship. I want to be in a relationship with you. And if you can’t do that, try this other thing. And if you can’t do that, try this. It’s so compassionate. The hierarchy isn’t here to make us feel inadequate. Krishna never says, like, come back when you’re more spiritual. He says, let’s begin exactly where you are.
So verse eight Krishna starts with the ideal fix your mind on me, let your understanding dwell on me, which is basically like real life translation. Can God actually be the center of your consciousness? Can you devote yourself to Krishna?
Can you give your life to Christ, whatever religion you believe in, right? Can you move through your day with this ongoing sense of relationship with the divine? Not just like I meditate or pray for 20 minutes, but like I’m cooking dinner and I’m thinking about God and making a difficult decision and I’m putting God at the center of it. I’m scared, but I’m gonna have complete reliance on God. Something wonderful happens, I have gratitude towards God. I’m angry with someone, how would God have me respond? It’s almost like having an ongoing conversation with God throughout your day. This is full-on bhakti.
Your mind keeps returning to the beloved.
And Krishna’s basically saying, like, this is what I want. I want you. I want intimacy with you. But a lot of us are probably thinking, well, like, okay, I can’t do that all day. And Krishna says, okay, no problem. Verse nine, he says, okay, can you just practice trying to do that? He just says, practice. Abyasa, right? That’s a yoga teacher training word we know from Patanjali, right? You just need to bring your practice, make your practice to be like bringing your mind back.
Your brain starts planning dinner, try to think about God. You pray and suddenly you’re thinking about an email, try to come back. You’re trying to practice gratitude, but you’re really irritated at your spouse, try to come back. You’re in Shivasana having this beautiful moment of connection and suddenly you’re mentally ordering something on Amazon. Try to come back, right? So he’s saying, like, can you do that? So notice how compassionate Krishna is. He’s like, you can’t maintain constant God consciousness. You’re you suck. You’re bad. He’s just like, nope, try.
Try just practicing. And then he’s like, okay, verse 10, can you not even do that? Well, try to do actions for me, perform actions for me. And this is blending into karma yoga, right? You can’t meditate. Okay, well, can you do something nice for someone else? Can you make dinner for your family as an offering? Could you teach your yoga class as an offering?
Could you do your job with the intention that the work serves something larger than your ego? Could you volunteer? Could you really care for your child in a way that makes them feel special? Could you help your neighbor? Could you make something beautiful?
So this is basically like if you can’t keep your mind on God all day or you can’t even practice doing that, fine. But can you make the regular life that you are doing an offering? This is so like Gita-esque, right? Because Arjuna is a warrior. Krishna’s not telling him, forget the battlefield and go meditate in a cave. He’s saying do the work in front of you, but do it for something larger than yourself. Do it for a bigger reason than just yourself. So this is a big moment that’s connecting back to karma yoga from earlier chapters. And then verse 11.
Can you not even do that? This is like the lowest rung of the ladder. It’s like almost comically accessible. Krishna basically says, okay, maybe you don’t feel devotional. Maybe you’re not walking around thinking about God. Maybe you don’t know how to make your work an offering. Well, can you at least stop clinging so tightly to what happens next?
Right? All those translations we we looked at when they were like release the fruit of your offering, that’s what they’re saying. This brings us straight back to one of the foundational teachings of the Gita, which is release attachment to the fruits of your actions. So that’s in real life means send the email without obsessively refreshing for the response. Post the thing on your social media without determining your worth by how many people liked it. Have the difficult conversation without needing the other person to respond how you want them to.
Teach the yoga class without everyone needing to love you and like you. Apply for the job without deciding beforehand whether God, the universe, life like owes you it. Like just loosen your grip.
So level one, verse eight, you’re in continual relationship with God all the time. My mind naturally rests in the divine. You can’t do that? Okay, no problem. Level two, verse nine, practice returning your attention to God. My mind wanders, but I can’t bring it back. I just can’t do that. Okay, no problem. Level three, verse ten. Turn your actions into an offering. Maybe you’re not spiritually connected all day, but can you do nice things? And when you do them, can you dedicate them to something greater than yourself? And if you still can’t do that, just go about your normal life, but at least
release attachment to the outcome of the stuff you’re doing.
And then verse twelve is explaining why this matters.
So let’s look at verse twelve. We’re going to God’s song. Better than practice knowledge, better than knowledge meditation, better than meditation letting go of the fruits of action, once you’ve let go, instant peace.
Renunciation of the fruits of actions equal peace. That’s what Krishna essentially brings us towards to finish his ladder.
The modern translation is just like, you don’t have to be a perfect yogi to experience more peace. You can just start by loosening your grip. Like just stop being such a control freak. And that’s a great place to start.
So Patanjali gives us abhyasa practice. He does. But Krishna gives us abhyasa practice. But then he keeps going with like nine lower rungs of a ladder where he’s like, can’t maintain attention, practice. If you can’t practice, serve. If you can’t orient everything till service, at least stop being a control freak. This is what I love about the Gita. There’s nowhere for you to fail.
You can’t do it wrong. Krishna just meets you one rung lower on the ladder.
And what’s so cool about this is coming back to like our premise of like, can you be spiritual without believing in God? By verse eleven, Krishna has essentially given you practices you can do, even if the personal God language doesn’t resonate with you at all. He basically says, act wholeheartedly and release attachment to the results.
Okay, then looking at the closing section of this chapter, the kind of the second half, um, verses thirteen through twenty, with malice towards none, friendly and compassionate, neither selfish nor self-serving, the same in pain and pleasure, patient, a yogi constantly content, is self-controlled and rooted in resolve, his mind and intellect to me entrusted, my devotee is dear to me. Then the world does not repulse him, and he does not repulse the world. Free of glee.
And pike of fright and worry, he is dear to me. Expecting nothing, sitting apart, his trembling gone, and all initiatives relinquished, my devotee is dear to me. He doesn’t rejoice, he doesn’t hate, he doesn’t mourn, he doesn’t yearn, letting go of good and bad, full of devotion, he is dear to me. The same to enemy and friend, the same in honor and dishonor, in heat and cold and pain and pleasure, the same free of attachment.
Alike when praised or censured, silent, content with anything at all, at home, anywhere, steady mind, such a man full of devotion is dear to me. I speak this sweet, immortalizing dharma. Those who honor it, offering faith, exalting me, they are extremely dear to me. Dear to me, right? This is a relationship.
I love the God Song translation of those particular verses because he makes it super poetic.
So after chapter 11, where we saw Krishna in all his glory and splendor, and Arjuna is now asking like how to connect to God, you’re kind of like expecting Krishna to describe like visions and miracles and kundalini and chakras and psychic powers and all of this stuff, and he doesn’t. What he’s describing is a type of person. He is describing someone’s character. Think about the words you just heard in those verses. He’s talking about someone without hatred, someone who’s compassionate.
Patient, forgiving, steady, free from envy, content, not easily disturbed, the same in pain and pleasure.
Neither selfish nor self-serving. This is all verse 13. So if someone spent one week with you, would they describe you using Krishna’s list?
I think that’s an interesting question for us all to sit with.
What this section, this the second half of the chapter is saying is your character, how you show up in the world, that’s a much better measure of spiritual maturity than like what mystical experiences have you had. And if you look at again the words that he uses, what does it remind you of? The fruit of the spirit from the Bible, right?
In Galatians, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And I think the word fruit is so useful, right? Because fruit is the evidence that something has been growing, which is is alluding to this idea that you can’t see the internal spiritual process directly, but eventually it bears fruit.
Christianity says something very similar to what Krishna is saying here. Paul doesn’t say, you’ll know someone is filled with the spirit because they’ve had incredible visions.
or they can meditate for you know an entire day without eating food he says look at the fruit what’s their character are they becoming more loving more patient more peaceful more gentle more self-controlled and that’s exactly what Krishna is doing he’s saying like don’t tell me how spiritual you are show me the fruit
There’s a great line in Matthew, um, I think it’s seven, seven sixteen here in my notes. He says, By their fruit you will recognize them. Right? That’s very similar to what’s being said here. How do you know well whether someone’s spirituality is real? Look at the fruit. Not the Instagram bio, not how many trainings they’ve done, not how spiritual like language they know in terms of chakras and kundalini, or how you know mystical they’ve been, or whether they’ve been to Bali.
Not the extraordinary experiences they’ve had, what is their spiritual life producing in their character?
So Krishna is saying those who are dear to me, those who I’m in a relationship with or want to be in a relationship with or who are deepening their character through being in relationship with me, they are compassionate, forgiving, steady. They can move through pleasure and pain without being thrown around.
So my point here is that different traditions and different theological frameworks share this striking emphasis on the idea that spiritual maturity eventually has to be visible in your character.
So I think the idea to walk away from or that I’m inviting you to walk away from this week is that
There’s a much more uncomfortable potentially spiritual assessment than asking, like, how often do you meditate, or what style of yoga do you do, or how often do you practice, or do you have a daily sadhana? It’s like if someone followed you around for a week, what fruit are they gonna see in your character? Would they say you’re patient, compassionate, hard to provoke, forgiving, steady, kind?
Or would the people closest to you experience a completely different version of you than the one who shows up on the yoga mat?
So chapter eleven in the Gita ended us by showing
How big God is, right? How big Krishna is. We had the fireworks, we had the explosions. And now here chapter twelve answered a completely different question, which is like, okay, knowing that God is that big, knowing that it’s that amazing, what kind of person should that make us?
And Krishna describes the character of someone who is dear to him, this love, this devotion, the compassion, the steadiness, the relationship. And it’s not because mystical experiences can’t also be valuable, but it’s because they’re not the destination, the formation of your character is.
So maybe this week, don’t look for another spiritual experience. Instead, choose one quality from Krishna’s list, whether it’s patience, compassion, steadiness, forgiveness, and just practice that between now and our next Gita episode.
Because the premis.
of this chapter is that the greatest evidence of spiritual growth isn’t in what you experience in meditation or in yoga class, but it’s who the people who are around you experience every day.
Thank you so much for being here all the way to the very end. If you want to check out any of the translations I’ve read from today, we always have them linked up in the show notes for you. And of course, if you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it with someone. It’s always more fun when you can discuss these ideas with a fellow yogi family member or friend. Until next week, take care of you.
