Shloka
ये तु धर्म्यामृतमिदं यथोक्तं पर्युपासते |
श्रद्दधाना मत्परमा भक्तास्तेऽतीव मे प्रियाः ||१२-२०||Transliteration
ye tu dharmyāmṛtamidaṃ yathoktaṃ paryupāsate .
śraddadhānā matparamā bhaktāste.atīva me priyāḥ ||12-20||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
12.20. Those, who resort, as instructed above, to this duty [conducive to] immortality, who have faith [in it] and have Me alone their goal - those devotees are exceedingly dear to Me.
Shri Purohit Swami
12.20 Verily those who love the spiritual wisdom as I have taught, whose faith never fails, and who concentrate their whole nature on Me, they indeed are My most beloved."
Sri Abhinav Gupta
12.15-20 Yasmat etc. upto Me priyah. One who has no fixed thought : One who has no resolution, [in his mundane life] like ‘This alone must be done by me’. He, who enjoys, with contentment, both pleasure and pain as they come, and has his mind completely absorbed in Supreme Lord - that person happily (or easily) attains the Supreme Isolation (Emancipation)
Sri Ramanuja
12.20 But those who follow Bhakti Yoga - ‘which is a nectar of virtuous duty,’ i.e., which is at once virtuous duty and nectar, and which even as a menas, is eal to its end in conferring bliss on those who follow is as stated above, i.e., in the manner taught in the stanza beginning with ‘Those who, focusing their minds on Me’ (12.2) - such devotees are exceedingly dear to Me.
Sri Shankaracharya
12.20 Tu, but; ye bhaktah, those devotees of Mine, the monks who have resorted to the highest devotion consisting in the knowledge of the supreme Reality; mat-paramah, who accept Me as the supreme Goal, to whom I, as mentioned above, who am identical with the Immutable, am the highest (parama), unsurpassable Goal; and sraddadhanah, with faith; paryupasate, seek for, practise; idam, this; dharmyamrtam, ambrosia that is indistinguishable from the virtues-that which is indistinguishable from dharma (virtue) is dharmya, and this is called amrta (ambrosia) since it leads to Immortality-; yatha-uktam, as stated above in, ‘He who is not hateful towards any creature,’ etc.; te, they; are ativa, very; priyah, dear; me, to Me. After having explained what was hinted in, ‘For I am very much dear to the man of Knowledge৷৷.’(7.17), that has been concluded here in, ‘Those devotees are very dear to Me.’ Since by seeking for this ambrosia which is indistinguishable from the virtues as stated above one becomes very dear to Me, who am theLord Vishnu, the supreme God, therefore this nectar which is indistinguishable from the virtues has to be diligently sought for by one who is a seeker of Liberation, who wants to attain the coveted Abode of Visnu. This is the purport of the sentence. [Thus, after the consummation of meditation on the alified Brahman, one who aspires after the unalified Brahman, who has the alifications mentioned in, ‘He who is not hateful towards any creature,’ etc., who is pre-eminently fit for this purpose, and who practises sravana etc. has the possibility of realizing the Truth from which his Liberation logically follows. Hence, the conclusion is that the meaning of the word tat (in the sentence tattvamasi) has to be sought for, since his has the power to arouse the comprehension of the meaning of that sentence, which is the means to Liberation.]
Swami Adidevananda
12.20 But those devotees who follow this nectar of virtuous-duty as taught above, who are full of faith and who regard Me as the Supreme - they are exceedingly dear to Me.
Swami Gambirananda
12.20 But [Tu (but) is used to distinguish those who have attained the highest Goal from the aspirants.-Tr.] those devotees who accept Me as the supreme Goal, and with faith seek for this ambrosia [M.S.’s reading is dharmamrtam-nectar in the form of virtue. Virtue is called nectar because it leads to Immortality, or because it is sweet like nectar.] which is indistinguishable from the virtues as stated above, they are very dear to Me.
Swami Sivananda
12.20 They verily who follow this immortal Dharma (law or doctrine) as described above, endowed with faith, regarding Me as their supreme goal, they, the devotees, are exceedingly dear to Me.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
12.20 ये who? तु indeed? धर्म्यामृतम् immortal Dharma (Law)? इदम् this? यथोक्तम् as declared (above)? पर्युपासते follow? श्रद्दधानाः endowed with faith? मत्परमाः regarding Me as their Supreme? भक्ताः devotees? ते they? अतीव exceedingly? मे to Me? प्रियाः dear.Commentary The Blessed Lord has in this verse given a description of His excellent devotee.Amrita Dharma Amrita is the lifegiving nectar. Dharma is righteousness or wisdom. Dharma is that which leads to immortality when practised. The real devotees regard Me as their final or supreme refuge.Above Beginning with verse 13.A great truth that should not go unnoticed is that the devotee? the man of wisdom and the Yogi have all the same fundamental characteristics.Priyo hi Jnaninotyartham (I am exceedingly dear to the wise man) (VII.12) has thus been explained at length and concluded here thus? Te ativa me priyah (they are exceedinlgy dear to Me).He who follows this immortal Dharma as described above becomes exceedingly dear to the Lord. Therefore? every aspirant who thirsts for salvation? and who longs to attain the Supreme Abode of the Lord should follow this immortal Dharma with zeal and intense faith.Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita? the science of the Eternal? the scripture of Yoga? the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna? ends the twelfth discourse entitledThe Yoga of Devotion.