Gita 6.47

Sadhak: "After teaching meditation techniques for an entire chapter, why does Krishna end by saying devotion is supreme? It feels like bait-and-switch."

Guru: "Not bait-and-switch but progression. The meditation techniques prepare the mind for what it couldn't otherwise receive. Try to love God with a scattered mind—your love will be distracted, mixed with desires. The dhyāna teachings purify and steady the mind so devotion can be single-pointed and deep."

Sadhak: "'Worships Me'—this sounds like Krishna is asking for personal worship. Isn't that ego?"

Guru: "Remember who is speaking. Krishna is not a human teacher but the Divine revealing itself through human form. When the infinite says 'worship Me,' it's not the finite body requesting worship but the infinite inviting union. To worship Krishna is to worship the divine everywhere."

Sadhak: "'Mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā'—how is this different from the meditation taught earlier?"

Guru: "Earlier meditation focused on restraint, stillness, technique. 'Mad-gata' goes further: not just stillness but positive absorption. The mind isn't merely controlled but surrendered. Think of meditation as clearing a room; devotion is inviting the Beloved into the cleared room."

Sadhak: "'Śraddhā'—faith. But I struggle with faith. I have doubts, questions, uncertainties."

Guru: "Śraddhā is not absence of doubt but presence of trust despite doubt. The opposite of śraddhā is not doubt but cynicism—the refusal to engage because you're not certain. Arjuna doubts throughout the Gita; Krishna never criticizes his doubt, only his paralysis."

Sadhak: "'Bhajate'—worships. What is worship? I don't know how to worship."

Guru: "Bhajana means 'to share in, to participate, to serve with love.' It's not primarily ritual but relationship. You worship when you see beauty and recognize it as divine expression. You worship when you serve another and see God in them. Worship is how you orient your life toward the sacred."

Sadhak: "'Yukta-tamaḥ'—the most united. Why does loving devotion create more union than technical meditation?"

Guru: "In technical meditation, the meditator remains separate from the object of meditation. In loving devotion, the lover wants to dissolve into the Beloved—separation itself becomes painful. The bhakta doesn't want to observe God from a distance but to merge completely. Love is inherently unitive."

Sadhak: "If devotion is supreme, why did Krishna spend so much time on other approaches?"

Guru: "Because different seekers need different entry points, and because complete devotion requires preparation. Some can love immediately; for them, bhakti is direct. Others need to work (karma yoga), understand (jñāna), or still the mind (dhyāna) first. All paths, fully followed, culminate in loving absorption in the Divine."

Sadhak: "How do I move from practicing meditation techniques to the devotional absorption described here?"

Guru: "First: use technique to prepare but don't fixate on it. Second: cultivate emotional connection—bring love, gratitude, or longing into your practice. Third: surrender the results—don't meditate to achieve states but as offering. Fourth: let the Divine be personal. Abstract 'consciousness' is hard to love; Krishna, Shiva, the Mother—these are lovable forms."