12.19 Content with whatever comes Krishna speaks
तुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिर्मौनी सन्तुष्टो येनकेनचित्
अनिकेतः स्थिरमतिर्भक्ितमान्मे प्रियो नरः
tulya-nindā-stutir maunī santuṣhṭo yena kenachit
aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ
the same under blame and praise, quiet, content with whatever comes, without a fixed dwelling, steady in mind — such a devoted person is dear to me.
Explanation
Content with whatever comes, and at home nowhere in particular.
aniketaḥ — without a fixed dwelling. The portrait closes on someone very hard to disturb and, by the evidence of these eight verses, very easy to be near.
Read the whole list back and notice what is absent from it: no ritual, no austerity, no doctrine, no mention of belief. The chapter's answer to what devotion looks like is a description of conduct.
Going further
Word by word
- tulya
- alike
- nindā-stutiḥ
- reproach and praise
- maunī
- silent contemplation
- santuṣhṭaḥ
- contented
- yena kenachit
- with anything
- aniketaḥ
- without attachment to the place of residence
- sthira
- firmly fixed
- matiḥ
- intellect
- bhakti-mān
- full of devotion
- me
- to me
- priyaḥ
- very dear
- naraḥ
- a person
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The same under blame and praise, content with whatever comes, without a fixed dwelling.
The portrait that closes the chapter is of someone extremely difficult to disturb and extremely easy to be around. Eight verses of it, and not one mentions ritual, austerity or knowledge.