9.30 Even one of bad conduct Krishna speaks
अपि चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते मामनन्यभाक्
साधुरेव स मन्तव्यः सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि सः
api chet su-durāchāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk
sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ
Even one of thoroughly bad conduct, who worships me and turns nowhere else, is to be reckoned good — for that person has resolved rightly.
Explanation
Even one of thoroughly bad conduct.
su-durācāraḥ — and the intensifier is doing real work. Translations often soften this. Such a person is to be reckoned good, for having resolved rightly.
The reckoning is present tense and unqualified. Not will improve and then count — counted now, on the strength of where they have turned.
Going further
Word by word
- api
- even
- chet
- if
- su-durāchāraḥ
- the vilest sinners
- bhajate
- worship
- mām
- me
- ananya-bhāk
- exclusive devotion
- sādhuḥ
- righteous
- eva
- certainly
- saḥ
- that person
- mantavyaḥ
- is to be considered
- samyak
- properly
- vyavasitaḥ
- resolve
- hi
- certainly
- saḥ
- that person
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Even one of thoroughly bad conduct — su-durāchāraḥ, and the intensifier is doing real work — is to be reckoned good.
Translations often soften this, and it does not need softening. The reason given is not that the wrongdoing was small but that samyag vyavasitaḥ: the resolve is right. The Gita is willing to weight direction over record, which is either the most generous line in the book or the most troubling, depending on where you are standing.