ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्पराः।अनन्येनैव योगेन मां ध्यायन्त उपासते ॥
ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi mayi saṃnyasya matparāḥ|ananyenaiva yogena māṃ dhyāyanta upāsate ||
Offer all actions to Me alone, worship through undivided yoga — the mat-parāḥ hold Me as their supreme goal.
Word by word (3)
- ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi mayi sannyasya
- — those who, having surrendered all actions into Me · ye = who (relative pronoun introducing this category). tu = but/however — a contrastive pivot from V3-V5 (avyakta meditators). sarvāṇi karmāṇi = all actions, all works (sarva = all; karmāṇi = actions, plural of karma). mayi = in Me / into Me (locative of aham = I; here it means 'into Krishna as the receptacle and recipient of all action'). sannyasya = having renounced/surrendered (gerund of sam + ni + √as = to cast completely down; sannyāsa is literally 'complete laying-down'; here it is inner surrender, not monastic renunciation — the karma continues but the sense of doership and all fruit are cast into Krishna as a trust). The force: not partial surrender ('I'll give You the sacred acts but keep the rest'), but sarvāṇi — every action, from the ritual to the mundane, consecrated.
- mat-parāḥ
- — those who have Me as the Supreme (the mat-parāḥ) · mat = Me (genitive form of aham = I; here 'My' or 'of Me'). parāḥ = the supreme, the highest, the other shore (from √pṛ = to cross beyond; para = that which is beyond = the supreme, the ultimate). mat-para = one for whom 'Me' (Krishna) is the supreme goal — not a stepping stone to something beyond, not one means among many, but the ultimate. Plural: mat-parāḥ = those devotees (a class). This word names the devotee-type whose care Krishna takes up in V7: 'teṣām aham samuddhartā' — 'of THESE (mat-parāḥ), I am the deliverer.'
- ananyenaiva yogena māṃ dhyāyantaḥ upāsate
- — worship Me, meditating on Me, through undivided yoga alone · ananyena = not-other, undivided, exclusive (an = not; anya = other; ananya = without-other = not directed to any other; the bhakti is ananya because its object is only Krishna, not split between Krishna and liberation, or Krishna and another deity, or Krishna and worldly goals). eva = alone, precisely, exactly (emphatic particle reinforcing ananya). yogena = through yoga (instrumental: the mode is yoga; yoga here = the discipline of uniting the mind with its chosen object). māṃ = Me (accusative; the direct object of the meditation-worship). dhyāyantaḥ = meditating (present participle of √dhyai = to meditate, to hold steadily in the mind; dhyāyantaḥ = 'while meditating'). upāsate = worship (from upa + √ās = to sit near = to serve, approach, worship; 3rd plural present). The two verbs overlap deliberately: dhyāyantaḥ describes the inward act (meditation), upāsate the relational orientation (worship). Together: their whole life is an offering made in meditative attention to Krishna.
Krishna describes the second group: those who offer ALL their actions to Him, take Him as their supreme, and worship through undivided (ananya) yoga — meditating only on Krishna. These are the mat-parāḥ. The word 'tu' (but/however) contrasts them with the avyakta meditators of V3-V5: both reach Krishna, but these mat-parāḥ take the saguna-bhakti path. They consecrate everything — not just formal prayer but all of life's actions — into Krishna.
A modern analogy
Like an athlete who doesn't just train hard but eats, plans, sleeps, thinks, and arranges every aspect of life around one pursuit — every action becomes part of the discipline. The mat-para devotee lives like that, but toward the Divine. Not because they have to, but because that IS their supreme joy.
Sit with this: V6 says the mat-parāḥ offer 'all' their actions to Krishna — not just sacred acts but everything. Does this make the practice harder (nothing is exempt) or easier (no sacred/secular division)? What would it feel like to live without that split?
V6 is the pivot of Ch.12: after three verses establishing the nirguna path (V3-V5) and one verse explaining its difficulty for the embodied (V5), Krishna now introduces the mat-parāḥ — a different way of being. The key word ananya ('not-other') echoes 9.22 ('ananyāś cintayanto māṃ') where Krishna promises to carry the burden of mat-para devotees. Here He fulfills that promise in V7. Śankara reads sannyasya ('having surrendered') as the key move: the devotee doesn't abandon activity but surrenders the ownership of activity — karma continues but the doer-sense dissolves into dedication. The yoga is ananya because the mind has only one address: Krishna.
Advaita lens
For Śankara, sannyasya all karmāṇi mayi is the beginning of jñāna-yoga in bhakti clothing: surrendering action to Brahman (= Krishna in his saguna form) purifies the mind and gradually dissolves the ahaṃkāra (I-maker) that creates the sense of separate doership. Ananya-yoga, where the yogin has no 'other' object, is the practical form of non-duality — the mind that holds only One is already moving toward the recognition that there is Only One.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
[V6 missing from SH indexed] [1]
[V6 missing from SW indexed — SW appears to have combined V6-V7 in a single translation unit; use Ganguli and Telang as primary] [4]
But whereso any doeth all his deeds / Renouncing self for Me, full of Me, fixed / To serve only the Highest, night and day / Musing on Me [7]
As to those, however, O son of Pṛthā! who, dedicating all their actions to me, and (holding) me as their highest (goal), worship me, meditating on me with a devotion towards none besides me [9]
They (again) who, reposing all action on me (and) regarding me as their highest object (of attainment), worship me, meditating on me with devotion undirected to anything else [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
For those who worship Me with undivided thought, always steadfast — I carry what they lack and guard what they have.
Through undivided devotion alone can I be known, seen, and entered into — ananyā bhakti is the path, O Parantapa!
Abandon all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone — I will liberate you from all sins; do not grieve.
Surrendering all actions to Brahman, abandoning attachment — like a lotus leaf, sin never clings.
Unable even to act for My sake? Then take refuge in Me, abandon all fruits of action — with self-restraint.
Equal in honor and disgrace, equal to friend and foe, abandoning all undertakings — he has gone beyond guṇas.