योगिनामपि सर्वेषां मद्गतेनान्तरात्मना | श्रद्धावान्भजते यो मां स मे युक्ततमो मतः ||४७||
yoginām api sarveṣāṃ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā | śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṃ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ || 47 ||
Of all yogis, the one whose inner self is merged in Me, worshipping with śraddhā — that one I hold to be most united.
Word by word (3)
- yoginām api sarveṣāṃ mad-gatena antar-ātmanā
- — of all yogis — with inner self gone into Me · yoginām = of yogis (genitive plural). api = even (emphatic — 'of all yogis, even of ALL of them'). sarveṣāṃ = of all (superlative scope — encompasses all the yogis described in V46 and throughout Ch.6). mad-gatena = gone into Me, merged into Me (mad = Me; gata = gone; mad-gata = whose movement/orientation is into Me). antar-ātmanā = with the inner self (antar = inner; ātman = Self; instrumental case — with the inner Self, using the inner Self as the instrument). The phrase 'mad-gatena antar-ātmanā' is the precise definition of the supreme yogi: their inner self (antar-ātman — the deep inner faculty of consciousness) has 'gone into' Krishna, merged into the Divine. Not the external body, not the social role — the inner self, at the deepest level.
- śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṃ
- — who, possessing śraddhā, worships Me · śraddhāvān = possessed of śraddhā (śraddhā = faith that has the quality of living trust and inner certainty — not blind belief, not mere intellectual assent, but living faith that has been tested and deepened by experience; vān = possessing). bhajate = worships, serves, devotes (from √bhaj — the root of bhakti: to share in, to participate in, to devote to). yo māṃ = who [worships] Me (yo = relative pronoun; māṃ = Me, accusative of the Divine). The coupling of śraddhā + bhajate is decisive: the supreme yogi is defined not by technique (āsana, prāṇāyāma, dhyāna) but by inner orientation — śraddhā — and by the mode of relationship — bhajana. This is the Gita's unexpected closure: the peak of Ch.6's yoga teaching is the bhakta.
- sa me yuktatamo mataḥ
- — that one is considered by Me to be the most united — the supremely yukta · sa = that one. me = by Me (genitive/dative of Krishna). yuktatama = most united, most yukta (yukta = united, joined, in union; tama = superlative suffix 'most'). mataḥ = considered, held to be (from √man, to think, to consider). 'Yuktatama' is the superlative of 'yukta' — the word for yoga, for union, for the fulfilled yogic state. V47's final word 'yuktatamo mataḥ' echoes V1's 'anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṃ... sa yogī' and the entire chapter's definition of what constitutes the fullest form of yoga. The supreme yukta is not the deepest meditator (V24-25), not the most equal-minded (V32), not even the most purified (V45) — but the one whose inner self has gone into the Divine and who worships with śraddhā. Bhakti is the chapter's peak.
Of all the yogis described in this chapter — the meditator, the equal-minded, the purified, the conqueror of mind — the greatest is the one whose inner self (antar-ātman) has merged into the Divine and who worships with śraddhā (living, tested faith). Krishna calls this one the yuktatama — the most united, the supremely connected. The chapter that opened with self-mastery and meditation closes with devotion.
A modern analogy
Imagine a musician who has mastered scales, harmony, theory, and repertoire. All of that technique is necessary. But the greatest musician is the one for whom music has become not a technique but a love — who plays not from technical proficiency alone but from a place of deep inner resonance with the music itself. V47's yuktatama yogi is that musician: all the technique of V7-46 absorbed and transcended into living devotional union.
What it does NOT mean
V47 does NOT negate the preceding 46 verses. The practices of V7-46 — self-conquest, posture, breath, withdrawal of senses, samādhi, equal vision, abhyāsa, vairāgya — are not made irrelevant. V47 shows where all this practice arrives at its highest: not mere technique-mastery, but living inner union with the Divine, expressed as devotion (bhajate) rooted in śraddhā. The meditation of Ch.6 and the devotion of V47 are the same path viewed from different angles.
Take with you
- V47 reveals the Gita's unexpected hierarchy: at the top of all yogic paths is the bhakta — the one who worships with śraddhā and whose inner self has merged into the Divine. This doesn't replace technique; it completes it.
- The word 'antar-ātmanā' (inner self) is crucial: the union Krishna describes is inner, not external. It's not pilgrimage, not ritual compliance, not social religious performance — it's the inner self that has oriented into the Divine.
- Śraddhā (living faith) is the quality that makes practice a relationship rather than a technique. V47 says: of all the qualities a yogi can have, the one that places them highest is this living inner faith. Practise until your practice becomes faith.
V47 is one of the most important verses in the Bhagavad Gita. It closes Ch.6 — the Dhyana Yoga chapter, the meditation chapter — not with a technical culmination of meditation practice but with the declaration that the supreme yogi is the bhakta: the one whose inner self is merged in the Divine and who worships with śraddhā. This is deliberate and significant. Ch.6 has been building the portrait of the ideal yogi from multiple angles: self-conquest (V7-9), posture and practice (V10-16), the meditative arc (V17-32), the difficulty and remedy (V33-36), the compassionate assurance about the incomplete yogi (V37-45), the hierarchy of paths (V46). After all of this, the highest form is announced not as deeper technique but as deeper love. The key terms: (1) 'mad-gatena antar-ātmanā' — inner self gone into Me; (2) 'śraddhāvān bhajate' — worships with living faith; (3) 'yuktatama' — most united. These three elements together define the supreme yogi: inner orientation (antar-ātman merged in Divine), quality of relationship (śraddhā), and mode (bhajana/worship). None of these are techniques — all of them are relational. V47 thus performs a synthesis: the rigorous inner discipline of Ch.6's meditation teaching (V7-46) is the preparation; V47 is the destination. The outer discipline becomes inner devotion. The conquest of mind becomes the gift of mind to the Beloved. The sama-darśana (equal vision) of V29-32 becomes the all-seeing love of V47's antar-ātman merged in the Divine.
Advaita lens
For Shankaracharya, V47's 'mad-gatena antar-ātmanā' is compatible with advaita: the 'merging' of the inner self into the Divine is not a duality (self merging into an other) but the recognition of non-difference. The antar-ātman that 'goes into' Krishna is the individual self recognizing its identity with the ātman-Brahman. Bhakti and jñāna converge at this recognition: the love is the recognition; the recognition is the love. The yuktatama yogi is the one in whom the advaita truth is lived as love.
Bhakti lens
V47 is the bhakti traditions' core text in the Gita: the supreme yogi is the bhakta. The six elements of the supreme yogi in V47 (all yogis, inner self, merged into Divine, śraddhā, worships, most united) correspond to the bhakti tradition's analysis of pure devotion: it is interior (antar), directed to the Divine (mad-gata), grounded in faith (śraddhā), expressed through service (bhajana), and results in the fullest union (yuktatama). The bhakti traditions (Ramanuja, Madhva) see V47 as the Gita's culminating statement that bhakti-yoga is the supreme yoga.
Karma-Yoga lens
For the karma yogi, V47 reframes all action: if the inner self is merged in the Divine (mad-gata antar-ātman), then all action flows from that merger. The karma yogi who has reached V47's state does not ask 'what is the right action?' — they act from the merger, and right action flows naturally. The inner self's orientation into the Divine IS the karma yogi's realization of non-attached action in its fullest form.
Dvaita lens
Madhva's dvaita tradition takes V47 as the supreme statement of bhakti: 'yuktatama' — most united — refers to the most complete relationship of the devotee-soul with the personal Divine. The distinction between devotee and Divine is maintained (dvaita = dual) but the love reaches its maximum depth. The antar-ātman 'merged' in the Divine is in the deepest possible relationship — not identity, but perfect love.
Modern parallels
Attachment theory in psychology (Bowlby, Ainsworth) describes 'secure attachment' as the state where the primary relationship becomes a secure base from which the individual can engage fully with the world. V47's yuktatama yogi is the spiritual equivalent of perfectly secure attachment: the inner self is so fully and securely 'merged' in the Divine that all engagement with the world flows from that secure base. This is why the yuktatama yogi doesn't cling, doesn't fear, doesn't resist — their antar-ātman is securely 'at home' in the Divine.
Practice
V47's practice for the close of every session: having done the practice (whatever form it took), rest in stillness for 2-3 minutes and let the practitioner-quality dissolve into the Divine. Not 'I meditated well' or 'I sat for X minutes' — but the simple offering: 'Let this practice and the one who practised both rest in You.' This is antar-ātmanā mad-gatena — the inner self going into the Divine — in direct practice. Over time, this offering becomes the practice itself.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
Of all yogis, the one who with inner self merged in Me worships Me with śraddhā — that one is considered by Me to be the most united. [1]
And of all Yogis, he who with the inner self merged in Me, with Shraddha devotes himself to Me, is considered by Me the most steadfast. [4]
And of all devotees, he who, with self merged in Me, worshippeth Me with faith, he is considered by Me to be the most devoted. [5]
Of all Yogis, he who with a mind fixed on Me worships Me with faith and devotion is considered by Me the most completely devoted. [6]
And, of all those devout ones, most devout is he who loveth Me with faith assured, his inner self absorbed in Me. He, I hold, hath found the highest path. [7]
And of all Yogins, he who with his inner self devoted to Me, worships Me with faith, is deemed by Me to be the most devoted. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The yogi surpasses the ascetic, the scholar, the ritualist — therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogi!
Those who fix their mind in Me and worship with supreme śraddhā — these I consider the most perfectly yoked!
Equal vision everywhere: the yogi sees the Self in all beings, and all beings within the Self — the same, everywhere.
Who acts in duty without depending on fruit — that one is the true sannyāsī and yogī, not the fireless or the inactive.
Śraddhā of the embodied is threefold — born of svabhāva (one's own nature): sāttvikī, rājasī, tāmasī. Hear this.
Instrument, offering, fire, act, destination — all Brahman. One absorbed in Brahman-action reaches Brahman alone.