अनन्यचेताः सततं यो मां स्मरति नित्यशः | तस्याहं सुलभः पार्थ नित्ययुक्तस्य योगिनः ||१४||
ananya-cetāḥ satataṃ yo māṃ smarati nityaśaḥ | tasyāhaṃ sulabhaḥ pārtha nitya-yuktasya yoginaḥ || 14 ||
I am easily attained by the ever-steadfast yogi who constantly remembers Me daily with single-pointed mind.
Word by word (3)
- ananya-cetāḥ satataṃ / yaḥ māṃ smarati nityaśaḥ
- — With undivided (single-pointed) consciousness, constantly / who remembers Me daily/continuously · ananya-cetāḥ = with undivided/non-other consciousness (an = not; anya = other; cetas = consciousness, mind — ananya-cetas = the consciousness that is 'not-other,' not divided between the Divine and other objects; single-pointed devotion-consciousness). satataṃ = constantly, uninterruptedly (from sa + tata = 'with that extended' — continuously, always; satataṃ means the constancy is unbroken, not occasional). yaḥ = who (relative pronoun). māṃ = Me. smarati = remembers (from √smṛ = to remember, to recall — smarati = he/she remembers). nityaśaḥ = daily, perpetually, regularly (nitya = constant, eternal; -śas = adverbial suffix — nityaśas = perpetually, at all times, daily). The double emphasis: satataṃ (constantly/uninterruptedly) + nityaśas (perpetually/daily) makes this the strongest possible statement of continuous remembrance. The yogi who achieves V13's death-moment OM + mām anusmaran is the one who has practiced V14's satataṃ nityaśas remembrance throughout life.
- tasya ahaṃ sulabhaḥ pārtha / nitya-yuktasya yoginaḥ
- — To that one I am easy to attain, O Pārtha / for the ever-yoked yogi · tasya = for that one (genitive — 'for that person'). ahaṃ = I (Krishna). sulabhaḥ = easy to attain, easily attained (su = easily, well; labha = obtained — sulabha = easily obtained; opposite of durlabha = rare/hard to obtain). pārtha = O Pārtha (Arjuna). nitya-yuktasya = for the ever-yoked (nitya = perpetually; yukta = yoked, united — nitya-yukta = one who is perpetually yoked to Me; this is the same yukta/yoga as in V7's mayy arpita-mano-buddhiḥ and V8's yoga-dhāraṇā). yoginaḥ = of the yogi (genitive — 'for the yogi who is...'; here used as a genitive in apposition with nitya-yuktasya, qualifying the same person). V14's claim is striking: Krishna says He is EASILY attained (sulabhaḥ) by the one who practices constant remembrance. Not difficult, not rare — easy. This inverts the usual assumption that the highest spiritual attainment must be the most difficult. For the one who has cultivated the quality of constant remembrance (ananya-cetāḥ, satataṃ, nityaśas, nitya-yukta), attaining Krishna is the natural result — sulabha.
- sulabhaḥ — why the highest attainment is described as 'easy'
- — Krishna as sulabha (easy to attain) for the constant devotee — the paradox of effortless attainment through effortful practice · V14's sulabha (easy) appears paradoxical: the highest attainment — liberation — is the most difficult thing there is (V7.3 says only one in thousands truly knows Krishna). How can it be easy? The paradox resolves through the ananya-cetāḥ quality: for the one whose consciousness has NO other orientation than Krishna (an-anya = not-other), attaining Krishna is simply the natural expression of what they already are. The one who has always remembered Me is already in Me — their attainment at death is not a new achievement but the recognition of what has been constant throughout life. The 'ease' (sulabha) is the ease of arriving home: not the ease of doing nothing, but the ease of going to what you have always been moving toward. The difficulty was in the years of practice that built the ananya-cetāḥ quality; once that quality is established, attainment follows naturally — sulabhaḥ. This is why V7 says 'fight AND remember' without promising it is easy to remember: the practice requires effort. V14 says the fruit of that effort (ananya-cetāḥ) makes attainment easy (sulabha).
V14 closes the prayāṇa-kāle teaching with the most personal assurance: for the one who remembers Me constantly (satataṃ), perpetually (nityaśas), with undivided consciousness (ananya-cetāḥ) — I (Krishna) am EASY to attain (sulabhaḥ). The ever-yoked yogi (nitya-yukta) does not struggle to find Krishna at death — the lifetime of constant remembrance has made Krishna's attainment as natural as coming home.
A modern analogy
After 30 years of marriage, being with your partner is easy — not because the early years weren't difficult (building trust, navigating conflict, deepening understanding) but because that effort created an intimacy that makes presence effortless. V14's sulabha (easy attainment) is the same: thirty lifetimes (or one lifetime) of ananya-cetāḥ (single-pointed consciousness) creates a relationship with Krishna that makes His attainment as easy as being with the one you know most deeply.
What it does NOT mean
V14's sulabha (easy) does NOT mean that liberation is easy for everyone. It means that for the specific person described (ananya-cetāḥ, satataṃ, nityaśas, nitya-yukta) — the one who has built the quality of constant non-divided remembrance — attainment is easy. The ease is the fruit of the effort of constant practice, not an alternative to it.
Take with you
- V14's ananya-cetāḥ (not-other consciousness) is the standard for the highest practice: not just remembering Krishna among many objects but orienting consciousness so that Krishna is the primary ground of awareness, and everything else is encountered against that background. This is the difference between 'thinking about God sometimes' and 'living in God's presence always.'
- V14's sulabha (easy attainment) for the nitya-yukta (ever-yoked) is one of the most encouraging verses in the Gita. The emphasis throughout Ch.8 on the difficulty of the death-moment practice could be discouraging — V14 balances it: if you build the constant remembrance throughout life, the fruit is not a dramatic struggle at death but a natural homecoming.
- V14's satataṃ... nityaśas (constantly...perpetually) double emphasis establishes continuous remembrance as the standard — not occasional spiritual practice but the continuous, unbroken orientation of consciousness toward the Divine. This is the japa/mantra tradition's rationale: constant repetition creates the ananya-cetāḥ quality.
V14 marks a significant transition in Ch.8's teaching — from the specific prayāṇa-kāle technique (V5-V13) to the principle of continuous remembrance as the practice that makes attainment easy. The verse is structurally simple but philosophically rich. The four descriptors of the qualifying yogi (ananya-cetāḥ / satataṃ / nityaśas / nitya-yukta) form a graduated intensification: ananya-cetāḥ (quality of consciousness — undivided) + satataṃ (temporal scope — continuously) + nityaśas (frequency — perpetually/daily) + nitya-yukta (state — ever-yoked to yoga). Together they describe not a practice performed at specific times but a state of being — a mode of existence in which the consciousness is always (perpetually, daily, continuously, uninterruptedly) oriented toward Krishna. The sulabha (easy attainment) claim is the verse's most important theological statement. It inverts the assumption that the highest attainment requires the most effort AT the moment of attainment. The effort is in the PREPARATION — the decades of ananya-cetāḥ practice. The attainment itself, for the prepared practitioner, is natural. This is the fruit of all the practice described in V6-V13: what was difficult (maintaining undivided consciousness) becomes natural through consistent cultivation, and when it becomes natural, attainment becomes easy (sulabha).
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: sulabhaḥ for the nitya-yukta because the nitya-yukta already IS in Brahman — the attainment at death is simply the dropping of the last trace of avidyā (ignorance). For such a practitioner, there is no 'finding' Brahman — there is only the final recognition of what was always present. Easy because always here.
Bhakti lens
For bhakti traditions, V14 is the most beloved verse in Ch.8. The claim 'I am easy to attain for the one who constantly remembers Me' (sulabhaḥ... ananya-cetāḥ satatam... nityaśaḥ) is the bhakta's confidence: constant loving remembrance (nāma-smaraṇa, japa, bhajan) builds the ananya-cetāḥ quality naturally, and then Krishna becomes sulabha — easily accessible, always available, the Beloved who meets every turn of the remembering heart.
Karma-Yoga lens
V14's nitya-yukta (ever-yoked) is the fully realized karma yogi: yoked at all times, in all actions, to the Divine Ground. The karma yogi's V7 practice (fight AND remember) if fully developed produces V14's nitya-yukta quality — the work becomes a continuous field of remembrance rather than an alternation between action and practice.
Modern parallels
V14's sulabha (easy attainment through constant practice) parallels the concept of 'deep familiarity' in contemplative neuroscience: repeated activation of specific neural circuits (through sustained practice) produces increasing facility and decreasing effort for those circuits over time. The 'effortless access' to deep states that long-term meditators report corresponds to V14's sulabha — not laziness but the maturation of practice.
Practice
V14 end-of-session dedication: close each meditation with: 'May this practice contribute to the ananya-cetāḥ quality — the undivided consciousness that V14 describes. May each repetition of remembrance move me toward the nitya-yukta state where attainment is sulabha — easy and natural.' Then carry one thread of remembrance into the first activity after meditation.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
I am easily attainable by that ever-steadfast Yogi who remembers Me constantly and daily, with a single mind, O son of Pritha. [4]
For those who think of me without other thought, whose minds dwell on me, for such ever-harmonized devotees, I am easy to attain. [5]
For those who incessantly and constantly think of me without any other thought, to that class of devotees who are thus engaged, I am easily obtained, O son of Pritha. [6]
For who, none other Gods regarding, looks Ever to Me, easily am I gained By such a Yogi. [7]
To the devotee who constantly practises abstraction, O son of Pṛtha! and who with a mind not (turned) to anything else, is ever and constantly meditating on me, I am easy of access. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Therefore remember Me at all times and fight — mind and intellect fixed on Me, you will come to Me without doubt.
Offer all actions to Me alone, worship through undivided yoga — the mat-parāḥ hold Me as their supreme goal.
For those who worship Me with undivided thought, always steadfast — I carry what they lack and guard what they have.
Your own mind is your best friend when mastered; your worst enemy when not.
Satisfied by knowledge and realisation, senses mastered, gold and mud equally seen — this is the true steadfast yogi.
The yogi practises constantly in solitude — alone, mind and body subdued, free from craving and possessiveness.