येऽप्यन्यदेवताभक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयान्विताः | तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम् ||२३||
ye'py anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ | te'pi mām eva kaunteya yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam || 23 ||
Even devotees of other gods who worship with faith — they too worship Me, though not by the ordained method, O Arjuna.
Word by word (3)
- ye api anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ yajante śraddhayā anvitāḥ
- — Even those who are devotees of other deities and worship them with faith · ye api = even those who (ye = who, relative; api = even, also — the api is emphatic: 'even them, even those you would not expect'). anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ = devotees of other deities (anya = other; devatā = deity, divine being; bhakta = devotee — from √bhaj = to share, to devote; anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ = 'devotees of other-deities,' those whose devotion is directed toward deities other than the Supreme addressed here). yajante = they sacrifice, they worship (√yaj = to worship, to sacrifice; third person plural — 'they perform worship'). śraddhayā = with faith (śraddhā = faith, confidence, trust — from śrat = truth + √dhā = to hold; śraddhā = 'holding to truth/reality'; one of the Gita's most important terms for the quality of genuine spiritual orientation; yajante śraddhayā anvitāḥ = 'they worship with faith'). anvitāḥ = endowed with, accompanied by (anu + √i = to follow after; anvita = 'accompanied by, endowed with' — śraddhayā anvitāḥ = 'accompanied by/endowed with faith'). V23's opening clause: those who worship other deities with genuine faith — ye'pi anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ yajante śraddhayā anvitāḥ. The API (even) is theologically significant: V23 is inclusively claiming that EVEN these (not just the V13 mahātmās or V22 ananya-bhaktas) are, in their worship, touching the divine.
- te api mām eva kaunteya yajanti avidhi-pūrvakam
- — They also worship Me, O Kaunteya — though not by the ordained/correct method · te api = they also (same api emphasis: 'they too'). mām eva = Me alone, Me indeed (māṃ = Me; eva = alone, indeed, indeed — emphatic; mām eva = 'Me, indeed'; the claim is that the worship reaches the divine whether or not the worshipper knows it). kaunteya = O son of Kuntī (kaunteya = son of Kuntī = Arjuna; the vocative situates this teaching personally for Arjuna who is observing the battle of diverse traditions). yajanti = they worship (same √yaj — 'they worship, they sacrifice'). avidhi-pūrvakam = not by the ordained method (a = not; vidhi = injunction, ordained method, the prescribed rule/ritual; pūrvakam = preceded by, with, accompanied by; avidhi-pūrvakam = 'not preceded by the ordained method' = 'not according to the prescribed ritual rules'). The critical theological statement: te'pi mām eva yajanti — they ALSO worship ME. The eva (indeed/alone) is emphatic: their worship reaches the divine (mām eva), even though it is avidhi-pūrvakam (not by the correct ordained method/ritual). V23 is the Gita's most explicit statement of religious pluralism: all sincere worship with faith (śraddhayā anvitāḥ) reaches the divine, whether the worshipper knows it or not, and whether they follow the ordained ritual exactly or not. The limitation (avidhi-pūrvakam) does not invalidate the worship — it qualifies its efficiency. V24-V25 will explain the consequences of knowing vs. not knowing: those who know (Me as the enjoyer and Lord of all sacrifices, V24) are not deluded; those who worship other deities (V25) go to those deities — real results, but not the supreme result.
- avidhi-pūrvakam — the significance of this qualification
- — V23's avidhi-pūrvakam (not by the ordained method) is the verse's most philosophically complex term: it qualifies the worship's mode without invalidating its destination (mām eva) · avidhi-pūrvakam (not according to the ordained method) has been interpreted in multiple ways by the major commentators: (1) Shankaracharya: not by the correct knowledge (avidhi = without the jñāna of the divine's true nature — they worship Me, but as a limited deity rather than as the infinite Brahman; their worship reaches Me but without the full knowledge of what/who they are worshipping). (2) Rāmānuja: not by the prescribed Vedic ritual method — they worship with faith but not with the precise sāstra-prescribed ritual procedures. The worship is sincere but lacks the formal correctness. (3) Modern/contextual: avidhi-pūrvakam means 'without the full understanding of the divine's cosmic identity' as revealed in V16-V22 — they worship without knowing that the divine IS the sacrifice (V16), the cosmic Father-Mother-OM (V17), the Goal-Witness-Seed (V18), the Totality (V19), the divine Carrier (V22). This third reading is most consistent with Ch.9's teaching arc. The practical implication: V23 does NOT say 'other forms of worship are wrong or reach only lower destinations.' It says they reach the divine (mām eva) but without the full recognition that the divine IS all of what V16-V22 revealed. V25 will show: the direction of the devotion determines the destination (deva-worshippers go to the gods; V22's ananyāḥ come to the divine itself). The efficiency differs, not the validity.
V23 is the Gita's most explicit statement of religious pluralism: even those who worship other deities (anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ) with genuine faith (śraddhayā anvitāḥ) — te'pi mām eva yajanti — they ALSO worship Me, even if not by the ordained method (avidhi-pūrvakam). All sincere worship with faith reaches the divine. The qualification (avidhi-pūrvakam — not according to correct method) does not invalidate the worship but explains why the results differ from the ananya-bhakta's results (V25).
A modern analogy
If you call a helpline with genuine need and the right general number — even if you dial a slightly wrong extension — the call still gets routed to help (te'pi mām eva = they reach Me, even from the wrong extension). But if you dial the direct line (V22's ananya orientation — the exact right extension), the connection is immediate and comprehensive. V23 says the divine's reach is broad enough to receive all sincere calls — whatever form of the number is dialed. V25 will say: but the direct line reaches the source directly.
What it does NOT mean
V23's 'they also worship Me' does not mean all religious paths are equally efficient in leading to liberation. V25 makes this clear: the direction of devotion determines the destination. What V23 DOES say: all sincere worship with faith reaches the divine in some form — no sincere worship is wasted or goes to nothing. The efficiency differs (V25); the validity does not. V23 is a statement of divine inclusivity, not spiritual relativism.
Take with you
- V23 as a teaching on inter-religious respect: every sincere worshipper in every religious tradition who worships with faith (śraddhayā anvitāḥ) is, according to V23, touching the divine — whether they call it God, Allah, Waheguru, the Tao, or any other name. The divine V22 called 'I, Myself (aham)' is the same divine that V23 says ALL sincere worshippers reach. V23 is the Gita's foundation for genuine inter-religious dialogue.
- V23's avidhi-pūrvakam (not by correct method) applied to one's own practice: if you practice with genuine faith but imperfect technique — imperfect meditation posture, imprecise mantra pronunciation, inconsistent ritual form — V23 says: the worship still reaches the divine. Genuine faith (śraddhā) with imperfect method still reaches mām eva (Me indeed). This is deeply liberating: spiritual practice does not require perfect technique, only genuine orientation.
- V23 as a teaching on spiritual judgment: the tendency to judge other people's spiritual paths as 'wrong' or 'missing the point' is addressed by V23. The divine says: even those who don't worship Me by name, even those who worship other forms — they too are reaching Me. The one who judges another's sincere worship as invalid is claiming to know more about the divine's reception than the divine has claimed here. V23 practices humility about the divine's reach.
V9.23 is the Gita's theological foundation for religious pluralism. It resolves a tension inherent in the chapter's previous teaching: if the divine is 'I am the totality' (V16-V19), and if the ananya-bhakta's worship is the highest (V22), what is the status of those who worship other deities or worship the divine in forms other than the one revealed in Ch.9? V23 answers: te'pi mām eva yajanti — they also worship Me. The divine's reach is not limited to those who explicitly direct their worship to the Gita's supreme (anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ = devotees of other deities are ALSO worshipping the divine). The śraddhayā anvitāḥ (endowed with faith) is the key qualifier: sincere faith makes the worship genuinely reach the divine. The avidhi-pūrvakam (not by the ordained method) creates a tension with the inclusivism: if all sincere worship reaches the divine, why qualify it as 'not ordained'? The resolution: V23 is not about validity (does the worship reach the divine? Yes.) but about efficiency (does the worship lead to liberation? Depends on V25's principle: the direction of devotion determines the destination). The worship of other deities is genuine worship that reaches the divine — but because the devotee's direction is toward those deities (not toward the supreme), the result is the deva-devotee's destination (V25: deva-vratā devān yānti). V23 thus occupies a precise position: more inclusive than V20-V21's Vedic ritualists (who at least worship 'Me' — māṃ iṣṭvā — through the trayī-dharma) and the anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ (who worship other deities), both reach the divine (mām eva). The difference is in the mode (avidhi-pūrvakam) and therefore the destination (V25). The most direct path (V22's ananya orientation) produces the supreme destination (mam upetya, V9.25).
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: mām eva = the one Brahman, the Supreme, is reached by all sincere worship because there is ultimately only one divine (eka brahman). All deities are manifestations of that one Brahman; worship of any deity with genuine faith (śraddhā) reaches Brahman. avidhi-pūrvakam = without the jñāna of Brahman's absolute nature — their worship is real but partial: they are touching Brahman through a particular form-expression without knowing the full formless ground. V22's ananya (without other) is the orientation toward Brahman-as-formless-ground, not just toward a particular divine form.
Bhakti lens
For Rāmānuja: V23's anya-devatā worship is valid but ultimately directed toward manifestations rather than toward Nārāyaṇa/Viṣṇu as the supreme personal Lord. The worship reaches the divine but through intermediary divine forms, not directly toward the supreme Lord. V22's ananya-paryupāsana (undivided worship of the supreme) is the direct path; V23's anya-devatā worship is an indirect approach that reaches the same divine but through the divine's various manifestations. The Vedic tradition's many deities are real expressions of the one Lord — worship of them is not wrong but not the most direct.
Karma-Yoga lens
V23 for karma yoga: the karma yogi who acts without attachment and dedicates all action to the divine (V9.27: yat karoṣi... tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam) is performing V22's ananya worship in action. Those who act with genuine dedication but toward specific limited goals (career advancement, social good, family welfare) are performing V23's anya-devatā worship in the karma yoga sense — their dedicated action IS reaching the divine (mām eva), but avidhi-pūrvakam (not with the full orientation toward the divine ground itself). The karma yogi's reorientation from limited goal to mad-arpaṇam (offering to the divine) is the shift from V23 to V22.
Modern parallels
V23's religious pluralism parallels contemporary inter-faith theology's concept of 'anonymous Christians' (Karl Rahner) or 'pluralism' (John Hick) — the idea that sincere seekers outside one's own tradition are also genuinely reaching the divine. V23 resolves the exclusivism vs. relativism dilemma: it is neither 'only our path is valid' (exclusivism) nor 'all paths are exactly the same' (relativism) but 'all sincere paths reach the divine, with different efficiency and different destinations' — a position equivalent to what inter-faith scholars call 'inclusivism with differentiation.'
Practice
V23 inter-being meditation: sit and bring to mind sincere worshippers from diverse traditions — someone in prayer in a mosque, someone lighting incense at a Buddhist altar, someone singing hymns in a church, someone reciting the Vedas, someone practicing forest bathing as sacred encounter. For each: 'Te'pi mām eva yajanti — they also worship the divine. Śraddhayā anvitāḥ — with genuine faith.' Feel the divine receiving all these streams of sincere worship simultaneously. Rest in the recognition that the divine you are meditating on is the same divine being approached by all of these. Let this expand your sense of the divine's reach — and your own sense of belonging to a vast community of sincere seekers.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
Even those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith — they also worship Me, O son of Kunti, though not according to the prescribed order. [4]
Even those, O son of Kunti, who, being devotees of other gods, worship them with faith, worship me, though not in the proper manner. [6]
Yea! and those others who adore / The lower gods, they come to Me; / I am, in sooth, the source of all; / And since in Me is all, they come. [7]
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.
Worshippers of gods go to gods; of ancestors, to ancestors; of spirits, to spirits — My worshippers come to Me.
Whatever form a devotee seeks to worship with śraddhā — that very faith I make unwavering.
Tāmasic yajña: against ordinance, no food-sharing, no mantras, no dakṣiṇā, no śraddhā — declared tāmasic.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Even if the most sinful worships Me with undivided devotion — he must be deemed righteous, for he has rightly resolved.