Gita : Ch-9. Slo-14.

Srimad Bhagavad-Gita :


Chapter-9. ( Raja-vidya-raja-guhya-yogam)


Slokam-14.  ( Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion. )


satatam    kirtayanto    mam   yatantasca    drdha-vratah,


namasyantasca    mam    bhaktya   nitya-yukta   upasate.


satatam   mam   kirtayantah   =   always   chanting   My   mahima;

drdha-vratah   yatantah   ca   =   work  hard  with  determination  and   firm full  involvement;

mam    namasyantah   ca   =   praying   with   namaskaram;

 nitya-yuktah  =  without  any  disturbance  to  regular   practice ( prayer );

 bhaktya    upasate  =  worship  with  devotion.



The mahatmanas or great souls being overwhelmed with intense love for the Supreme Lord find it impossible to support their existence for even an infinitesimal part of a moment without always being engaged in chanting Lord Krishna's holy names, singing His glories, enlightening one another about His lilas or divine pastimes, offering obeisance and salutation to Him with worship and propitiation and the offering of their very selves with loving devotion.

With tremulous voices convulsed with holy joy they with yearning tones they incessantly call out His holy names such as Krishna, Rama, Narayana, Hari which connote distinguishable attributes of His Supreme nature.

They constantly remember His lilas with tears in their eyes with their bodies ecstatically quivering in rapture, thrilled by the exciting recollection of such holy revelations.

With equal zeal do still other mahatmanas assiduously perform holy duties of sacred worship of the Supreme Lord Krishna or any of His authorized avatars or incarnations and expansions as revealed Vedic scriptures. with firm determination.

Others engage themselves in the constructions of temples of worship for the Supreme Lord along with laying out of flower and fruit gardens for the His service.
Still others overcome by sacred devotion fully prostrate themselves upon the ground with all eight parts of their body like a fragile reed regardless of dust, dirt or prickling thorns and pebbles in humble obeisance to the Supreme Lord.

The eight parts of the body are the heart, the intellect, the ego, the head, the two hands and two feet prostrating in unison with concerted devotion.

Always striving with prayers of devotion and love for Lord Krishna, focused with the aim to be eternally united with Him, with fervid appeal they beseech Him incessantly again and again that they may attain Him solely as their only goal.



The qualities of the mahatmanas or great souls are perceived in the different ways they offer worship to the Supreme Lord as being stated by Lord Krishna in this slokam and the next.

The word satatam meaning always is noteworthy for it applies to all the activities.

Always praising, glorifying and worshipping the Supreme Lord by devotional hymns and sacred syllables are the ways of some mahatmanas.

Other mahatmanas always perform austere vows for the Supreme Lord's satisfaction, following strict rules of conduct and rigidly controlling their senses.

Still other mahatmanas always give propitiation to the Supreme Lord by bowing down and offering salutations with loving devotion.

While other mahatmanas worship the Supreme Lord by always being alert and conscious of His presence within himself as paramatma the Supreme Soul and within all living entities also.

The words bhaktya meaning with devotion and yatantah meaning fully endeavouring denote the fundamental qualities of the mahatmanas.



Exactly in what manner do the mahatmanas or the great souls worship the Supreme Lord?

The word satatam means always.

Lord Krishna by the use of this word is emphasising that the mahatmanas are incessantly worshipping Him in all ways.

Such devotees of Lord Krishna with choked up voices and tear filled eyes from ecstatic feelings of joy and love due to meditating upon His form and attributes within their hearts.

Because Lord Krishna is extremely dear they always chant His holy names such as Keshava, Madhava, Vasudeva, Mukunda, Hari which are synonymous with Him specifically expressing His attributes and glories.

These attributes and glories are described in Vedic literatures and devotional hymns and the Supreme Lord is worshipped through the chanting and singing of His glories, in propitiation and salutations, by offering humble obeisance's and worship, enlightening one another and enacting His lilas or divine pastimes which are all factually the cause of His grace.



The purpose of life for the mahatmanas is to attain the Supreme Lord as their only goal and they bow down to Him always again and again upon the ground in temples and in courtyards, falling down outstretched like sticks with the eight parts of their body being the head, the two hands, the two feet, their heart, their intellect and their ego.

Such great devotees are of firm resolve and so full of bhakti or loving devotion for Lord Krishna that they are unable to bear even the slightest separation from Him in their minds and action.

It is also not possible for them to tolerate any kind of diversion or deviation in their devotional service to the Supreme Lord, rejecting even relatives and family members if they cause hindrances and disturbances.



To show that there are others who love Him dearly Lord Krishna speaks of those beings of great soul who worship Him with undeviated devotion.



Even though Lord Krishna is the Supreme Lord by His own will He has assumed a form of a human being although possessing a purely spiritual eternal body.

To consider other lesser gods as equal or the same as the Supreme Lord and not separately distinct and dependent upon the Supreme Lord is offensive.

To also consider any incompleteness or impersonal conceptions about Him likewise.

Any differences between the Supreme Lords dharma or principles of eternal righteousness and His descent into a spiritual body is also offensive.

All such unpropitious mentalities and subsequent actions have no value for those who know not the glory of the Supreme Lord Krishna for all they obtain is the worlds of darkness.

Therefore the Bhavishya Purana states that the Supreme Lord should always be considered as pure consciousness in full completeness with the fullness of all attributes.

To be continued ..