Kṛṣṇa

Neither yoga, nor Sāṅkhya, nor religious duty, nor Vedic study, nor austerity, nor renunciation wins Me over, O Uddhava, as strongly as devotion to Me does.

Even My devotee who has not conquered his senses, though harassed by sense objects, is generally not overcome by them, because of the strength of his devotion.

The mind of one who dwells on sense objects becomes entangled in those objects; the mind of one who constantly remembers Me becomes absorbed in Me alone.

Non-violence, truthfulness, not stealing, non-attachment, modesty, non-hoarding, faith (in the transcendent), celibacy, silence, steadiness, forbearance, and fearlessness —

Tranquility is the fixing of the intellect on Me; self-control is restraint of the senses; tolerance is the patient endurance of suffering; and fortitude is mastery over the tongue and the genitals.

One in whom faith in the narrations about Me has arisen, who is disgusted with all fruitive activities, who knows that sense pleasures are by nature sources of suffering, yet is still unable to give them up —

The possessionless great souls — peaceful, with minds lovingly fixed on Me, affectionate to all living beings, their intelligence untouched by desires — relish the happiness of desirelessness connected with Me, which others do not know.

I, the Self dear to the saintly, am to be attained only through devotion with faith. Devotion fixed on Me purifies even dog-eaters of the taint of (their low) birth.

One joined to Me in devotion — whose voice falters, whose heart melts, who weeps again and again, sometimes laughs, and, casting off shyness, sings aloud and dances — purifies the whole world.

In proportion as the soul is cleansed by hearing and reciting the sacred narrations about Me, it comes to perceive subtle reality — just as the eye, when treated with (healing) salve, (sees fine things).

Faith in the nectarean narrations about Me, constant chanting of My glories, firm dedication to My worship, and praising Me with hymns of praise;

Reverence in rendering service, offering obeisance with all the limbs (full prostration), worship of My devotees above (all else), and regarding Me as present in all living beings;

This much is the fulfillment of birth for the embodied here: the constant practice of welfare toward one's fellow embodied beings with one's life-breath, wealth, intelligence and words.

O Uddhava, just as a blazing fire reduces firewood to ashes, so devotion directed to Me burns up all sins completely.

Religious duty endowed with truthfulness and compassion, or learning accompanied by austerity, does not fully purify a person who is devoid of devotion to Me.

Just as gold, smelted by fire, gives up its impurity and regains its own form, so the soul, shaking off the residue of its past deeds through the yoga of devotion to Me, then attains Me.

One should go on performing prescribed duties only for as long as one has not become detached, or for as long as faith in hearing (and reciting) narrations about Me has not arisen.

I constantly follow the sage who is free from expectation, peaceful, without enmity, and even-visioned, thinking, 'May I be purified by the dust of his feet.'

How can the heart be purified without devotion — without the hair standing on end, without a melting mind, without a trickle of tears of bliss?

Therefore, for the yogī united with devotion to Me, whose heart is absorbed in Me, neither (the separate cultivation of) knowledge nor renunciation is generally beneficial in this world.