क्षिप्रं भवति धर्मात्मा शश्वच्छान्तिं निगच्छति।
कौन्तेय प्रतिजानीहि न मे भक्तः प्रणश्यति।।9.31।।
9.31 He soon becomes possessed of a virtuous mind; he attains everlasting peace. Do you proclain boldly, O son of Kunti, that My devotee does not get ruined.
9.31 Soon he becomes righteous and attains to eternal peace; O Arjuna, proclaim thou for certain that My devotee never perishes.
9.31. Quickly he becomes righteous-souled (minded) and attains peace permanently. O son of Kunti ! I swear that my devotee gets never lost.
9.31 क्षिप्रम् soon? भवति (he) becomes? धर्मात्मा righteous? शश्वत् eternal? शान्तिम् peace? निगच्छति attains to? कौन्तेय O son of Kunti? प्रतिजानीहि proclaim for certain? न not? मे My? भक्तः Bhakta? प्रणश्यति perishes.Commentary Listen? this is the truth? O Arjuna you may proclaim that My devotee who has sincere devotion to Me? who has offered his inner soul to Me never perishes.
9.31 Having given up his external evil behaviour due to the strength of his internal proper resolves, ksipram bhavati, he soon becomes; verily dharma-atma, possessed of a virtuous mind; and nigaccahti, he attains; sasvat, everlasting; santim, peace, ietude [Cessation of evil acts.]. O son of Kunti, listen to the supreme Truth: Pratijanihi, do you proclaim boldly, make a firm declaration; that me, My; bhaktah, devotee, who has dedicated his inner being to Me; na, does not; pranasyati, get ruined. Moreover,
9.29-31 Ksipram etc. I swear etc. This result (or subject), has logic [as its strong basis] and now being promised by the Bhagavat, it becomes established most firmly.
9.31 Quickly he becomes righteous, the Gunas of Rajas and Tamas in him being eradicated with their roots, as he has shaken off all evils through the worship of Myself without any ulterior motive but only because of My being dear to him. Quickly he becomes one whose mind is specially attuned to My worship with all the ancillaries and having all the obstacles removed. It is this kind of worship which was alluded to by the term. Dharma at the commencement of this chapter thus: Asraddhadanah purusa dharmasyasya etc., (9.3). Such a person obtains enduring peace, i.e., he attains to an eternal state, free from conduct contrary to the attainment of Myself, and from which there will be no return to Samsara. O Arjuna, you may affirm that one who has begun to worship Me in this way will not perish even though he is tarnished by some misconduct in the past. On account of his devotion to Me, he annihilates the entire host of obstacles. After obtaining eternal state of freedom from obstacles, he ickly obtains perfect Bhakti.
“How can you accept the worship of such a sinful person? How can you eat the food and drink offered by a heart contaminated with lust and anger?” “Very quickly he becomes righteous.” The present is used and not the future to express the fact that having committed sin, by remembering me, he becomes repentant, and very quickly becomes righteous. “O how unfortunate I am! There is no one as low as I, bringing bad name to the devotees.” Repeatedly (sasvat), he feels completely (ni) disgust (santim). Or, the use of the present tense can indicate that in the future he will develop righteousness fully, but even right now it exists in a subtle form. After taking medicine, though the destructive effects of fever or poison remains for some time, that is not considered seriously. Thus, with the entrance of bhakti in his mind, the sinful actions are not taken seriously. And the traces of sin such as lust and anger should be considered insignificant, like the biting of a toothless snake. Thus he attains (nigacchati) complete cessation of lust and anger (santim) permanently (sasvat). In nigacchati, ni stands for nitaram, completely. This means that even during the stage of having tendency to commit sin, he has a pure heart. “If he eventually becomes righteous there would be no argument. However, if a devotee is sinful right up till his death, what is his position?” The Lord, affectionate to his devotees, then speaks loudly with a little anger. “O son of Kunti, My devotee is not destroyed. At the time of death, he does not fall.” “But arguers with harsh tongues will not respect this.” Krishna then encourages the worried, lamenting Arjuna. “O Kaunteya, going to the squabbling assembly with a tumultuous sound of drums throwing your hands in the air, you should fearlessly declare this.” “What?” “Declare that my devotee, the devotee of the Supreme Lord, though committing sin, does not perish, but rather reaches success. Arguments defeated, pride deflated, they should undoubtedly respect you as a guru.” This is Sridhara Svami’s explanation. But why does the Lord order Arjuna to declare this, when could do it himself? As he will say later, mam evaisyasi satyam te pratijane priyo’si me: I declare to you that you will truly come me. You are very dear to me.” (BG 18.65) In the same way, why does he not now say, “I declare, Kaunteya, that my devotee does not perish.”? This is explained here. The Lord considered as follows. Being affectionate to my devotee and not tolerating even a slight degradation of my devotee, I will under all circumstances uphold the declaration made by my devotee, whereas I can break my own promise and accept criticism of myself. Just as, in breaking my own promise in fighting with Bhisma, I fulfilled Bhisma’s promise. Thus, hearing a declaration from my mouth, the materialistic disputers will laugh, but they will accept Arjuna’s declaration as written on stone. Therefore, I will make Arjuna make the declaration. And thus, after hearing about ananya bhakti and the descriptions of the ananya bhakta, one should not accept the statements of the unlearned who think that this declaration does not apply in cases where attachment to others wives and children, sinful acts, lamentation, illusion, lust, anger and other despicable qualities manifest.
One may further ponder how can one of abominable behaviour be considered venerable merely by making the correct resolve? Lord Krishna referring to those who have dedicated themselves to Him addresses this with the words ksipram bhavati dharmatma meaning one swiftly becomes situated in eternal righteousness. Arjuna had some internal agitation by the doubt that intelligent people having discrimination will not accept this statement of the Supreme Lord. To encourage him more Lord Krishna instructs him to go far and wide to whoever opposes this statement and boldly proclaim that Lord Krishnas devotees are never vanquished even if they previously were extremely wicked for after subsequently taking shelter of the Supreme Lord they become blessed. Hence all those who opposed His words with their speculations and blasphemy uprooted by the ferocity of his boldness would undoubtedly surrender to him and accept him as their only spiritual preceptor.
By bhakti or loving devotion rendered exclusively to the Supreme Lord Krishna for His satisfaction alone without any thought of reward one becomes ecstatically transformed by such intense love and by this one is firmly fixed in sattva guna the mode of goodness with all traces of raja guna the mode of passion and tama guna the mode of ignorance rooted out. In this way one is ksiprin or speedily, divested of all sinful reactions and becomes dharmatma or a righteous soul, worthy of praise by all. Such is the position of one who becomes an unadulterated devotee of Lord Krishna worshipping Him exclusively. It is this exclusive devotion that was referred to in verse three of this chapter with the word dharmasyasya or pure eternal righteousness. A person performing bhakti goes to the sublime eternal state of the spiritual worlds from whence there is no return. A state where all energy and effort contrary to attaining the Supreme Lord ceases. Here Lord Krishna gives encouragement to Arjuna to boldly declare His statements with certitude that whoever is an unadulterated devotee of Lord Krishna never perishes or is ever vanquished even if such a one was possessed in the past with a demeaning character degraded by inimical actions. The paramount virtue of bhakti or loving devotion is that it completely destroys anything that is opposed to bhakti and having eradicated all karma or reactions to previous actions one achieves the eternal position of moksa or freedom from the material existence and thus such a devotee becomes irrevocably imbued with deep and lasting love and devotion to the Supreme Lord.
By bhakti or loving devotion rendered exclusively to the Supreme Lord Krishna for His satisfaction alone without any thought of reward one becomes ecstatically transformed by such intense love and by this one is firmly fixed in sattva guna the mode of goodness with all traces of raja guna the mode of passion and tama guna the mode of ignorance rooted out. In this way one is ksiprin or speedily, divested of all sinful reactions and becomes dharmatma or a righteous soul, worthy of praise by all. Such is the position of one who becomes an unadulterated devotee of Lord Krishna worshipping Him exclusively. It is this exclusive devotion that was referred to in verse three of this chapter with the word dharmasyasya or pure eternal righteousness. A person performing bhakti goes to the sublime eternal state of the spiritual worlds from whence there is no return. A state where all energy and effort contrary to attaining the Supreme Lord ceases. Here Lord Krishna gives encouragement to Arjuna to boldly declare His statements with certitude that whoever is an unadulterated devotee of Lord Krishna never perishes or is ever vanquished even if such a one was possessed in the past with a demeaning character degraded by inimical actions. The paramount virtue of bhakti or loving devotion is that it completely destroys anything that is opposed to bhakti and having eradicated all karma or reactions to previous actions one achieves the eternal position of moksa or freedom from the material existence and thus such a devotee becomes irrevocably imbued with deep and lasting love and devotion to the Supreme Lord.
Kshipram bhavati dharmaatmaa shashwacchaantim nigacchati; Kaunteya pratijaaneehi na me bhaktah pranashyati.
kṣhipram—quickly; bhavati—become; dharma-ātmā—virtuous; śhaśhvat-śhāntim—lasting peace; nigachchhati—attain; kaunteya—Arjun, the son of Kunti; pratijānīhi—declare; na—never; me—My; bhaktaḥ—devotee; praṇaśhyati—perishes
