📿 Shloka Collection

Anapekshah Shuchir Dakshah

Gita 12.16 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12 — Bhakti Yoga
अनपेक्षः शुचिर्दक्षः उदासीनो गतव्यथः ।
सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी यो मद्भक्तः स मे प्रियः ॥
Anapekshah shuchir dakshah udasino gatavyathah
Sarvarambhaparityagi yo madbhaktah sa me priyah
अनपेक्षः
expecting nothing from anyone
शुचिः
pure, clean in mind and speech
दक्षः
skillful, capable
उदासीनः
impartial, neutral
गतव्यथः
free from worry, whose anxiety has departed
सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी
one who renounces all selfish undertakings
यः
who
मद्भक्तः
My devotee
सः
that person
मे प्रियः
is dear to Me

Five qualities line up here like beads on a thread. Anapeksha — expecting nothing from anyone. Shuchi — purity of mind and speech. Daksha — skillful and capable in whatever needs doing. Udasina — impartial, leaning toward no faction. Gatavyatha — the inner worry has simply left.

And then one more: sarvarambha-parityagi — renouncing all selfish undertakings. Not launching new ventures fueled by personal ambition. Not chasing the next project, the next accomplishment. Like an elder who has reached that stage of life where the restless drive to acquire and achieve has quieted down — no new ambitions pulling them in ten directions, just a settled presence doing what is needed. That devotee, Krishna says, is dear to Me.

This is the fourth shloka in the devotee-qualities section. By 12.16, a comprehensive portrait has emerged: free from hatred (12.13), content and firm (12.14), fearless and non-threatening (12.15), and now — expecting nothing, pure, skillful, and free from restless ambition.

The term 'sarvarambhaparityagi' has been understood in traditional commentaries as freedom from attachment to new undertakings driven by personal desire — not a rejection of action itself, but of self-serving initiative.

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