📿 Shloka Collection

Satatam Kirtayanto Mam

Gita 9.14 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9 — Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga
सततं कीर्तयन्तो मां यतन्तश्च दृढव्रताः ।
नमस्यन्तश्च मां भक्त्या नित्ययुक्ता उपासते ॥
Satatam kirtayanto mam yatantash cha dridha-vratah
Namasyantash cha mam bhaktya nitya-yukta upasate
सततं
always, constantly
कीर्तयन्तः
singing the glories of
मां
me
यतन्तः
striving
दृढव्रताः
with firm resolve
नमस्यन्तः
offering obeisance
भक्त्या
with devotion
नित्ययुक्ताः
always connected, ever-engaged
उपासते
they worship

What do these great souls actually do? Krishna describes three actions: they constantly sing his glories (kirtan), they strive with firm resolve (yatna), and they bow before him with devotion (namaskara). This is their practice — not forced, but natural, like a river that flows without being told.

The words 'satatam' and 'nitya-yuktah' both point to continuity. This devotion is not occasional — not only on festival days or in crisis. It is the steady current beneath daily life.

Three levels of engagement are implied. Kirtan is the voice. Yatna is the effort of body and will. Namaskara is the surrender of the heart. Mind, body, and speech — all three are offered.

Shloka 9.14 describes three practices of the mahatmas — kirtan (speech), yatna (body), namaskara (mind/heart). These represent devotion at every level of a person's being.

The Narada Bhakti Sutra also holds 'satatam kirtan' as the highest mark of bhakti. This Gita shloka is one of the traditional foundations for that view.

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