This summary is about verses 9.13, 9.14, 9.15 and 9.22 of the ninth chapter of the Gita. On The Path of Devotion it comes after What We Worship, We Become. There it was about those who ask the Lord for fruit and come back after receiving it (Gita 9.21). Here it is about those who ask for nothing and only stay joined.
The answer in one line
Great souls give their whole mind to the Lord and keep on making effort. In return the Lord takes up the load of their life that is not in their hands. There are two loads: the fulfilment of what is lacking, which is called yoga, and the keeping of what one has, which is called kshema (Gita 9.22). Devotion here is not a one-way giving. Something moves from both sides.
What problem this answers
Who carries the load of life for devotees who do not let the mind go to anything else? What does the devotee do for the Lord, and what does the Lord do for the devotee?
The setting
Verse 9.12 speaks of those who take shelter in the deluding demonic nature. Their hope, their actions and their knowledge are all in vain (Gita 9.12). Verse 9.13 begins with "but", and now the people on the other side are described.
After these verses the Lord describes His all-pervading form (Gita 9.16–19). That is not the subject here.
The verses in order
Verse 9.13: who is a great soul
Great souls who take refuge in the divine nature know the Lord as the origin of all beings and as imperishable, and worship Him with an undivided mind (Gita 9.13).
The mark is whose refuge has been taken. It is not dress or position. The marks of the divine nature are in the sixteenth chapter.
Notice the word "knowing". One who knows that all came from one source and that it does not perish has fewer reasons for the mind to wander. The steadiness of devotion is born of knowing.
Verse 9.14: what they do
They praise Him constantly, make effort with firm resolve, bow to Him with devotion, and worship, always joined to Him (Gita 9.14).
There are three works. The work of speech is praise. The work of will is firm effort. And the work of body and heart is bowing. All three together make the whole person.
Beneath them is one condition: always being joined. It is not worship at one hour. It is the nature of the whole day.
And effort is in the very description of the devotee. Devotion is not another name for laziness. It holds action and effort within itself. The direct call comes later, in verse 9.34 (Gita 9.34).
Verse 9.15: others who worship through knowledge
Some worship through the sacrifice of knowledge. In place of offerings, they give their understanding and thought. They see the Lord in three ways: as one and undivided, as a master apart from themselves, or in many forms, as in the universal form with faces on every side (Gita 9.15).
None of the three is called wrong or small. All three are worship, and all go towards Him. Undivided does not mean sticking to one picture. The aim of the mind is one, and the ways of seeing can differ.
Verse 9.22: the Lord's word
The Lord says: for those who worship Me alone, thinking of Me with an undivided mind, who are always joined to Me, I carry their yogakshema (Gita 9.22).
Yoga is getting what one does not yet have. Kshema is the protection of what one has gained. Everyone goes about carrying these two loads: how what is needed will come, and how what I have will not be taken. For the undivided devotee, the Lord carries both loads Himself.
"Carry" is what a person does who takes a load on his head. The load changes hands, but the walking of the road still falls to the walker.
And "always joined" is here too, as in verse 9.14. There it described the devotee's steadiness, and here it is the condition of the Lord's care. The joining is from both sides.
The devotee and the Lord
From the devotee's side is the undivided mind (Gita 9.13), and from the Lord's side that He is the origin of all and imperishable, which this devotee knows.
From the devotee's side are speech, effort and bowing (Gita 9.14), and from the Lord's side being easy to reach for an undivided mind (Gita 8.14).
From the devotee's side all actions are offered to the Lord (Gita 12.6), and from the Lord's side quick rescue of devotees (Gita 12.7).
And from the devotee's side is always being joined, while from the Lord's side is carrying yogakshema (Gita 9.22).
Why the Gita says it this way
Verse 8.14 says the Lord is easy to reach for one who remembers Him constantly with an undivided mind. The fruit of joining is nearness (Gita 8.14).
Verses 10.10 and 10.11 say that to those who worship Him with love the Lord gives the understanding by which they reach Him, and sitting in the heart He removes the darkness of ignorance (Gita 10.10–11). Understanding is one form of "what is lacking".
In verse 2.45 Arjuna was told to be free of care for gaining and keeping, that is, yogakshema (Gita 2.45). This is complete only when someone tells who will carry that care. Verse 9.22 says it.
Verse 18.66 says to give up all supports and take refuge in one, be freed from all sins, and not grieve (Gita 18.66). The fruit of refuge is the lifting of the load.
And in verses 12.6 and 12.7 the devotee's share is offering action and the Lord's share is rescue (Gita 12.6–7). The same division stands here.
"Always joined" in an ordinary day
It does not mean leaving the day and sitting down. Verse 8.14 has remembrance "constant and daily", that is, in the middle of everyday life (Gita 8.14). Verse 6.17 says yoga is for one whose eating, moving, effort at work, and sleeping and waking are restrained (Gita 6.17).
Rest comes into the joining too. Care for hunger, sleep and rest is part of it. There are three places: speech in the morning, effort through the day, bowing at night. In between come work, food and sleep, and the direction of the mind does not change.
Four common misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is that then there is no need to work. That is not so. The devotee makes effort with firm resolve (Gita 9.14), and the right to action stays with him (Gita 2.47). The Lord carries the load that action does not make certain.
The second is that the Lord will give whatever is asked. That is not so. The verse says "what is lacking" and "what one has". It is not a list of wishes. Those who ask for enjoyments both receive and return (Gita 9.21). This promise is for those who go not with asking but with joining.
The third is that undivided means rejecting every other form. That is not so. Worship of many forms is also His (Gita 9.15). Undivided means one goal.
The fourth is that great souls are someone else, not for me. That is not so. The mark is refuge and an undivided mind. Even one of very bad conduct who worships with undivided devotion is counted as good (Gita 9.30–31).
Worry, fear, loneliness
Worry has two loads: how what is needed will come, and how what I have will be kept. The Lord carries both (Gita 9.22). The work of worry changes. In place of calculating all night, there is effort by day and handing over in the evening.
On fear, the list of the divine nature begins with fearlessness (Gita 16.1), and those who offer their actions are quickly rescued (Gita 12.6–7). The first answer is that one's own strength is not one's only support.
On loneliness, for one who sees the Lord everywhere, He is never out of sight (Gita 6.30). The joining is from both sides. Even when no one is near, someone is.
One finer point. There is no guarantee that the outer result will change. What changes is that the load that was not in your hands is put down.
A frame for practice
In the morning, praise the Lord in one sentence, which is the work of speech. Today finish one small task with firm resolve, which is effort. And at night, bowing your head, name the one worry of the day that is not in your hands and hand it over. That is bowing.
Questions people ask
Why is "always joined" in both verses? Because the joining is from both sides. Verse 9.14 describes the devotee's steadiness, and verse 9.22 is the condition of the Lord's care for those same devotees.
Can one be undivided in devotion to a form one prefers? Yes. Undivided means one goal. It does not need one form (Gita 9.15).
If the Lord carries the load, is a savings plan useless? No. The right to action stays with the devotee (Gita 2.47), and effort is part of devotion (Gita 9.14). The Lord carries what even planning and saving cannot make certain: the outcome and its lasting.
How is this different from asking? One who asks receives the fruit and returns (Gita 9.21). Here the devotee asks for nothing in particular. He joins himself, and the Lord takes the load. On one side is fruit, on the other care.
Who is a great soul, and can I be one? One who has taken refuge in the divine nature and whose mind is undivided (Gita 9.13). The mark is action and the direction of the mind, not birth or dress. The door is open to all (Gita 9.30–31).
If you have to explain it in thirty seconds
Who carries the load of life for a devotee who does not let the mind go elsewhere? Great souls, in the shelter of the divine nature, worship with an undivided mind, knowing the Lord as the origin of all and imperishable (Gita 9.13). They stay joined with praise, firm effort and bowing (Gita 9.14). The ways of seeing can be one, separate or many (Gita 9.15). In return the Lord carries their yogakshema: supplying what is lacking and keeping what they have (Gita 9.22). The load changes hands, but the walking of the road still falls to the devotee. So effort stays, and what is not in one's hands is in His.
Related hubs: The Path of Devotion (path) · What We Worship, We Become (before) · The Final Counsel: Surrender, Think, Choose · The Illusory Energy and Surrender