Bhagavad Gita 9.23
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 23 of 34
येऽप्यन्यदेवताभक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयान्विताः | तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम् ||२३||
ye'py anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ | te'pi mām eva kaunteya yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam || 23 ||
Even devotees of other gods who worship with faith — they too worship Me, though not by the ordained method, O Arjuna.
Word by word (3)
- ye api anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ yajante śraddhayā anvitāḥ
- — Even those who are devotees of other deities and worship them with faith · ye api = even those who (ye = who, relative; api = even, also — the api is emphatic: 'even them, even those you would not expect'). anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ = devotees of other deities (anya = other; devatā = deity, divine being; bhakta = devotee — from √bhaj = to share, to devote; anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ = 'devotees of other-deities,' those whose devotion is directed toward deities other than the Supreme addressed here). yajante = they sacrifice, they worship (√yaj = to worship, to sacrifice; third person plural — 'they perform worship'). śraddhayā = with faith (śraddhā = faith, confidence, trust — from śrat = truth + √dhā = to hold; śraddhā = 'holding to truth/reality'; one of the Gita's most important terms for the quality of genuine spiritual orientation; yajante śraddhayā anvitāḥ = 'they worship with faith'). anvitāḥ = endowed with, accompanied by (anu + √i = to follow after; anvita = 'accompanied by, endowed with' — śraddhayā anvitāḥ = 'accompanied by/endowed with faith'). V23's opening clause: those who worship other deities with genuine faith — ye'pi anya-devatā-bhaktāḥ yajante śraddhayā anvitāḥ. The API (even) is theologically significant: V23 is inclusively claiming that EVEN these (not just the V13 mahātmās or V22 ananya-bhaktas) are, in their worship, touching the divine.
- te api mām eva kaunteya yajanti avidhi-pūrvakam
- — They also worship Me, O Kaunteya — though not by the ordained/correct method · te api = they also (same api emphasis: 'they too'). mām eva = Me alone, Me indeed (māṃ = Me; eva = alone, indeed, indeed — emphatic; mām eva = 'Me, indeed'; the claim is that the worship reaches the divine whether or not the worshipper knows it). kaunteya = O son of Kuntī (kaunteya = son of Kuntī = Arjuna; the vocative situates this teaching personally for Arjuna who is observing the battle of diverse traditions). yajanti = they worship (same √yaj — 'they worship, they sacrifice'). avidhi-pūrvakam = not by the ordained method (a = not; vidhi = injunction, ordained method, the prescribed rule/ritual; pūrvakam = preceded by, with, accompanied by; avidhi-pūrvakam = 'not preceded by the ordained method' = 'not according to the prescribed ritual rules'). The critical theological statement: te'pi mām eva yajanti — they ALSO worship ME. The eva (indeed/alone) is emphatic: their worship reaches the divine (mām eva), even though it is avidhi-pūrvakam (not by the correct ordained method/ritual). V23 is the Gita's most explicit statement of religious pluralism: all sincere worship with faith (śraddhayā anvitāḥ) reaches the divine, whether the worshipper knows it or not, and whether they follow the ordained ritual exactly or not. The limitation (avidhi-pūrvakam) does not invalidate the worship — it qualifies its efficiency. V24-V25 will explain the consequences of knowing vs. not knowing: those who know (Me as the enjoyer and Lord of all sacrifices, V24) are not deluded; those who worship other deities (V25) go to those deities — real results, but not the supreme result.
- avidhi-pūrvakam — the significance of this qualification
- — V23's avidhi-pūrvakam (not by the ordained method) is the verse's most philosophically complex term: it qualifies the worship's mode without invalidating its destination (mām eva) · avidhi-pūrvakam (not according to the ordained method) has been interpreted in multiple ways by the major commentators: (1) Shankaracharya: not by the correct knowledge (avidhi = without the jñāna of the divine's true nature — they worship Me, but as a limited deity rather than as the infinite Brahman; their worship reaches Me but without the full knowledge of what/who they are worshipping). (2) Rāmānuja: not by the prescribed Vedic ritual method — they worship with faith but not with the precise sāstra-prescribed ritual procedures. The worship is sincere but lacks the formal correctness. (3) Modern/contextual: avidhi-pūrvakam means 'without the full understanding of the divine's cosmic identity' as revealed in V16-V22 — they worship without knowing that the divine IS the sacrifice (V16), the cosmic Father-Mother-OM (V17), the Goal-Witness-Seed (V18), the Totality (V19), the divine Carrier (V22). This third reading is most consistent with Ch.9's teaching arc. The practical implication: V23 does NOT say 'other forms of worship are wrong or reach only lower destinations.' It says they reach the divine (mām eva) but without the full recognition that the divine IS all of what V16-V22 revealed. V25 will show: the direction of the devotion determines the destination (deva-worshippers go to the gods; V22's ananyāḥ come to the divine itself). The efficiency differs, not the validity.
Even those who are devoted to other gods and worship them with faith — they too worship Me, O son of Kuntī, though not in the proper way.
A modern analogy
If you call a helpline with genuine need and the right general number — even if you dial a slightly wrong extension — the call still gets routed to help (te'pi mām eva = they reach Me, even from the wrong extension). But if you dial the direct line — the undivided orientation of the previous verse, where the divine carries everything for the devoted, the exact right extension — the connection is immediate and comprehensive. This verse says the divine's reach is broad enough to receive all sincere calls — whatever form of the number is dialed. The verse that follows will say: but the direct line reaches the source directly, for worshippers of the divine come to the divine itself.
What it does NOT mean
This verse's 'they also worship Me' does not mean all religious paths are equally efficient in leading to liberation. The verse that follows on destination makes this clear: the direction of devotion determines the destination. What this verse DOES say: all sincere worship with faith reaches the divine in some form — no sincere worship is wasted or goes to nothing. The efficiency differs; the validity does not. This verse is a statement of divine inclusivity, not spiritual relativism.
Take with you
- This verse is a teaching on inter-religious respect: every sincere worshipper in every religious tradition who worships with faith (śraddhayā anvitāḥ) is, according to this verse, touching the divine — whether they call it God, Allah, Waheguru, the Tao, or any other name. The divine that the previous verse called 'I, Myself (aham)' is the same divine that this verse says ALL sincere worshippers reach. The verse is the Gita's foundation for genuine inter-religious dialogue.
- This verse's avidhi-pūrvakam (not by correct method) applied to one's own practice: if you practice with genuine faith but imperfect technique — imperfect meditation posture, imprecise mantra pronunciation, inconsistent ritual form — the verse says: the worship still reaches the divine. Genuine faith (śraddhā) with imperfect method still reaches mām eva (Me indeed). This is deeply liberating: spiritual practice does not require perfect technique, only genuine orientation.
- This verse is a teaching on spiritual judgment: the tendency to judge other people's spiritual paths as 'wrong' or 'missing the point' is addressed here. The divine says: even those who don't worship Me by name, even those who worship other forms — they too are reaching Me. The one who judges another's sincere worship as invalid is claiming to know more about the divine's reception than the divine has claimed here. The verse practices humility about the divine's reach.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
Even those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith — they also worship Me, O son of Kunti, though not according to the prescribed order. [4]
Even those, O son of Kunti, who, being devotees of other gods, worship them with faith, worship me, though not in the proper manner. [6]
Yea! and those others who adore / The lower gods, they come to Me; / I am, in sooth, the source of all; / And since in Me is all, they come. [7]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
For those who worship Me with undivided thought, always steadfast — I carry what they lack and guard what they have.
Worshippers of gods go to gods; of ancestors, to ancestors; of spirits, to spirits — My worshippers come to Me.
Whatever form a devotee seeks to worship with śraddhā — that very faith I make unwavering.
Rājasic yajña: performed targeting fruit and for ostentation — know this, O best of Bharatas.
Tāmasic yajña: against ordinance, no food-sharing, no mantras, no dakṣiṇā, no śraddhā — declared tāmasic.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Verse 23 of 34 · back to Chapter 9