Sanskrit
ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम् । मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः ॥
ye yathā māṃ prapadyante tāṃs tathaiva bhajāmy aham mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
Translation
However men approach Me, even so do I welcome them, for the path men take from every side is Mine, O Pârtha.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A famous verse of religious pluralism, often read as the justification for the diversity of paths catalogued later in verses 25-30: however anyone approaches Krishna, he meets them the same way, because every human path ultimately runs to him. It functions as a hinge, closing the personal claims of verses 5-10 and opening onto the more structural discussion of action and its motives that begins in verse 12. The verb bhajāmi — “I share in, I reciprocate” — makes the meeting mutual and proportioned to the approach, not a flat leveling of all paths. It is the widest statement of the bhakti relationship: the response matches the reaching.
Study deeper
Word by word
- ye yathā māṃ prapadyanteये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते
- in whatever way people approach me (ye + yathā + mām + prapadyante)
- tāṃs tathaiva bhajāmy ahamतांस् तथैव भजांय् अहं
- them, in that same way, I favour (tān + tathā + eva + bhajāmi + aham)
- mama vartmānuvartanteमम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते
- they follow my path (mama + vartma-anuvartante)
- manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥमनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः
- men, O Pārtha, in every way (manuṣyāḥ + pārtha + sarvaśaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The reasoning here isn’t relativism — Krishna doesn’t say all paths are equally true. He says all paths are already his, and welcome follows from that ownership, not from indifference to which path someone takes. That’s a meaningfully different foundation for tolerance than “it doesn’t matter which way you go” — it’s closer to “wherever you’re headed, you’re headed toward me.”
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- You can hold your own convictions firmly while still genuinely welcoming people who reach the same goal by a different route — real inclusion doesn't require pretending every approach is identical, only recognizing they converge on the same destination.
Professional
- When your team standardizes on one approach, you can still welcome contributors who arrive through a different method or background, as long as you can see how their route actually converges on the same outcome you're aiming for.
Family & Social
- You can respect a family member's very different way of showing care or faith without declaring every way equally correct — it's enough to recognize you're both aimed at the same underlying place.
Ask yourself
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