Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 10
मयि चानन्ययोगेन भक्तिरव्यभिचारिणी।विविक्तदेशसेवित्वमरतिर्जनसंसदि।।
mayi cānanya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī
vivikta-deśa-sevitvam aratir jana-sansadi
also searched as "mayi chananya yogena bhaktir avyabhicharini"
Translation
Constantly devote yourself to Me alone, resort to solitary places, and dislike crowds.
Vāṇi's rendering
Unswerving love for me, whole and undivided; a taste for quiet places, no hunger for the crowd.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| मयिmayi | in me, toward me |
| चca | and (joined in sandhi as cānanya) |
| अनन्ययोगेनananya-yogena | by a union that turns to no other |
| भक्तिःbhaktir | love, devotion (bhaktiḥ before the following vowel) |
| अव्यभिचारिणीavyabhicāriṇī | never straying, never wandering off |
| विविक्तदेशसेवित्वम्vivikta-deśa-sevitvam | keeping to quiet, uncrowded places |
| अरतिःaratir | no relish, no appetite for (aratiḥ before the following consonant) |
| जनसंसदिjana-sansadi | in the gathering of people, in the crowd |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 10 mean?
It names two more marks of the knowing life: love for Krishna that never divides itself among other objects, and a settled taste for quiet over company. The first is inward, the second is where you put your body. Krishna treats them as one condition, because an undivided heart naturally stops shopping for audiences.
Does mayi chananya yogena bhaktir avyabhicharini mean I should avoid people?
It means you stop needing them to confirm you. Aratiḥ is not contempt for the crowd; it is the absence of appetite for it. You may work among thousands and still carry this. What ends is the pull to be seen, the small hunger that sends you into rooms for the wrong reason.
Why is devotion listed as knowledge here?
Because Krishna is describing what a clear mind actually looks like, not what it believes. Ananya-yoga — union that turns nowhere else — is the steadiness knowledge needs. A heart pulled ten ways cannot see one thing whole. Love does the gathering; knowing follows the gathered attention wherever it rests.
How do I practise the taste for solitude in an ordinary busy life?
Begin with small unwitnessed time. Eat one meal without your phone. Walk without telling anyone you walked. Solitude here is not a location you must move to but a habit of not performing. When silence stops feeling like punishment, vivikta-deśa has already found you where you live.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is listing what knowledge looks like from outside, and two of the items are about where you stand. Not doctrine — location. A love that does not divide itself, and a body that seeks quiet. Arjuna is a man of the assembly, praised in courts, measured by crowds; he is being told that the crowd will not give him what he came for. This is not misanthropy. It is a plain observation that noise is easy to hide in, and that a mind wanting to be seen cannot also be still. Notice which rooms you enter to be watched. Go somewhere no one is counting.