Bhagavad Gita 14.26

māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

 

One who serves me with devotion true,

Amid the modes—steadfast, through and through;

He crosses beyond them and reaches my divine state,

Fit for Brahman—freed from the world’s fatal fate.

 

My dear Lord, many are the ways in which the world can bring the darkness of hopelessness into my heart. Yet the worst darkness—the greatest hopelessness—comes when I feel as if I can’t stop being my own worst enemy. I know what impulses propel me toward self-destruction, yet I can’t fight them off when they cast a spell of temporary insanity on me. Such is the toxic influence of the tamasic mode of nature, the lowest of the three modes of material nature.

O infallible Lord, you remain with me as my best friend, no matter how many times I let myself be pulled away from you by the modes. Guide me to live not in fear of how the modes may pull me, but in confidence that you will pull me back, no matter how far or how fast they drag me away.

O untiring Lord, let me call out to you for help and resolve to catch hold of you again, no matter how many times I slip and fall. Help me to be patient and persistent as you transform my life into a living miracle—a dramatic demonstration of your mercy to empower any soul, however fallen, to first tolerate the modes, then transcend their pull, and finally live safe and secure in the shelter of your remembrance.

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14.26 One who engages in full devotional service, unfailing in all circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.