Does Gita 12.8-11 refer to progressive levels or alternative ways?
In question in Bhagavad Gita 12.8-11 Krishna talks about multiple multiple ways of practicing bhakti so first he says always fix the mind on me then he says be absorbed in me then he says try to practice to fix your mind on me, he says work for me but in each level Krishna is also saying that by doing this you will attain perfection are these like progressive steps to perfection or they are alternative ways to perfection my understanding has always been that they are progressive steps because if you see Krishna does say let's look at the first verse he says by this you are already perfected you are already living in me only you are already living in me only it's almost like we are in the spiritual world, we are perfect so that verse is talking about perfection next verse he is saying by this you will get desire for him now desire for me is that the ultimate perfection? not really by desire for Krishna we will become absorbed in Krishna and then we will attain the perfection which is mentioned in the previous verse when can our mind be fixed on Krishna? when we have desire for him naturally our mind gets fixed on that thing so in that sense 12.9 is not talking about independent level of perfection it's talking about desire for Krishna which we could say is the launching pad for perfection of absorption in Krishna then at 12.10 at 12.10 this is one question we could say that by working for me you will attain perfection so it's a little questionable whether this could be called independent way to perfection or alternative way because if you look at the other section in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna does say when will you attain me? and for that he says so in a sense perfection requires that we, our mind be absorbed in Krishna this said when somebody is just doing then they are working for me Krishna is not talking about the mind being absorbed in them then that is really not then we cannot really say that this is, this alone will lead to perfection this will ultimately lead to perfection because this will lead to the other stages so as far as the Acharyas are concerned I have seen they always talk about it as progressive levels Chakravarthipada also talks about it as progressive levels and the verse after that is here Krishna is not saying that you will lead to perfection, he is saying by this you will have Atmavan, you will become conscious of your soul or you will become possessor of your soul which could be one level of perfection but then it is more of not, it is not Bhagvat Real, it is not God Realization or certainly not love of God it is more of Self Realization Atmavan so whether that is the same as the ultimate perfection that is questionable so the verses themselves don't very clearly say that these are alternative ways to perfection although one verse could say that maybe I will say that but the Acharyas are quite clear that these are progressive steps and if you see the word Siddhi it is a little ambiguous because if you say so Krishna is talking as a stage above Siddh the thousands of people among them, some are perfected and among those thousands of who are perfected means perfection is considered to be like a intermediate or preliminary to attainment of Krishna, knowing Krishna or loving Krishna or attaining Krishna, so in that sense Siddhi does not necessarily lead to full perfection Siddhi does not mean full perfection so I will say that these are referring to progressive steps not alternative ways you could say there are alternative ways of approaching Krishna but ultimately one has to climb up and ascend to the level of absorption of thoughts in Krishna, then only one will attain.