Gita 12.08 Bhakti changes not our outer location but the locus of our inner world

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thank you 12.8 mayy evamana adhatsva mayy buddhim niveshaya nivasishyasi mayy eva ataurdham na samshayaham mayy evamana adhatsva Krishna is speaking here from 12.8 he is starting a different section 12.1 to 7 answered Arjuna's question about Arjuna's question in 12.1 worship of personal absolute worship of impersonal which is better and Krishna answers categorically that worshipping the personal manifestation is better and from here onwards Krishna talks 12.8 Krishna talks about various levels at which the process of bhakti can be practiced so here he states mayy evamana adhatsva that fixing your consciousness on me Arjuna mayy eva certainly unto me mana adhatsva fixing your consciousness on me mayy buddhim niveshaya that fixing your mind on me getting your intelligence to to be applied in me to be absorbed in me niveshya simayeva that in this way you will reside in me ataurdham na samshayaham of this there is no doubt now the whole process of bhakti is meant to help us to ultimately attain Krishna and here it is being stated that not only will you attain Krishna in future but you will dwell in me it means by this you are already dwelling in me we could say almost it's like the future this will happen in the future but that dwelling in Krishna is is not just a matter of location it is a matter of of inclination it is a matter of disposition and yes Krishna exists in the spiritual world the spiritual energy is superior to the material energy the material energy is the source of illusion and entanglement the spiritual energy is the source of elevation and liberation but either way the important thing is that it is that we can reside in Krishna not just by becoming ultimately liberated but we can reside in Krishna even now by striving to be devoted to Him to the extent we strive to be devoted to Him to that extent because we reside over there for example sometimes we ask if we are speaking to someone and when that person seems to be lost somewhere where are you? we may ask where are you? means actually that person is sitting right in front of us but we implicitly understand that we are where our mind is we are where our thoughts are so where are you? that means that where is your consciousness? where are your thoughts? it implies that although physically you are here you are actually not here in terms of your consciousness in terms of your attention you are not here you are somewhere else and you need to come back here there is an idiomatic way of saying earth to so and so so earth to so and so means so for example earth to Paul earth to Rahul earth to so and so whatever that means come back to earth where are you lost in your own thoughts? which planet have you gone to? where have you gone? come back to earth so come back to earth means come back to external awareness come back to awareness of the reality of our physical situation so this sort of usages indicate that we reside not just where are we reside not just where our thoughts are we reside not just where our bodies are but we reside where our thoughts are and bhakti is the process by which we arrange our thoughts to reside in Krishna and if our thoughts reside in Krishna then over a period of time we too will reside in Krishna and thus our whole being will become spiritualized our whole being will reside in Krishna if we just ensure that our thoughts reside in him and it is that which is stressed in this verse just ensure that your thoughts reside in him Krishna from 12.8 to 12 will talk about different levels at which we can practice bhakti and in this verse he talks about the highest level that highest level involves acknowledging that there is much that needs to be done for us at the internal level bhakti is primarily a process of internal redirection without that internal redirection just external adjustment does not lead to much change in one's life so we need to complement the external direction external actions are definitely important in bhakti doing activities which are directly connected with Krishna is very positive but the purpose of redirecting ourselves from the external towards the internal the purpose of doing those external activities is to redirect our internal from the world to Krishna and our inner world is primarily directed by our mind and our intelligence we could broadly say that the mind relates with our emotional faculty the intelligence relates with our rational faculty and what we are doing in the process of bhakti is that we are actually taking ourselves closer to Krishna through the sincere process of devotion through the inner redirection of our mind and intelligence so both our emotional and rational faculties we are directing towards Krishna in this way our thought world is relocated within the perimeter within the circumference within the within the jurisdiction of Krishna and by this you will reside in me henceforth so hereafter henceforth that means it is not just that in future one will reside in Krishna actually once one starts it's not that just after one gets liberated one will reside in Krishna rather that if one can start doing this if one can start practicing the process of bhakti then even now even in the present one will be able to reside in Krishna and thus one will be able to attain Krishna so bhakti is about changing the location of our changing the changing the location not of our body so much but changing the location of our consciousness ensuring that our consciousness is focused on Krishna is fixed in Krishna is absorbed in Krishna when we ensure that our consciousness is absorbed in Krishna then by that absorption of our consciousness in him we naturally attain him we in fact right now itself live in him so this is what happens for Arjuna that externally his location in terms of fighting doesn't change his location in the social map as a warrior remains the same his location on the battlefield also remains the same he still fights the same way where he had positioned himself to fight on the side of the Pandavas but while fighting he fights with the divine consciousness and that makes the whole difference so Krishna says that that this is the highest level of bhakti where our mind and intelligence are absorbed in him and by such absorption in him we are already situated in him.