Gita chapter 12 in 7 days
Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita, on devotion (bhakti), a few verses a day. Each day gives the Sanskrit and a plain explanation of every verse; each verse's own page also has three public-domain English translations. It is one of the two shortest chapters, with 20 verses, short enough to learn by heart.
For every tradition. Where the classical teachers read a verse differently, each reading is labelled with its school.
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Day 1: Arjuna's question (12.1–12.2)
Some devotees worship Krishna; others worship the Imperishable, the Unmanifest. Arjuna asks which of the two knows yoga better, and Krishna gives his first answer.
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Day 2: The path to the Unmanifest (12.3–12.5)
Krishna speaks of those who worship the Imperishable. They too reach him, he says, but the path to the Unmanifest is harder for beings who live in a body.
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Day 3: Those who give everything to him (12.6–12.8)
Krishna turns back to those who offer all their actions to him. He says he soon lifts them out of the ocean of birth and death, and asks Arjuna to fix his mind on him alone.
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Day 4: A ladder of practice (12.9–12.12)
Krishna tells Arjuna: if the mind will not stay steady, practise; if he cannot practise, work for Krishna's sake; if he cannot do even that, give up the fruit of all actions. Krishna ends with a ladder that the schools read in different ways.
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Day 5: The devotee who is dear to him (12.13–12.14)
From here to the end of the chapter, Krishna describes the devotee who is dear to him. Such a person hates no one, is friendly and kind, and stays the same in pain and pleasure.
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Day 6: Free from fear and craving (12.15–12.17)
The world does not disturb this devotee, and the devotee does not disturb the world. Krishna speaks of one who wants nothing, neither rejoices nor hates, and is full of devotion.
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Day 7: The same to friend and foe (12.18–12.20)
The devotee is the same towards friend and enemy, in honour and dishonour, in praise and blame. In the last verse, Krishna says that those who follow this teaching with faith are exceedingly dear to him.
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Explanation written for this site and checked against the cited edition. Free to quote with credit.