In whatever way, by whatever manner, for whatever purpose, with the longing for whatever fruit, men approach Me, in that very way I favour them, by giving that fruit; for they have no longing for liberation. One person cannot at once be a seeker of liberation and a seeker of a fruit. So those who seek a fruit I favour by giving the fruit; those who act as enjoined yet seek no fruit and seek liberation I favour by giving knowledge; the knowers, the renouncers who seek liberation, I favour by giving liberation; and the afflicted, by removing their affliction. In whatever way they approach Me, in that very way I favour them. I do not favour anyone out of passion, aversion or delusion. In every way, in every state, men follow My path, the path of Me the Lord; the men spoken of here are those who, with the longing for a particular fruit, strive in the action for which they are eligible, O Pārtha. If You, the Lord, since You are free of faults like passion, have an equal wish to favour all beings, and are able to give every fruit, then why do not all, becoming seekers of liberation through the knowledge 'Vāsudeva is all', take refuge in You alone? Hear the reason.

Those who look to taking refuge in Me, in whatever way, conceiving Me in conformity with what they look for, take refuge in Me, to them, in just that way, in the manner of their wish, I show Myself, I make Myself manifest. What need of more on this? All men, having Me alone for the single object of their longing, follow on My path, My own nature, which, though beyond the reach of the speech and mind even of yogins, they experience in every way, by their own instruments, the eye and the rest, in all the ways they look for, and then follow on. Now, having concluded what was incidental, in order to tell the manner in which the discipline of action that is the topic has the form of knowledge, the Lord states the rarity of one qualified for such a discipline of action.

Nor does release come by mere worship of Me in the form of some other deity; even so, I give to all a fruit suited to them, Krishna says, with 'in whatever way'. 'I serve them' by the giving of fruit, not by becoming subordinate to them. How is this distinction made? To that Krishna says 'My path'. Even those who sacrifice to other deities follow My path alone, because I am the doer of all action and its enjoyer. He will say, 'even those devoted to other deities' (9.23). The scripture says, 'He alone who bears the names of the gods' (Rigveda 8.3.17.3), and it is the Lord who is there denoted, by the mark 'on the nave of the unborn the One is set' (Rigveda 8.3.17.6).