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BHAGAVAD GUNA DARPANA
 
Goal (Param Ayanam): all beneficent and free from
imperfection, hence, the Highest. Therefore, the question is:
"What is considered by you as the highest goal desired by a
person out of the very many desires relating to this world or
the next?" Thus is the twofold question about upeya, the
goal.
 
Then about the upiya. The question about the upaya
(means) arises because there are disputes as to whether karma
yoga, jñana yoga or bhakti yoga are alternative means to
adopt or are to be ad pted together or whether one or other
among them is to be treated as the principal and the rest as
subsidiaries. Again, the means are divided into three kinds:
siddha, südhya and salambana.
 
The siddha upaya is one that is already existing, such as
God, who, being worshipped, grants favours. This Deity may
be worshipped in two ways-laghu (easy) or alaghu (difficult).
Therefore the question is put in the said two ways by
this half stanza: Praising or worshipping Whom, men may
attain the good? The question is about the deity worshipped,
i.e., praised and worshipped'. Praising: reciting in praise
the several auspicious qualities of the Deity. Worshipping:
carrying out supreme worship by means of bhakti (devotion)
in the form of meditation.
 
Menany human being merely (without reference to
caste, creed, etc.).
 
The good-This is of two kinds, relating to prosperity in
this world or bliss in the next. (All this relates to the
siddhopaya).
 
Next, the sudhyopāya, i e., the means to be adopted with
the help of speech, mind and body for gaining the grace of
the Deity, such as repeating prayers, meditation, worship with
offerings of flowers, etc. Which of them is the best? This is
the question propounded in the phrase, "Ko dharmaḥ", etc.
 
Best with no equal or a superior. Considered (Matah):
concluded by you after full examination as the ultimate
refuge, like wealth set apart for use in dangerous emergencies
(apat-dhana).
 
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