Bhagavat gita adetailed study-chapter 9 -Brahmavidya the royal secret

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There may arise a doubt regarding this sloka where the Lord says, yogakshemam vahaamyaham. We often see that the devotees of the Lord are not very prosperous in the world and how could yoga , attaining and kshema, preservation holds good in the case of one who has no possessions? Here the word yoga should be understood as attaining the Lord and kshema is the preservation of the means of attaining Him. The real devotee does not know anything else except the love for the Lord. Hence like the mother who takes care of her child by giving him what he needs and removing what is not good for him, the Lord gives the devotee what all that are necessary for his attaining the goal and takes away from him which is not conducive for that. He looks after the devotee by securing his basic needs like food etc. which help him to carry on in his spiritual journey and protects him from that which may obstruct his path . This is the yogakshema mentioned in the sloka.

23. ye api anya dhevathaa bhakthaah yajanthe

SraddhayaanvithaaH

The api maameva kountheya yajanthi aviDhipoorvakam

Even the devotees of other deities who worship them with sacrifices etc. with faith , only worship Me in reality but not in the proper way

24. aham hi sarvayajnaanaam bhokthaa cha prabhureva cha

na thu maam abhijaananthi thathvena athaH chyavanthi the

I am the Lord of all sacrifices and the enjoyer. But they do not know this and they slip from the final stage.

Even those who worship other deities, which includes those who do sacrifices to please Indra etc., actually worship only the Supreme Self, because He is the power behind them. So, provided they worship their ishtsdevatha with faith, through them the Lord gives results. Krishna says that He is the sacrifice, sacrificed and the sacrificer, without knowing which, the people who worship others fall back into samsara.

Those who worship other deities desiring for particular results will get only those result provided their faith is true. Even though the Lord only gives those results they will not get the final result of moksha which His devotees get and hence Krishna says that they swerve from the final goal.

25. yaanthi dhevavrathaa dhevaan pithRn yaanthi

pithrvrathaaH

bhoothaani yaanthi bhoothejyaa yaanthi madhyaajinopi

 

maam

Those worship devas will go to the worlds ordained by such ritualistic worship and get the results which are in the power of such deities to give. The worshippers of Pthrs reach the pthrs and the worshippers of demonic forces go to them. Those who worship me come to Me.

The overall meaning of this sloka is that those who worship the devas attain the realm of experience like that of the devas. That is they go to heaven. When their merit is exhausted they return to earth. Those who do the sraddha and other rituals pertaining to the pithrs go to prithrloka and they also return after their stay there . Those who worship the evil forces also go to their region and come back to reap the fruit of their acts. Only those who worship the Lord attains moksha and do not return to earth.

But this sloka along with the one before the previous, that is the 23rd, should be examined in the light of the 22nd, ananyaaschinthayantho maam , because of the word SraddhayaanvithaaH, with full faith.

It is explained in the sloka 22nd that whatever one contemplates with involvement and dedication will provide results. The word deva refers to the power behind the indhriyas. Sun is the devata of eyes, Indra of hands etc. Hence the devas worshipped for the sake of sense satisfaction provide that only. The sacrifice performed for wealth or power or even for attaining heaven which is only a realm of sensual experience ensures whatever one wishes for. This is the meaning of dhevaan dhevavrathaan yaanthi. Alternatively it may mean that if one tries for sensual pursuits like acquiring wealth, and other possessions diligently, working for it with full faith and involvement with dedication will get it.

The pithrs signify the culture and tradition and those who worship the pithrs are those who do the Sraaddhas and other ritualistic ceremonies according to their varna and asrama. They will reach the realm of pithrs and will be born as custodians of culture and tradition..

The bhoothas represent the elements and may refer to the secular sciences and pursuits like engineering or agriculture. Even these disciplines followed faithfully fetch results. If bhoothas are understood as evil spirits the followers will get results no doubt but will also be doomed for an eternity of damnation until they reform themselves. Krishna says in a later chapter that he pushes them into aasuric wombs, kshipaami ajasram aSubhaan aaasyureeshvevayonishu.(BG.16.19)

This also affirms what is said in the previous sloka , aham hi sarva yajnaanaam bhokthaa cha prabhurevacha, because it is only the Lord who gives the result to all according to their actions. Without knowing this they resort to other means that will provide only temporary result causing their return into samsara.