Verse 48

⁴²For the beggar the duty is calm and doing no harm; for the forest dweller, austerity and looking into things; for the householder, the guarding of beings and sacrifice; for the twice-born student, the serving of his teacher. ⁴³Chastity, austerity, cleanness, contentment, friendship with beings; and for the householder besides, going to his wife in her season; and for all of them, the worshipping of me. ⁴⁴One who worships me in this way by his own duty, always, giving himself to no one else, holding me present in all beings, comes to a devotion to me that is firm. ⁴⁵By that devotion which does not fall away, Uddhava, he comes to me: the great Lord of all the worlds, the arising and the passing of everything, Brahman, the cause.

⁴⁶So, with his clarity washed clean by his own duty, having come to know where I am, filled with knowledge and with full knowing, he comes to me before long. ⁴⁷This is the dharma of those who keep to class and stage, marked out by their conduct. That same dharma, joined to devotion to me, is the highest, and it makes for the highest good. ⁴⁸This has been told you, good one, the thing you were asking me: how one devoted to me, joined to his own duty, comes to me, the highest.