The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ chapter nine
is important. Those who are truly devoted to Krishna live in
him, and he abides in them. With some daring, probably at the
risk of discomfort to the more orthodox, Krishna adds that
even a sinner who takes wholehearted refuge in him becomes
good. The word used is sadhu, which literally means a good
person but has come to signify one who leads the spiritual
life, giving up all selfish desires to achieve the final goal. The
word for sinner, sudurachara, should not be passed by either.
Su is literally “good”; dur is “bad”: thus “one whose conduct
is really bad,” as we might say “good and hot” to mean really
hot.
Krishna promises that his devotees must attain peace at
last. No one who has genuine love and devotion can perish.
The meaning here is taken to be “perish” in a spiritual sense,
come to spiritual harm. The message of this chapter is simple.
It contains no philosophy and only a little theology. The one
message is: anyone who has real love, love for the Lord of Love
who is in all creatures, will in the end attain the goal. This is
the royal secret that Krishna had promised to reveal.
– d.m.
╭ 172