Bhagavad Gita · Jnana Vijnana YogaChapter 7, Shloka 21 (7.21)
Original Sanskrit · श्रीभगवान्
यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्तः श्रद्धयाऽर्चितुमिच्छति
तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्धां तामेव विदधाम्यहम्
॥ 7.21 ॥
yo yo yāṃ yāṃ tanuṃ bhaktaḥ śraddhayā'rcitumicchati
tasya tasyācalāṃ śraddhāṃ tāmeva vidadhāmyaham
Translation
"Whatever form any devotee wishes to worship with faith, I make that very faith of theirs unshakeable (steady)."
Interpretation
Shankaracharya. Yaḥ yaḥ kāmī yāṃ yāṃ devatā-tanuṃ śraddhayā saṃyuktaḥ … arcituṃ … icchati, tasya tasya kāminaḥ acalāṃ sthirāṃ śraddhāṃ tām eva vidadhāmi — whatever form of a deity a person with desires wishes to worship, I make that very faith of theirs steady — yayaiva pūrvaṃ pravṛttaḥ svabhāvataḥ — the faith with which, by nature, they had already set out.
Acharya Ramanuja — the deities are the Lord's bodies. Tā api devatāḥ madīyāḥ tanavaḥ — those deities too are my bodies; evidence Brihadaranyaka 3.7.9: ya āditye tiṣṭhan … yasyādityaḥ śarīram — he who dwells in the Aditya (sun), whose body the Aditya is. Therefore ajānan api … tasya tasya ajānataḥ api mat-tanu-viṣayā eṣā śraddhā iti aham eva anusandhāya tām eva acalāṃ nirvighnāṃ vidadhāmi — even if the worshipper does not know it, I, keeping in mind that "this faith is directed to my own body", make it unshakeable and free of obstacles.
The difference: Ramanuja's reading is deeply inclusive — the deities are the Lord's own form/body; worship reaches the Lord even unknowingly.
AI-assisted draft translation — under review.