Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9, Verse 30

अपि चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते मामनन्यभाक् । साधुरेव स मन्तव्यः सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि सः

api cetsudurācāro bhajate māmananyabhāk | sādhureva sa mantavyaḥ samyagvyavasito hi saḥ

Translation

If one of even very evil life worships Me, resorting to none else, he must indeed be deemed righteous, for he is rightly resolved.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

api

if

cet

if

suduracaraḥ

very-evil-acting

bhajate

worships

mām

me

ananyabhāk

not another, worships, thus

sādhuḥ

righteous

eva

even

saḥ

he

mantavyaḥ

to be thought

samyak

well

vyavasitaḥ

resolved

hi

indeed

saḥ

he

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

"He is rightly resolved": he is a man of good resolution. By abandoning evil ways in his external life, and by the power of his internal right resolution, he becomes righteous.