Uddhava felt a shiver of joy. “Then why, O Lord, do You teach other paths at all?”

“The path of karma is like a reliable cart,” the Lord said. “It takes you far, but the journey is slow. Jnana is like a swift horse—it gallops fast toward truth, but it may stumble on the rocky ground of ego. Yoga is like a well-built ship—it can cross the ocean of suffering, but it requires a skilled captain and fair winds.

Krishna laughed, and the sound was like a thousand temple bells. “Because not all can love at first sight. Some need the cart. Some need the horse. Some need the ship. But know this, my faithful Uddhava: When the cart breaks, when the horse tires, when the ship sinks—love remains. Love is the rope that binds the infinite to the infinitesimal. And I willingly tie that knot Myself.”

“That,” Krishna said, “is the secret of Chapter Twelve. The sages who perform great sacrifices and meditate for thousands of years attain only a fraction of what one loving tear from My devotee’s eye can achieve. Why? Because I am captured by love, not by logic .”