येऽप्यन्यदेवता भक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयान्विताः । तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम् ॥
ye'pyanyadevat bhaktā yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ | te'pi māmeva kaunteya yajantyavidhipūrvakam ||
Translation
Even those devotees who, endowed with faith, worship other divinities — they too worship Me, O son of Kunti, though not in the prescribed manner.
Interpretation
An inclusive and generous statement: worshipers of other deities, even with genuine faith, ultimately worship the one Divine — though in a manner that is avidhi-purvakam (not quite in accordance with the highest method). This does not condemn them — their worship is genuine and reaches the Divine through those forms. But it lacks the direct, undivided quality of ananya bhakti (exclusive devotion) described in verse 22. The Divine accepts all sincere worship; the question is the completeness of the path and the finality of its destination.