Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 12: The Path of Devotion

Bhagavad Gita 12.7

teṣāmahaṃ samuddhartā mṛtyusaṃsārasāgarāt | bhavāmi nacirātpārtha mayyāveśitacetasām ||

for those whose minds are set on me, Arjuna, I soon become the one who lifts them out of the ocean of death and rebirth.

Modern context

For those who love him, Krishna says, he becomes the one who lifts them out of the ocean of death and rebirth, and soon. The image is of a rescuer pulling someone from deep water. The devotee does not have to swim the whole ocean alone. Effort is still needed, but at the decisive moment a hand reaches down. Many people describe their own experience of grace in exactly these terms.