Sanskrit
अपि चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते मामनन्यभाक् । साधुरेव स मन्तव्यः सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि सः ॥
api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananyabhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ
Translation
Even if the most sinful worship Me, with undivided heart, he too must be accounted righteous, for he hath rightly resolved;
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
One of the Gita’s more startling claims taken at face value: even someone of thoroughly bad conduct (su-durācāraḥ) counts as sādhu, righteous, if the devotion is undivided (ananya-bhāk), because what’s being evaluated is the resolve (samyag vyavasitaḥ), not the track record. This isn’t moral relativism so much as a claim about trajectory — the verse that follows makes clear the reform is expected to be rapid and real, not a permanent exemption granted for sincerity alone.