Verse 7.22 directly continues the movement of 7.21. In 7.21, Kṛṣṇa said that when a devotee chooses a particular sacred form and worships with śraddhā, Bhagavān strengthens that faith. Now 7.22 tells us what happens next: the strengthened faith leads to worship, and the worship produces the desired result.

Kṛṣṇa begins with sa tayā śraddhayā yuktaḥ — “that devotee, endowed with that faith.” The śraddhā is no longer weak or hesitant. The devotee has confidence in the deity-form, the method of worship, the prescribed discipline, and the possibility of obtaining the desired result.

Then comes tasyārādhanam īhate — the devotee undertakes the worship of that particular form. The desire now becomes organized into religious action. Instead of merely worrying about the desired result, the person performs the prescribed pūjā, vrata, japa, yajña, or other form of ārādhanā.

This is one of the positive features of sakāma-bhakti. Desire, which might otherwise keep a person merely anxious or externally dependent, brings the person toward Bhagavān and creates discipline.

Kṛṣṇa then says, labhate ca tataḥ kāmān — from that worship the devotee obtains the desired ends. Here kāmān should not be understood merely as “desires.” It means the objects or results desired: wealth, health, children, success, removal of an obstacle, higher loka, position, or another finite goal.

Thus sakāma-bhakti is not presented as useless. It can be valid and fruitful. The devotee may indeed obtain the result being sought.

But the verse does not stop there. The most important words are mayaiva vihitān hi tān — “those results are indeed sanctioned by Me alone.”

The devotee may think, “I worshipped this particular deity, and this deity gave me the result.” At the transactional level that statement is understandable. But Kṛṣṇa reveals the deeper structure: the ultimate karma-phala-dātā, the giver or sanctioner of the result, is the one infinite Bhagavān.

A useful analogy is a postman bringing a parcel. A child may say, “The postman gave me this gift.” The postman certainly delivered it, but he was not the original source of the gift.

In the same way, a particular deity-form may function as the visible devotional channel through which a result is received, but the ultimate sanction belongs to the infinite Īśvara.

This is possible because the infinite cannot exclude anything. If a deity or power existed completely outside Bhagavān, Bhagavān would no longer be infinite. Every finite power, deity-form, law, cause, and result exists within the order of the one Īśvara.

This is also why the teaching should never become sectarian. The point is not, “Kṛṣṇa is real while Śiva is not,” or “Devī is inferior,” or “Only one form has divine power.”

In the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa represents the infinite Bhagavān. In another scriptural context, Śiva or Devī may represent that same infinite reality. Therefore the distinction is not primarily between forms; it is between what is being invoked and what is being sought.

A person may worship Śiva for a finite result or worship Śiva as the limitless Bhagavān. A person may worship Kṛṣṇa for a finite result or approach Kṛṣṇa as the infinite. The external form alone does not determine whether the bhakti is sakāma or niṣkāma.

Verse 7.22 therefore gives sakāma-bhakti its rightful place. It works. The devotee’s faith can become strong, the worship can be sincere, and the desired finite result can be obtained.

But Kṛṣṇa simultaneously enlarges the devotee’s understanding: do not stop with the visible channel. Recognize the infinite Bhagavān as the ultimate giver behind the entire system.

That deeper recognition prepares the way for 7.23, where the discussion will move from the fact that the desired result can be obtained to the limitation that the result itself is finite.