Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12, Verse 1
अर्जुन उवाच । एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते । ये चाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमाः
arjuna uvāca | evaṃ satatayuktā ye bhaktāstvāṃ paryupāsate | ye cāpyakṣaramavyaktaṃ teṣāṃ ke yogavittamāḥ
Translation
Those devotees who, always devout, thus contemplate Thee, and those also who (contemplate) the Imperishable, the Unmanifest — which of them are better versed in Yoga?
— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri
Word meanings
- evam
- thus
- satatayuktāḥ
- ever-balanced
- ye
- who
- bhaktāḥ
- devotees
- tvām
- Thee
- paryupāsate
- worship
- ye
- who
- ca
- and
- api
- also
- akṣaram
- the undecaying
- avyaktam
- the unmanifested
- teṣām
- of these
- ke
- who
- yogavittamāḥ
- yoga-learned-most
Śaṅkarācārya's commentary
"Thus" refers back to what was said in the closing verse of the preceding Discourse, "He who does works for Me" (xi.55) and so on. There are devotees engaged without intermission in doing works for the Lord's sake and in doing the other things taught before, steadfast in mind. These devotees, seeking no other refuge, meditate on the Lord in the Universal Form just manifested. There are others who, having abandoned all desires and renounced all actions, meditate on the Imperishable (Akṣara) Brahman — also described above — who is unmanifest (avyakta), incomprehensible to the senses, as devoid of all upādhis or conditions. Of the two classes, who are better versed in Yoga?