Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12, Verse 3

ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यमव्यक्तं पर्युपासते । सर्वत्रगमचिन्त्यञ्च कूटस्थमचलन्ध्रुवम्

ye tvakṣaramanirdeśyamavyaktaṃ paryupāsate | sarvatragamacintyañca kūṭasthamacalandhruvam

Translation

Those who ever contemplate the Imperishable, the Indefinable, the Unmanifest, the Omnipresent and the Unthinkable, the Unchangeable, the Immutable, the Eternal — having restrained all the senses, always equanimous, intent on the welfare of all beings — they reach Myself.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

ye

who

tu

indeed

akṣaram

the undecaying

anirdeśyam

the undefinable

avyaktam

the unmanifested

paryupāsate

worship

sarvatragam

every-where-going

acintyam

unthinkable

ca

and

kūṭastham

rock-seated

acalam

immovable

dhruvam

firm

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Because the Imperishable (Akṣara) is unmanifest, He is not accessible to words and cannot therefore be defined. He is unmanifest, not manifest to any of the organs of knowledge. Contemplation (upāsanā) consists in approaching the object of worship by way of meditating on it according to the Teaching (śāstra) and dwelling for a long time steadily in the current of the same continuous thought, like a thread of descending oil. The Imperishable who is the object of contemplation is thus qualified: He is omnipresent, pervading all like the ākāśa. He is unthinkable, because He is unmanifest. Whatever is visible to the senses can also be thought of by the mind; but the Akṣara is invisible to the senses and is therefore unthinkable. He is unchangeable (kūṭastha): 'kūṭa' means a thing which is good to all appearance but evil within — referring here to that seed of saṃsāra, including avidyā (nescience) and other things, which is full of evil within, designated by various terms such as Māyā, avyākṛta (undifferentiated). Kūṭastha means He who is seated in Māyā as Its Witness, as Its Lord. Or, 'kūṭastha' may mean 'remaining like a heap.' Hence He is immutable and eternal.