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Adhyāyas / Vibhūti Yogaḥ / verse 17

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
कथं विद्यामहं योगिंस्त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन्। केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन्मया
kathaṁ vidyām ahaṁ yogins tvāṁ sadā parichintayan keṣhu keṣhu cha bhāveṣhu chintyo ’si bhagavan mayā
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

O Yogi, how shall I know You by remaining ever-engaged in meditation? And through what objects, O Lord, should I meditate on You?

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

हे योगेश्वर ! मैं किस प्रकार निरन्तर चिन्तन करता हुआ आपको जानूँ, और हे भगवन् ! आप किनकिन भावों में मेरे द्वारा चिन्तन करने योग्य हैं।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
कथँव् विद्या महँय् योगिन्
त्वां सदा परि चिन्त यन्
केषु केषु च भावेषु
चिन् त्योऽ सि भग वन् मया
॥ १७ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
kathamhow
vidyām ahamshall I know
yoginthe Supreme Master of Yogmaya
tvāmyou
sadāalways
parichintayanmeditating
keṣhuin what
keṣhuin what
chaand
bhāveṣhuforms
chintyaḥ asito be thought of
bhagavanthe Supreme Divine Personality
mayāby me

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
10.17“How shall I contemplate You?”

“How shall I know You, O Yogin, ever meditating on You? And in what various aspects (keṣu bhāveṣu) are You to be thought of by me?” This is the practical question of the whole chapter, and it is a meditator’s question, not a philosopher’s. Arjuna does not ask whether God is everywhere — he asks how to hold his mind on it. The mind cannot rest on a bare abstraction; it needs handholds. The vibhūti that follow are exactly these handholds — concrete points on which a real mind can actually settle.