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Adhyāyas / Bhakti Yogaḥ / verse 1

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
अर्जुन उवाच एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते। येचाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमाः
arjuna uvācha evaṁ satata-yuktā ye bhaktās tvāṁ paryupāsate ye chāpy akṣharam avyaktaṁ teṣhāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

Arjuna said: "Which of these devotees, who are ever dedicated and meditate on You, and those who meditate on the Unmanifested and Immutable, are the best experiencers of yoga [here, yoga means samadhi, spiritual absorption]?"

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

अर्जुन ने कहा -- जो भक्त, सतत युक्त होकर इस (पूर्वोक्त) प्रकार से आपकी उपासना करते हैं और जो भक्त अक्षर, और अव्यक्त की उपासना करते हैं, उन दोनों में कौन उत्तम योगवित् है।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
अ उ
एवं सतत युक्ता ये
भक् तास् त्वाम् पर्यु पासते
ये चाप् यक्षर मव् यक्तम्
तेषाङ्‌ के योग वित्तमाः
॥ १ ॥
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
arjunaḥ uvāchaArjun said
evamthus
satatasteadfastly
yuktāḥdevoted
yethose
bhaktāḥdevotees
tvāmyou
paryupāsateworship
yethose
chaand
apialso
akṣharamthe imperishable
avyaktamthe formless Brahman
teṣhāmof them
kewho
yoga-vit-tamāḥmore perfect in Yog

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
12.1Who is better — Your devotees (with form) or the worshippers of the Immutable?

Arjuna asks: “Those devotees who, ever-united, worship You [with form]; and those who worship the imperishable Unmanifest (akṣaram avyaktam) — which of them are the better knowers of Yoga?” It is a real and enduring question: is the higher path the personal (loving a God with a face) or the impersonal (merging in the formless Absolute)? Arjuna, fresh from seeing both the Universal Form and his friend’s human face, asks it with earned urgency.