Chapter 12: Bhakti-yoga – Practice and Attainment of Devotion: Verse 1
अर्जुन उवाच ।
एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते ।
ये चाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमा: ॥
arjuna uvāca
evaṃ satata-yuktā ye
bhaktās-tvāṃ paryupāsate
ye cāpy-akṣaram-avyaktaṃ
teṣāṃ ke yoga-vittamā: – 12.1
Arjuna said: Which of these are best yogis – those who worship You (the Supreme) thus with constant mental attunement, or those others who contemplate exclusively on the unmanifest Imperishable?
Chapter 12: Bhakti-yoga – Practice and Attainment of Devotion - Verse 1
Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Arjuna is impressed by Krishna’s allusion to exclusive devotion. On hearing briefly how exclusive devotion works, Arjuna raises a pertinent question:
One set of people have incessant and all-fold devotion. They are wedded to the Supreme inwardly, by dedicating all their activities. Others cherish contemplating upon the invisible and imperishable Reality, the Self. Which of these, asks Arjuna, are better?
The question reminds Arjuna’s earlier enquiry (3.1), whether active or contemplative life is better? There Krishna clarified that these are two phases of the same spiritual sādhanā.
