Bhagavad Gita 12.1
अर्जुन उवाच | एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते | ये चाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमाः ||
arjuna uvāca | evaṁ satata-yuktā ye bhaktās tvāṁ paryupāsate | ye cāpy akṣaram avyaktaṁ teṣāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ ||
Translation
Arjuna said: Those who, ever-yoked, thus worship you with devotion, and those again who worship the imperishable unmanifested, which of them are the better knowers of yoga?
Reflection
When you have met both registers of the divine, which path are you actually walking?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Twelve
Arjuna names the choice the chapter will sort. Two ways of approaching the supreme are visible to him. One worships Krishna in the personal form. The other worships the imperishable unmanifested, akshara avyakta, the formless absolute that the Upanishads have taught. Yoga-vittamah, who is the better knower of yoga. The question is which path produces the better practitioner. The question is asked in earnest. After what Arjuna has just seen in chapter eleven, he is not asking out of curiosity. He has met both registers. The cosmic form and the gentle friend. The unmanifested behind both. He wants to know which approach the teacher considers superior. The chapter answers in a tone of careful preference rather than dismissal.