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Bhagavad Gita · 12.3 · The Yoga of Devotion·3 of 20

ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यमव्यक्तं पर्युपासतेसर्वत्रगमचिन्त्यं च कूटस्थमचलं ध्रुवम्

ye tv akṣharam anirdeśhyam avyaktaṁ paryupāsate sarvatra-gam achintyañcha kūṭa-stham

achalandhruvam sanniyamyendriya-grāmaṁ sarvatra sama-buddhayaḥ te prāpnuvanti mām eva sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ

Sanskrit recitation

Many paths, one devotion · 12.1–12.12 · Teaching

Translation

Those who worship the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest, the omnipresent, the unthinkable, the immovable, and the eternal.

Meaning

Anirdesyam That which cannot be actually shown or which cannot be defined -- the Akshaa or Satchidananda Para Brahman is beyond the reach of the mind and speech. Why can It not be defined Because It is unmanifested. It does not have the four alities of manifested beings, vi.z, Jati (caste such as Brahmana, Kshatriya, etc.), Guna (attributes such as blueness, whiteness, tallness, shortness, etc.), Kriya (reading, walking, etc.), and Sambandha (like the relation between father and son).The unmanifest Incomprehensible by any of the organs of knowledge not manifest to any of the organs of knowledge.Upasana (worship) means sitting near. It is approaching the chosen ideal or object of worship by meditating on it, in accordance with the teachings of the scriptures and the spiritual preceptor, and dwelling steadily in the current of that one thought like a threat of oil poured from one vessel to another. It means continous and uninterrupted contemplation of God.The imperishable Brahman is omnipresent, pervading everything like the ether. It is unthinkable, because It is unmanifest. Whatever is visible to the senses can be thought of by the mind also. That which can be grasped by the organs of knowledge can be thought of by the mind also. But the Supreme Being is invisible to the senses and so cannot be grasped by the organs of knowledge and is, therefore, unthinkable

After Swami Sivananda

Many paths, one devotion· 12.1–12.12

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

Word-by-word
te
they
tu
but
ye
who
cha
and
eva
also
mām
me
achalam
the immovable
dhruvam
the eternal
avyaktam
the unmanifest
ratāḥ
engaged
sarvatra
everywhere
achintyam
the unthinkable
akṣharam
the imperishable
sanniyamya
restraining
anirdeśhyam
the indefinable
paryupāsate
worship
prāpnuvanti
attain
sarvatra-gam
the all-pervading
kūṭa-stham
the unchanging
indriya-grāmam
the senses
sama-buddhayaḥ
even-minded
sarva-bhūta-hite
in the welfare of all beings

Related verses

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