SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
arjuna uvAcha
Evam sathathayukthA yE bhakthAs thvAm paryupAsathE |
yE chApyaksharam avyaktham thEshAm kE yOgaviththamA: ||
word-by-word meaning
arjuna uvAcha – arjuna asked
Evam – as explained in previous SlOkam
sathatha yukthA: – desiring to be together with you always
yE bhakthA: – those devotees
thvAm – you
paryupAsathE – worship perfectly
yE chApi – those
avyaktham – inconceivable by the sensory organs
aksharam – (who worship) the jIvAthmA (self)
thEshAm – among these two
kE – who
yOga viththamA: – will attain their goal quickly?
Simple Translation
arjuna asked – Who among the two types of people will attain their goal quickly- a) those devotees who perfectly worship you desiring to be together with you always as explained in previous SlOkam and b) those who worship the jIvAthmA (self) which is inconceivable by the sensory organs?
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
Queries Arjuna:
‘Of those who thus —Your bhaktas— ever devout, worship You, and of those who betake to the Imperishabie-Immanifest, which are the better informed of yoga?’
Satata-yuktāḥ=ever devout (or ever intent in thought for union with You): are those of the character portrayed in the Stanza: ‘Doing work for Me’ etc., (Gi: XI-55).
Tvām upāsate=Worship You=Worship You, the Lord, deeming You as the very Fulfilment of their sublimest ambition; —You the Perfect, —the Sovereign of all Kosmic glories, —the Possessor of such countless and exalted characteristics as (Divine) Beauty, Affability, etc., and Omniscience, Infallible Will etc—; these are Your Lovers.
The other worshippers are the worshippers of The Imperishable-Immanifest (Aksharam-avyaktam), those who contemplate on the nature of pratyagātma (=jīvātma= Individual soul).
Pratyag-ātma is aksharam=imperishable;and avyaktam=indiscernible, inasmuch as ātma is that which is not an object of perception or manifest to any of the senses, the eye etc.
Of these two classes, which are the better yoga-informed (yoga-vit-tamāh)!, meaning, who would reach their respective goals sooner?.
‘Before long, Pārtha! I become’ etc. (Gi: XII-7), is the Stanza further on, in which it will be made clear that the ‘better-versed of yoga’ is with reference to the rapid reaching of the (God-)Goal.
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