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Chapter 12 · Devotional Service · 20 verses

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Questions & crisisChapter 12 · Devotional Service
11.5512.2

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 12.1

Arjuna asks about personal and impersonal worship

अर्जुन उवाच

एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते ।

ये चाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमा: ॥ १ ॥

arjuna uvāca

evaṁ satata-yuktā ye

bhaktās tvāṁ paryupāsate

ye cāpy akṣaram avyaktaṁ

teṣāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ

Translation

Arjuna inquired: Which are considered to be more perfect, those who are always properly engaged in Your devotional service or those who worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested?

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

Devotion to Kṛṣṇa

  1. 1Arjuna asks who is more perfect: those serving Kṛṣṇa with devotion or those worshiping the unmanifested, impersonal Brahman.
  2. 2Prabhupāda explains that devotional service is the highest path and the easiest, most direct way to associate with Kṛṣṇa.
  3. 3To seek Kṛṣṇa’s association, engage your energy in devotional service to Him.

Where we are

In the story

Chapter 12, Devotional Service: arjuna asks about personal and impersonal worship.

What it teaches

Theme summary

Honest questions open the way to wisdom.

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Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: saṁśaya, viṣāda.

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Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 12.1 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to questions & crisis?

Practice

Write down the real question behind your current dilemma.

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The story behind it

Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.

All stories for chapter 12 ›
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Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 1.28Compassion entangled with attachmentBG 1.46The bow falls

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

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Ask about BG 12.1 — get a simple answer linked to related ideas and verses.

Back to step 3The key ideasNext · Step 5 of 7 · 5 minLive the teachingsBring it into your day with a practice and a question, straight from Prabhupāda's purports.