Avyaktam vyaktim apannam manyante mam abuddhayah, param bhavam ajananto mamavyayam anuttamam
The unintelligent, not knowing My supreme, imperishable, and unsurpassed nature, think of Me as having assumed a form from the unmanifest. The ignorant mistake the human form of God for the totality of the Divine, not recognizing that the manifest form is just one expression of the infinite, unmanifest Supreme.
- •God's manifest form is not the totality of the Divine
- •The unmanifest, imperishable nature of God transcends all forms
- •Mistaking form for ultimate reality is spiritual immaturity
Avyaktad vyaktayah sarvah prabhavanty ahar-agame, ratry-agame praliyante tatraivavyakta-samjnake
With the coming of day, all manifestations emerge from the unmanifest; and with the coming of night, all are dissolved back into what is called the unmanifest. The rhythm of cosmic creation and dissolution follows Brahma's day and night — at the dawn of each cosmic day, creation springs forth, and at cosmic night, all returns to the unmanifest.
- •Creation and dissolution are as regular as day and night on the cosmic scale
- •All manifest existence emerges from and returns to the unmanifest
- •The cosmic rhythm reflects the eternal dance between the manifest and unmanifest
Arjuna uvācha: evaṁ satata-yuktā ye bhaktās tvāṁ paryupāsate, ye chāpy akṣharam avyaktaṁ teṣhāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ
Arjuna asked: Of those who are ever steadfast and worship You with devotion, and those who worship the imperishable unmanifest — which of them are better versed in yoga?
- •Two paths to the divine: personal devotion and worship of the formless
- •Arjuna asks a profound comparative question
- •The question opens the heart of bhakti yoga
Ye tv akṣharam anirdeśhyam avyaktaṁ paryupāsate, sarvatra-gam achintyaṁ cha kūṭa-stham achalaṁ dhruvam
But those who worship the imperishable, the undefinable, the unmanifest, the omnipresent, the inconceivable, the unchanging, the immovable, the eternal—
- •The path of the impersonal is described clearly
- •The unmanifest Brahman is omnipresent and inconceivable
- •Immovable and eternal are qualities of the Absolute