Sanskrit
कथं विद्यामहं योगिंस्त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन् । केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन्मया ॥ १७ ॥
kathaṃ vidyām ahaṃ yogiṃs tvāṃ sadā paricintayan keṣu keṣu ca bhāveṣu cintyo'si bhagavan mayā
Translation
How may I know thee, O Yogi, by constant meditation? In what, in what aspects art Thou to be thought of by me, O blessed Lord?
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna reframes the request as a meditation problem rather than a bare information request — how to know Krishna “by constant meditation,” in what aspects to think of him. This is what actually licenses the list that follows: the vibhuti catalogue in verses 21-39 functions less as theology than as a set of concrete meditation objects.