Sanskrit
एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते । ये चाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमाः ॥
evaṃ satatayuktā ye bhaktās tvāṃ paryupāsate ye cāpy akṣaram avyaktaṃ teṣāṃ ke yogavittamāḥ
Translation
Those devotees who ever harmonised worship Thee, and those also who worship the Indestructible, the Unmanifested, whether of these is the more learned in yoga?
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna opens the chapter with a comparative question, not a request for new doctrine: given the personal, manifest Krishna described through Chapters 7-11 and the unmanifest akṣara Brahman discussed since Chapter 8, which devotee is “more learned in yoga” (yogavittamāḥ)? Framing it as a ranking rather than a right/wrong choice sets up Krishna’s answer as a graded structure rather than a single verdict.