Verse 10.17

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 10.17:

कथं विद्याम् अहं योगिंस् त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन् ।
केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन् मया ॥ १७ ॥

kathaṃ vidyām ahaṃ yogiṃs tvāṃ sadā paricintayan |
keṣu keṣu ca bhāveṣu cintyo'si bhagavan mayā || 17 ||

katham–how?; vidyām aham–may I know; yogin–O person possessed of the potency of yogamāyā;tvām–You; sadā–always; paricintayan–contemplate; keṣu keṣu–in what various; ca–and; bhāveṣu–aspects; cintyaḥ–to be contemplated; asi–are You; bhagavan–O all-opulent Personality; mayā–by me.

O Supreme Mystic, possessor of the yogamāyā-śakti, how shall I know You and constantly think of You? O Bhagavān, which of Your variegated aspects should I contemplate and in which moods am I to meditate?

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Arjuna says, “O Yogin, by which means can I constantly know You while fully meditating on You? In the Gītā (18.55), You say, ‘Only by bhakti can one know the truth of My opulences and My svarūpa.’ So now I would like to know my duty. In which forms do You reside, and with what vision should I devotedly meditate upon You?”

The word yogin (the abode of yogamāyā) is likened to the word vanamālī (He who wears a forest-flower garland). [This is a qualifying adjective used only for a special person. For example, it is not that each and every person who wears a forest-flower garland can be called vanamālī. Similarly, one who possesses the yogamāyā-śakti is called yogin. This exclusively refers to Kṛṣṇa.]

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Having requested Śrī Bhagavān in the previous verse to describe His majestic opulences, Arjuna specifically prays in this verse to understand in which objects and forms His opulences exist. Yogamāyā, the internal potency, who can make the impossible possible, is always residing with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. For this reason, Arjuna addresses Him as yogin, the abode of yogamāyā. Only Kṛṣṇa is able to personally describe His opulences. This is being indicated here.