Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 12, Verse 5
क्लेशोऽधिकतरस्तेषामव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम्।
अव्यक्ता हि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते।।
अव्यक्ता हि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते।।
kleśo ’dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām
avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ dehavadbhir avāpyate
also searched as "klesho dhikataras tesham avyaktasakta chetasam"
Translation
Greater is the difficulty for those whose minds are thus attached to the unmanifest, for the way of the unmanifest is hard to reach for embodied beings.
Vāṇi's rendering
But their road is steeper. For beings who live in bodies, the formless is a hard, aching way.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| क्लेशःkleśaḥ | the trouble, the strain, the hardship |
| अधिकतरःadhikataraḥ | greater, steeper, more |
| तेषाम्teṣām | for those ones |
| अव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम्avyakta-āsakta-cetasām | whose minds cling to the unmanifest, the formless |
| अव्यक्ताavyaktā | the unmanifest, that which has no form to see |
| हिhi | for, indeed |
| गतिःgatiḥ | the way, the road, the goal reached by going |
| दुःखम्duḥkham | with pain, achingly, at cost |
| देहवद्भिःdehavadbhiḥ | by those who have bodies, by the embodied |
| अवाप्यतेavāpyate | is reached, is arrived at |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12 Verse 5 mean?
It means the road to the formless is steeper for anyone living in a body. Krishna is not condemning that path — he is naming its cost. The senses reach outward for shape, warmth, a face. Asking them to rest in what has no shape is harder work, and Krishna says so plainly.
What does klesho dhikataras tesham avyaktasakta chetasam teach?
That difficulty is honest information, not judgement. Kleśa is strain, and adhikatara means simply more of it. Krishna weighs the two devotions and finds one heavier to carry while embodied. He tells Arjuna the weight before Arjuna lifts it — the mark of a teacher who wants you to arrive, not merely to try.
Is worshipping the formless wrong according to Krishna?
No. In the verses just before, those who steady the senses and rejoice in the good of all beings reach him too. The unmanifest way arrives. It simply arrives the hard road. Krishna's next words offer the gentler slope — fix your mind on the one you can love with a face.
Why is the formless path harder for embodied beings?
Because a body is a machine for touching things. It learns through form, warmth, sound, presence. What has no form gives it nothing to grip, so the mind slips and returns to the tangible. That slipping is not weakness in you. It is what having hands and eyes means.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna does not say the formless path is wrong. He says it costs more. Arjuna asked which worshipper is better; the answer refuses the ranking and speaks instead of terrain. You have a body. It hurts, it hungers, it wants something to hold — and the unmanifest gives it nothing to hold. That is not a failure of devotion; it is arithmetic. To reach for what has no edge, while living inside something that has edges everywhere, is slow and aching work. Krishna is not discouraging you. He is telling you the grade of the hill before you start the climb.