Arjuna asks
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ · 12.1Those who meditate on You, or on the Imperishable and Unmanifest?
Praśna No. 11
Kṛṣṇa answers
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ · 12.2“…possessing supreme faith… these are considered by Me to be the highest among the yogis.”
Arjuna asked it 5,000 years ago.
Form or formless is not a new debate. Arjuna asks which devotee is better: the one who worships Kṛṣṇa in form, or the one who meditates on the unmanifest. Kṛṣṇa answers that the one who fixes the mind on him with steady faith is dearest.
Ask the Gītā your own question.
Arjuna asked his. Samvāda answers yours with the Gītā's own verses.
Samvāda is software, an AI companion tuned to the Bhagavad Gītā. It is not a person. It answers from the verse and shows you which one, and it never pretends to be Kṛṣṇa.
The verses
Arjuna asks
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ · 12.1अर्जुन उवाचएवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते।येचाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमाः।।
arjuna uvāca evaṁ satata-yuktā ye bhaktās tvāṁ paryupāsate ye cāpy akṣaram avyaktaṁ teṣāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ
Arjuna said: Which of these has greater knowledge of yoga—those devotees who meditate on You, ever integrated, or those who meditate on the Imperishable and the Unmanifest?
Kṛṣṇa answers
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ · 12.2श्री भगवानुवाचमय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते।श्रद्धया परयोपेतास्ते मे युक्ततमा मताः।।
śrī-bhagavān uvāca mayy āveśya mano ye māṁ nitya-yuktā upāsate śraddhayā parayopetās te me yuktatamā matāḥ
The Lord said, "Those who, ever integrated with Me and possessing supreme faith, worship Me, focusing their minds on Me—these are considered by Me to be the highest among the yogis."
The count
12.1 is verse 470 of 700, and verse 1 of 20 in chapter 12.
Arjuna asks at 12.1 and Kṛṣṇa answers in the very next verse, 12.2.
Chapter 12 has 20 verses. Speakers: Kṛṣṇa 19, Arjuna 1.
Counted by Vāṇi on the 700-verse text at getvani.app/gita.
Going deeper
Chapter 12 starts with a question people still ask. In 12.1 Arjuna asks which devotee knows yoga better: the one who is always joined to Kṛṣṇa in worship, or the one who meditates on the imperishable and the unmanifest. It follows directly from 11.55, where Kṛṣṇa has just described the devotee who works for him, holds him as the highest goal and bears ill will to no creature. His answer in 12.2 is clear: those who keep their minds on him, ever joined and with supreme faith, are the ones he counts best among yogis. The verse after, 12.3, begins to describe the other path: the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest. So the Gītā does not dismiss the formless way. It says plainly whom it holds closest. The rest of the teaching is in chapter 12, and what the Gītā says about devotion gathers more.