7.17
Chapter 7, Verse 17
तेषां ज्ञानी नित्ययुक्त एकभक्ितर्विशिष्यते। प्रियो हि ज्ञानिनोऽत्यर्थमहं स च मम प्रियः৷৷
tēṣāṅ jñānī nityayukta ēkabhakitarviśiṣyatē. priyō hi jñāninō.tyarthamahaṅ sa ca mama priyaḥ৷৷
Translation
Of all of these, he who has gained wisdom, who meditates on Me without ceasing, devoting himself only to Me, he is the best; for by the wise man I am exceedingly beloved and the wise man, too, is beloved by Me.
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
तेषाम् of them, ज्ञानी the wise, नित्ययुक्तः ever steadfast, एकभक्तिः whose devotion is to the One, विशिष्यते excels, प्रियः dear, हि verily, ज्ञानिनः of the wise, अत्यर्थम् exceedingly, अहम् I, सः he, च and, मम of Me, प्रियः dear. Commentary: Ekabhaktih means unswerving, singleminded devotion to the Supreme Being.The JnaniBhakta is beyond all cults or creeds or formal religion or rules of society. As the wise man is constantly harmonised and as he is devoted to the One, he is regarded as superior to all the other devotees. As I am his very Self or Antaratma, I am extremely dear to him. Everybody loves his own Self most. The Self is very dear to everybody. The wise man is My very Self and he is ear to Me also. (Cf.II.49IX.29XII.14,17and19)
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.