Bhagavad Gita 10.17: meaning and translation
Chapter 10: Vibhuti Yoga. Arjuna says
Arjuna asks how he can know Krishna, the master of yoga, by always meditating on him, and in which forms of being he should think of him.
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Bhagavad Gita 10.17
कथं विद्यामहं योगिंस्त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन् ।केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन्मया ॥
Katham vidyamaham yoginstvam sada parichintayanKeshu keshu cha bhaveshu chintyosi bhagavanmaya
kathaṃ vidyāmahaṃ yogiṃstvāṃ sadā paricintayan |keṣu keṣu ca bhāveṣu cintyo’si bhagavanmayā ||
Our explanation Arjuna asks how he can know Krishna, the master of yoga, by always meditating on him, and in which forms of being he should think of him.
हिंदी अर्थ अर्जुन पूछते हैं कि योगेश्वर कृष्ण का सदा चिंतन करते हुए वे उन्हें कैसे जानें, और किन-किन भावों (रूपों) में उनका चिंतन करें।
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Word by word
- कथम् katham · how (indeclinable) Dictionary: katham, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 247, col. 2 “how? in what manner?”
- विद्याम् vidyām · may know (optative, 1st person singular) Dictionary: 1. vid, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 963, col. 2 “to know, understand, perceive, learn”
- अहम् aham · "I" (Arjuna) (pronoun, nominative singular) Dictionary: aham, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 124, col. 2 “nom. sg. ‘I,’”
- योगिन् yogin · O master of yoga (noun (masculine), vocative singular) Dictionary: yogin, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 857, col. 3 “a follower of the Yoga system, a Yogin (usually called Yogī) or contemplative saint”
- त्वाम् tvām · you (pronoun, accusative singular) Dictionary: yuṣmad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 855, col. 3 “the base of the 2nd pers. pron. as used in comp.”
- सदा sadā · always (indeclinable) Dictionary: sadā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1139, col. 2 “always, ever, every time, continually, perpetually”
- परिचिन्तयन् paricintayan · meditating on (present participle (masculine), nominative singular) Dictionary: pari-cint, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 594, col. 1 “to think about, meditate on, reflect, consider”
- केषु keṣu · in which (interrogative pronoun (masculine), locative plural) Dictionary: kim, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 282, col. 2 “what? how? whence? wherefore? why?”
- केषु keṣu · (in which) various (interrogative pronoun (masculine), locative plural) Dictionary: kim, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 282, col. 2 “what? how? whence? wherefore? why?”
- च ca · and (indeclinable) Dictionary: 2. ca, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 380, col. 1 “and, both, also, moreover, as well as”
- भावेषु bhāveṣu · forms of being, things (noun (masculine), locative plural) Dictionary: bhāva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 754, col. 2 “that which is or exists, thing or substance, being or living creature”
- चिन्त्यः cintyaḥ · to be thought of (gerundive (to be done) (masculine), nominative singular) Dictionary: cintya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 398, col. 2 “to be thought about or imagined”
- असि asi · are (present, 2nd person singular) Dictionary: 1. as, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 117, col. 2 “to be, live, exist, be present”
- भगवन् bhagavan · O Lord (noun (masculine), vocative singular) Dictionary: 2. bhagavat, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 743, col. 3 “glorious, illustrious, divine, adorable, venerable”
- मया mayā · by "me" (Arjuna) (pronoun, instrumental singular) Dictionary: 1. mad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 777, col. 2 “base of the first pers. pron. in the sg. number (esp. in comp.)”
Old translations
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882. Public domain. Page 88.
How shall I know you, O you of mystic power! always meditating on you? And in what various entities1, O lord! should I meditate on you?
Footnotes (the translator’s own) - To know you fully being impossible, what special manifestation of you should we resort to for our meditations? ↩
Compare 3 translations
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882. Public domain. Page 88.
How shall I know you, O you of mystic power! always meditating on you? And in what various entities1, O lord! should I meditate on you?
Footnotes (the translator’s own) - To know you fully being impossible, what special manifestation of you should we resort to for our meditations? ↩
You are reading this one
Annie Besant, 1895. Public domain. Page 98.
How may I know Thee, O Yogî, by constant meditation? In what, in what qualities art Thou to be thought of by me, O Blessed Lord?
You are reading this one
Swami Swarupananda, 1909 (first printed 1907). Public domain. Page 200.
How shall I, O Yogin, meditate ever to know Thee? In what things, O Bhagavan, art Thou to be thought of by me?
You are reading this one
Cite this verse
The translation: K. T. Telang, The Bhagavadgîtâ (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 88. Bhagavad Gita 10.17.
The translation: Annie Besant, The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1895), p. 98. Bhagavad Gita 10.17.
The translation: Swami Swarupananda, Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita (Mayavati: Prabuddha Bharata Press, 1909; first printed in Prabuddha Bharata, 1907–1909), p. 200. Bhagavad Gita 10.17.
Our explanation: “Bhagavad Gita 10.17: meaning and translation.” Pujadeep. Updated October 25, 2026. https://pujadeep.com/bhagavad-gita/10/17/
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Bhagavad Gita 10.17
कथं विद्यामहं योगिंस्त्वां सदा परिचिन्तयन् ।
केषु केषु च भावेषु चिन्त्योऽसि भगवन्मया ॥
“How shall I know you, O you of mystic power! always meditating on you? And in what various entities, O lord! should I meditate on you?”
(K. T. Telang, The Bhagavadgîtâ (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 88, public domain)
“How may I know Thee, O Yogî, by constant meditation? In what, in what qualities art Thou to be thought of by me, O Blessed Lord?”
(Annie Besant, The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1895), p. 98, public domain)
“How shall I, O Yogin, meditate ever to know Thee? In what things, O Bhagavan, art Thou to be thought of by me?”
(Swami Swarupananda, Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita (Mayavati: Prabuddha Bharata Press, 1909; first printed in Prabuddha Bharata, 1907–1909), p. 200, public domain)
Sanskrit: G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1922.
https://pujadeep.com/bhagavad-gita/10/17/ Nothing is sent from this site. Your own app sends it, to the chat you choose. The picture quotes the translation you chose on this page, with its name and year.
Sanskrit text: The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation, 1922. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
Questions families ask
Who speaks Bhagavad Gita 10.17?
Arjuna speaks this verse, in chapter 10 (Vibhuti Yoga).
Where does the Sanskrit text come from?
Sanskrit text: The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation, 1922. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Is the meaning on this page a translation?
Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
Source and licence
- Sanskrit text
- The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation (Annie Besant, G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1922). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Translation
- The Bhagavadgîtâ with the Sanatsugâtîya and the Anugîtâ, translated by Kâshinâth Trimbak Telang (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, ed. F. Max Müller) (Kashinath Trimbak Telang, F. Max Müller, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1882). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Translation
- The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song, translated by Annie Besant (Annie Besant, Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1895). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Translation
- Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita, with Sanskrit Text; Paraphrase with Word-by-word Literal Translation; English Rendering and Comments, Index, &c., by the Swami Swarupananda (Himalayan Series, No. XX) (Swami Swarupananda, The Editors and Publishers, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, Prabuddha Bharata Press, Mayavati, Almora, Himalayas, 1909). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Common wording
- In this text, 32 words follow today's common wording, checked against sanskritdocuments.org; Sanskrit Wikisource; Gita Press, Gorakhpur; GRETIL, Göttingen and Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 15, 2026.
- Updated
- October 25, 2026