This summary is about five verses of the Gita (Gita 12.1–5). It is the first stop on the way of devotion. After it comes The Illusory Energy and Surrender.
The question is this: one voice says that the Lord has a form and a name, and can be loved. Another voice says that He is beyond everything and is bound to no shape. Which of these two worshippers is better?
The answer in one sentence
The one whose mind is fixed on the Lord, who is always united with Him and whose faith is supreme, is the most united (Gita 12.2). Worshippers of the unmanifest also reach the same Lord, but for one who lives in a body that road is far harder (Gita 12.4–5). "Unmanifest" means the imperishable reality that is beyond the grasp of eye and mind.
The setting
In the eleventh chapter it was said that only by undivided devotion can the Lord be known, seen and entered into in truth (Gita 11.54). Then came the marks of the devotee: work for Me, hold Me as the supreme goal, free from attachment and enmity (Gita 11.55).
Then Arjuna's natural question comes up: what will happen to those who, without holding to any form, worship the imperishable unmanifest?
The verses in order
Verse 12.1: Arjuna's question
Arjuna speaks of two seekers. One is those who, being always engaged with the Lord in this way, worship His form. The other is those who worship the imperishable, unmanifest. The question is: who knows yoga best?
Arjuna is not calling anyone wrong. He wants to know who is more firm. So the answer will come as a comparison, not as rejecting anyone.
Verse 12.2: The Lord's answer
The Lord says that those who fix their mind on Me, are ever united with Me, and worship with supreme faith are, in My view, the best of yogis.
There are three things in this. The first is the fixing of the mind, with the Lord as its centre. The second is continuity, "always united", not an occasional feeling. The third is faith, the trust that the Gita calls "supreme".
No special method is asked for. All three are inner things. The question is not "how to worship" but "how steadily".
The measure is not information but union. Arjuna had asked who knows yoga best, and the Lord chooses "the most united". First it is seen where the mind is. These same words were the ground of the verdict of the sixth chapter (Gita 6.47).
Verses 12.3 and 12.4: The way of the formless also reaches the Lord
Verse 12.3 tells whom these seekers worship (Gita 12.3). He is imperishable and indefinable, that is, He cannot be told in words. He is unmanifest, all-pervading, unthinkable, unchanging, immovable and eternal. One cannot point a finger at Him and say "that is He". He can neither be seen nor given a name.
The same words are used for the self too, which is called unmanifest, unthinkable and unchanging (Gita 2.25). So the way of the formless looks towards something whose description matches that of the self.
Verse 12.4 says that these too reach "Me alone", but with three conditions (Gita 12.4). The first is to bring the whole group of senses well under control. The second is to keep an even mind everywhere. And the third is to be engaged in the welfare of all beings.
Two points need attention here. First, the way of the formless is not called wrong. Second, these three conditions are not only for this road. Sages engaged in the welfare of all reach supreme peace (Gita 5.25), and one who sees all as himself is the best yogi (Gita 6.32).
Verse 12.5: Why the road of the formless is hard
The Lord says that for those who fix their mind on the unmanifest the trouble is far greater, because the way of the unmanifest is reached with difficulty by embodied beings.
The reason is that we live in a body. Thinking, feeling and loving all go on with the support of a form, a name or a person. To rest on the unmanifest, one must first learn to walk without that support, and body-feeling pulls back at every step.
That is why the way of devotion sits easily with an embodied person. Attention goes where love goes, and for love there must be someone we can call our own. The three things of verse 12.2 are exactly what love already does. The devotee does not first have to give up body-feeling. He goes forward with its help.
The verse does not call the unmanifest false or useless. It says that it takes effort. The Lord tells honestly how heavy each road is.
The two roads at a glance
In devotion to the Lord with form, the mind rests on the Lord, with whom a relation can be made. What is asked is fixing of the mind, continuity and faith. This road leads to the Lord, and it is natural for the mind.
In worship of the unmanifest, the mind rests on the imperishable reality beyond thought. What is asked is control of the senses, even-mindedness and the welfare of all. This road too leads to "Me alone", that is, to the Lord. But for an embodied person it is far harder.
What else the Gita says in favour of devotion
The sixth chapter says that of all yogis, the one who with faith, having set his inner self on Me, worships Me is the most united in My view. The same verdict has come here (Gita 6.47).
Devotion is not outside the way of knowledge. Through devotion alone one knows the Lord in truth, and having known, enters. Knowing, seeing and entering all come through undivided devotion (Gita 18.55, Gita 11.54).
In the fourth chapter the Lord says that as people come to Me, so I meet them. So the Lord is not tied to one way (Gita 4.11).
In the eighth and ninth chapters, what is called the unmanifest and imperishable is itself the highest goal and the Lord's supreme abode (Gita 8.21), and the Lord pervades the whole world in His unmanifest form (Gita 9.4). A worshipper of the unmanifest goes to no one else. He wishes to reach one aspect of the same Lord.
Four common misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is that formless worship is useless. The verse says these too reach Me alone (Gita 12.4). Being hard does not make it useless.
The second is that devotion is for those who cannot think. Devotion is called the best yoga (Gita 6.47) and the way of true knowing (Gita 18.55). It is not a substitute for thought. It is one road to knowing.
The third is: choose one and drop the other. The Lord says that both come to Him. The conditions differ, but neither is dishonoured.
The fourth is that devotion needs no discipline. Control of the senses, even vision and the welfare of all are asked of every seeker (Gita 5.25, Gita 6.32), and the mind of the devotee too does not stay without them.
A frame for practice
A plain frame for practice comes out of these verses. First choose one way of keeping the Lord in mind: a name, a form or a verse. Then stay with it, at the same time every day and for some time ("always united", Gita 12.2). Have trust that in the beginning the mind will wander, and faith means returning to the same place all the same. And at the end of the day look at three things (Gita 12.4): how well the senses were kept in hand, how even the vision was, and for whose good something was done.
There is one finer point. To walk on the road on which the mind stays is not defeat. And to take the harder road as higher and the easier as lower is also a mistake.
Explain it in thirty seconds
Arjuna asks: is the devotee of the form better, or the worshipper of the formless (Gita 12.1)? The Lord says: the one who fixes his mind on Me, ever united, and worships with supreme faith is the most united (Gita 12.2). The measure is not information but union. The way of the formless also comes to Me alone, provided the senses are controlled, the vision even and one is engaged in the good of all (Gita 12.3–4). But for one who lives in a body, it is far harder (Gita 12.5). So look at your own mind, walk the road on which it stays, and keep the three conditions along with it.