In plain words
But those who meditate on the Imperishable, indefinable, unmanifest, all-pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, unmoving, and eternal,
Word for word
But those who meditate on every side on the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest, the all-pervading and inconceivable, standing over the kūṭa, unmoving, constant,
ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यम् अव्यक्तं पर्युपासतेसर्वत्रगमचिन्त्यं च कूटस्थम् अचलं ध्रुवम्
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
किमितरे युक्ततमाः न भवन्ति ? न ; किन्तु तान् प्रति यत् वक्तव्यम् , तत् शृणु —
ये तु अक्षरम् अनिर्देश्यम् , अव्यक्तत्वात् अशब्दगोचर इति न निर्देष्टुं शक्यते, अतः अनिर्देश्यम् , अव्यक्तं न केनापि प्रमाणेन व्यज्यत इत्यव्यक्तं पर्युपासते परि समन्तात् उपासते । उपासनं नाम यथाशास्त्रम् उपास्यस्य अर्थस्य विषयीकरणेन सामीप्यम् उपगम्य तैलधारावत् समानप्रत्ययप्रवाहेण दीर्घकालं यत् आसनम् , तत् उपासनमाचक्षते । अक्षरस्य विशेषणमाह उपास्यस्य — सर्वत्रगं व्योमवत् व्यापि अचिन्त्यं च अव्यक्तत्वादचिन्त्यम् । यद्धि करणगोचरम् , तत् मनसापि चिन्त्यम् , तद्विपरीतत्वात् अचिन्त्यम् अक्षरम् , कूटस्थं दृश्यमानगुणम् अन्तर्दोषं वस्तु कूटम् । ‘कूटरूपम्’ ’ कूटसाक्ष्यम्’ इत्यादौ कूटशब्दः प्रसिद्धः लोके । तथा च अविद्याद्यनेकसंसारबीजम् अन्तर्दोषवत् मायाव्याकृतादिशब्दवाच्यतया ‘मायां तु प्रकृतिं विद्यान्मायिनं तु महेश्वरम्’(श्वे. उ. ४ । १०) ‘मम माया दुरत्यया’(भ. गी. ७ । १४) इत्यादौ प्रसिद्धं यत् तत् कूटम् , तस्मिन् कूटे स्थितं कूटस्थं तदध्यक्षतया । अथवा, राशिरिव स्थितं कूटस्थम् । अत एव अचलम् । यस्मात् अचलम् , तस्मात् ध्रुवम् , नित्यमित्यर्थः ॥ ३ ॥
In plain words
So the others are not the most steadfast? No, that is not the point. But there is something to be said about them — listen to it.
Now, those who meditate on the Imperishable — the verse calls it 'indescribable', and Śaṅkara explains why: because it is unmanifest, no word can reach it, so nothing can pin it down in speech. It is called 'unmanifest' because no instrument of knowledge, none at all, ever brings it into view. And 'worship' itself, technically, means this: approaching your chosen object of contemplation, according to scripture, and holding your mind on it in one continuous, unbroken stream — like a steady thread of oil being poured — for a long time. That sustained holding of the mind is what worship really means. The verse also calls this reality 'all-pervading, like space' and 'inconceivable' — inconceivable because it is unmanifest. Whatever the senses can reach, the mind can at least think about; but this reality is the opposite of that, so it cannot be thought at all. Then: 'kūṭastha'. A kūṭa is something that looks one way on the surface but hides a flaw underneath, exactly as the word works in everyday speech, as in 'a deceptive appearance' or 'false testimony'. Scripture uses the very same word for the same reason: Māyā, the seed of this whole tangled existence, called elsewhere 'māyā' or 'the unmanifest' — as the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad says, 'know Māyā as Nature, and the wielder of Māyā as the Great Lord,' and as the Gītā itself says, 'my Māyā is hard to get past.' That is the kūṭa. Whatever stands within that kūṭa, presiding over it, is 'kūṭastha' — or, in another reading, it simply means standing firm, like a heap, unmoving. And because it stands so utterly unmoved, it is called 'immovable'. And because it is immovable, it is 'fixed' — which simply means eternal.
Close to the Sanskrit
What — are the others not the most steadfast? No; but that which is to be said with regard to them, hear that —
But those who [meditate upon] the Imperishable, [called] 'indescribable' — because of being unmanifest, [it is] not within the range of words, thus it cannot be pointed out, hence [it is] 'indescribable'; [and called] 'unmanifest' — [it is] not manifested by any means of knowledge whatsoever, thus [it is] 'unmanifest' — they worship [i.e. 'pari' means 'on every side', and 'upāsate' means 'they worship']. 'Upāsana' means: according to scripture, having approached proximity to the object to be worshipped by making it an object [of contemplation], through a continuous flow of similar mental impressions — like an unbroken stream of oil — for a long time, that sustained holding [of the mind] — that they call 'upāsana'. He states a further qualifier of the Imperishable, of the object to be worshipped — 'all-pervading', like space, pervasive, and 'inconceivable', because of being unmanifest. For that which is within range of the [sense-]faculties, that is conceivable even by the mind; because [the Imperishable] is the opposite of that, [it is] inconceivable, the Imperishable. [Next:] 'kūṭastha' — 'kūṭa' [is] a thing having an apparently visible quality [but] an inner defect. In [expressions] such as 'a deceptive form', 'false witness', the word 'kūṭa' is well-known in ordinary usage. Likewise, [this same sense is] established in [passages] such as 'One should know Māyā indeed as Prakṛti, and the wielder of Māyā as the Great Lord' [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 4.10] [and] 'My Māyā is difficult to cross beyond' [Bhagavadgītā 7.14], as the seed of manifold saṃsāra beginning with nescience, having an inner defect, being denotable by words such as 'māyā' [and] 'avyākṛta' — that [reality] is [called] 'kūṭa'; situated in that kūṭa is 'kūṭastha' — by presiding over it. Or alternatively, situated like a heap, [is] 'kūṭastha'. Precisely because of that, [it is] 'immovable'. Since [it is] immovable, therefore [it is] 'fixed' — meaning 'eternal'; that is the meaning.