In plain words
Greater is the difficulty for those whose minds are attached to the Unmanifest, for the goal of the Unmanifest is hard for embodied beings to attain.
Word for word
Greater [is] the toil for those whose minds are set on the Unmanifest; for the unmanifest goal is attained with difficulty by the embodied.
क्लेशोऽधिकतरस्तेषाम् अव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम्अव्यक्ता हि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
किं तु —
क्लेशः अधिकतरः, यद्यपि मत्कर्मादिपराणां क्लेशः अधिक एव क्लेशः अधिकतरस्तु अक्षरात्मनां परमात्मदर्शिनां देहाभिमानपरित्यागनिमित्तः । अव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम् अव्यक्ते आसक्तं चेतः येषां ते अव्यक्तासक्तचेतसः तेषाम् अव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम् । अव्यक्ता हि यस्मात् या गतिः अक्षरात्मिका दुःखं सा देहवद्भिः देहाभिमानवद्भिः अवाप्यते, अतः क्लेशः अधिकतरः ॥ ५ ॥
In plain words
But here is how it actually stands —
Their trouble is greater. Yes, Śaṅkara admits, even those devoted to my work face real hardship too. But the greater hardship belongs to those whose very self is fixed on the Imperishable, the seers of the Supreme Self, because what they are being asked to do is let go of every last identification with the body. Their minds are attached to the unmanifest: that simply means their whole attention rests on something with no form at all. And because that goal, the Imperishable, has no form to hold onto, it is genuinely hard for anyone still bound to a body, still identified with a body, to reach it. That is exactly why their trouble is greater.
Close to the Sanskrit
But rather —
The trouble is greater — although, for those devoted primarily to my work and the like, the trouble is indeed also considerable, still the greater trouble belongs to those whose self is the Imperishable, the seers of the Supreme Self, caused by the abandonment of body-identification. 'Avyaktāsaktacetasām' [means]: those whose mind is attached to the unmanifest — they are 'avyaktāsaktacetasaḥ'; of them, [that is] of those 'avyaktāsaktacetasām'. Because, indeed, that goal which is of the nature of the Imperishable is unmanifest, [it is] a difficulty [that] is attained by those possessing a body, by those with body-identification; therefore the trouble is greater.
▸Gītā Vāhini
అందులకు అర్జునుడు “కృష్ణా! దేహాభిమానము, లోకాభిమానము కలవారలకు నిర్గుణోపాసన అంత సులభము కాదు కదా? సామాన్య మానవులు చేయు ‘సగుణోపాసన’చే అంతఃకరణము శుద్ధి అగుటకు వీలులేదా? దయచేసి తెలుపుము” అన్నాడు.
In plain words
To this Arjuna said, “Kṛṣṇa! For those who are attached to the body and attached to the world, nirguṇa upāsanā is not so easy, is it? Can the antaḥkaraṇa not be made pure through ‘saguṇa upāsanā’, the kind ordinary people practise? Please tell me.”