क्लेशोऽधिकतरस्तेषामव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम् ।
अव्यक्ता हि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते ।। १२.५ ।।

kleśo’dhika-taras-teṣām-avyaktāsakta-cetasām |
avyaktā hi gatir-duḥkhaṁ dehavadbhir-avāpyate || 12.5 ||

The hindrance is more for those who are given to the path of contemplation on the Imperishable. Because of identity with their bodies, it is very difficult for them to get attuned to the imperishable goal.

This should answer as well as console Arjuna. Here Krishna admits that living in a body, it is very difficult for anyone to begin to think that he is not the body. It is easy to accept that the one living in a house does not become the house at all. He is but its resident. So too, to live in your body should instantly make you know that you are not the body.

The distinction between the body and its indweller is not difficult to understand, once you begin to think in this manner. But somehow, the delusion at work is so widespread and deep-rooted that people in general, find it difficult to get at the body-different Soul. Krishna recognizes this common trouble and agrees that the thought and contemplation of the Imperishable, as a pursuit, is indeed difficult.

But this is no hindrance at all. For, the words Krishna uses in the first line are “klesah adhikatarah”, meaning difficulty in this case is more. By using the comparative degree, he clearly alludes that in the other path, the path of devotion, as well there is klesah, hardship.

To be an exclusive devotee, thereby to steep all one’s actions, words, thoughts and understanding in the fondness and reliance towards the Supreme, is not very easy. You have to be constantly active variously, at the same time think that all that you do is not for your own sake, but for the sake of the Supreme. Does it not mean annihilating and obliterating all possessiveness? To shed the ego and install the Supreme in its place is, in a way, to lose all thoughts of self-importance and personal desires. This too is rare and in a way difficult for the ordinary people.

Likewise, while pursuing the path of seeking the Imperishable, a constant contemplation on the imperishable, impersonal and impartial Absolute has to be preserved. It virtually means disowning all actions, as Krishna has described earlier (verses 2.19, 5.8 and 5.9). To be doing, speaking, thinking, etc. and equally to be dispossessing all these, constitutes a seemingly grave contradiction. It naturally calls for a very high degree of spiritual perception. For embodied people, says Krishna, such loftiness may appear to be more difficult. What is the conclusion or exhortation? Devotional path, as he has described, is relatively easier and better.