In 7.16, Kṛṣṇa described four devotees: ārta, arthārthī, jijñāsu, and jñānī. These can be understood not only as four kinds of devotees but also as stages through which one devotee can grow. Verse 7.17 now answers the natural question: among these four, which represents the culmination of bhakti?

Kṛṣṇa says, teṣāṃ jñānī viśiṣyate — among them, the jñānī excels. This is important because bhakti and jñānam are not two competing destinations. Bhakti must ultimately culminate in jñānam. The jñānī is therefore not someone who has left devotion behind; the jñānī is the devotee whose bhakti has reached maturity. Similarly, gaining jñānam does not destroy bhakti. If knowledge were to eliminate devotion, the culmination of bhakti could not itself be called the jñānī-bhakta.

What makes the jñānī distinctive? The first word is nityayuktaḥ — ever united. In earlier forms of devotion, Bhagavān may appear to be someone with whom connection increases and decreases. At a temple, during pūjā, or in an intense devotional experience, the devotee may feel, “Bhagavān is very close.” When that experience ends, Bhagavān may seem distant again. The jñānī has understood Bhagavān’s higher, nirguṇa nature. Bhagavān is not a finite object located elsewhere; Bhagavān is the consciousness that is never separate from oneself. Therefore Bhagavān cannot actually arrive, depart, come nearer, or move farther away. The jñānī is nityayukta because there is never real separation.

The second description is ekabhaktiḥ. Here this is mature advaita-bhakti or abheda-bhakti — devotion grounded in the understanding of non-difference. At the earlier level, the devotee thinks, “I am here and Bhagavān is there.” With knowledge of Bhagavān’s higher nature, the essential nature of the jīva and the essential nature of Bhagavān are recognized as non-different consciousness. The apparent devotee–Bhagavān division is resolved at the level of essential reality.

This leads directly to the second half of the verse: priyo hi jñānino'tyartham aham — “I am exceedingly dear to the jñānī.” The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad examines love and points out that self-love is fundamental. External objects, possessions, roles, and relationships are generally loved because of their connection with one’s happiness, security, or fulfilment. Such love can therefore vary when conditions change.

Even devotion to Bhagavān can remain conditional when Bhagavān is still treated as an external giver: “I love Bhagavān because He protects me, answers my prayers, and gives me what I need.” If events become unfavourable, that devotion may weaken because Bhagavān is still being related to as another object.

For the jñānī, Bhagavān is no longer “another.” If self-love is the deepest love, and Bhagavān is known as non-different from the Self, then love of Bhagavān is no longer object-love. Bhagavān becomes atyartham priyaḥ — supremely dear. This is not merely an intense devotional emotion; it is love established in knowledge.

Kṛṣṇa then adds, sa ca mama priyaḥ — “and he is dear to Me.” The mutual dearness rests upon the same non-difference. Bhagavān is dearest to the jñānī because Bhagavān is known as the Self, and the jñānī is dearest to Bhagavān because the apparent separation between them has been resolved. Thus 7.17 establishes that bhakti does not disappear in jñānam; it reaches fulfilment in jñānam. The jñānī’s devotion is nitya, because Bhagavān is never absent, and eka, because no second independent reality is ultimately recognized apart from Bhagavān.