← Chapter 11: The Yoga of the Vision of the Universal Form

Verse 11.48

Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit

न वेदयज्ञाध्ययनैर्न दानैर्न च क्रियाभिर्न तपोभिरुग्रैः | एवंरूपः शक्य अहं नृलोके द्रष्टुं त्वदन्येन कुरुप्रवीर ||४८||

Transliteration (IAST)

na veda-yajñādhyayanair na dānair na ca kriyābhir na tapobhir ugraiḥ | evaṁ-rūpaḥ śakya ahaṁ nṛ-loke draṣṭuṁ tvad-anyena kuru-pravīra ||48||

Word-by-Word Meanings

na veda-yajña-adhyayanaiḥ-not by Vedic study or sacrifices

na dānaiḥ-not by charity

na kriyābhiḥ-not by rituals

na tapobhiḥ ugraiḥ-not by severe austerities

evaṁ-rūpaḥ-in this form

śakyaḥ-possible

nṛ-loke-in the human world

tvat-anyena-by anyone other than you

kuru-pravīra-O best of the Kurus

Translation

Neither by Vedic study, nor by sacrifices, nor by charity, nor by rituals, nor by severe austerities can I be seen in this form in the human world by anyone other than you, O best of the Kurus.

Commentary

Krishna explicitly states that no conventional spiritual practice - study, sacrifice, charity, ritual, or austerity - can grant this vision. Shankaracharya explains that this establishes the supremacy of divine grace over human effort. Only bhakti, empowered by the Lord's own will, can reveal His cosmic form.

Themes

bhaktijnanayoga