Skip to content

Bhagavad Gita 11.53

नाहं वेदैर्न तपसा न दानेन न चेज्यया।शक्य एवंविधो द्रष्टुं दृष्टवानसि मां यथा॥

nāhaṃ vedairna tapasā na dānena na cejyayā |śakya evaṃvidho draṣṭuṃ dṛṣṭavānasi māṃ yathā ||

Neither by the Vedas, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifice can I be seen in this form as thou hast seen Me so easily.

Translation by Swami Sivananda · Public domain in India (translator d. 1963)

It is not possible to see Me as you have done through studying the scriptures, performing austerities, giving gifts, or making sacrifices.

Translation by Shri Purohit Swami · Public domain in India (translator d. 1941)

Our plain-language meaning of this verse is waiting for scholar review.

Edition: Common 700-verse recension. Arjuna's opening question in chapter 13, absent from that recension, is kept as 13.0.

Transliteration in IAST, generated from the Devanagari text.

Source: Sanskrit text via gita/gita (Unlicense), from the Gita Supersite, IIT Kanpur. Sanskrit text public domain.