Sanskrit
भवाप्ययौ हि भूतानां श्रुतौ विस्तरशो मया । त्वत्तः कमलपत्राक्ष माहात्म्यमपि चाव्ययम् ॥
bhavāpyayau hi bhūtānāṃ śrutau vistaraśo mayā tvattaḥ kamalapatrākṣa māhātmyam api cāvyayam
Translation
The production and destruction of beings have been heard by me in detail from Thee, O Lotus-eyed, and also Thy imperishable greatness.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A verse of pure stage-setting: Arjuna restates what he’s already been told — the arising and passing of beings, Krishna’s imperishable greatness — as the premise for the request he’s about to make. “Kamalapatrākṣa,” lotus-eyed, is a conventionally tender epithet, worth noticing precisely because of how it will read once the form he’s about to see arrives with a thousand suns’ blaze and mouths that grind armies to powder. The address is still to a friend; the content he’s asking for is not. The tender epithet kamala-patra-akṣa, “lotus-petal-eyed,” is chosen deliberately for how it will read once the form arrives with a thousand suns’ blaze and army-grinding jaws. The address is still to a friend; what he asks to see is not.
Study deeper
Word by word
- bhavāpyayau hi bhūtānāṃभवाप्ययौ हि भूतानां
- the origin and passing of beings (bhava-apyayau + hi + bhūtānām)
- śrutau vistaraśo mayāश्रुतौ विस्तरशो मया
- have been heard by me in detail (śrutau + vistaraśaḥ + mayā)
- tvattaḥ kamalapatrākṣaत्वत्तः कमलपत्राक्ष
- from you, O lotus-eyed one (tvattaḥ + kamala-patra-akṣa)
- māhātmyam api cāvyayamमाहात्ंयं अपि चाव्ययं
- and your imperishable majesty (māhātmyam + api + ca + avyayam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Before Arjuna asks for anything, he spends a whole verse reminding Krishna what’s already been given — the teaching on arising and passing away, on imperishable greatness. Nothing new is claimed here; the verse’s only job is to establish, out loud, how much ground has already been covered before the harder request gets made. A large ask lands differently when it’s shown to grow out of what’s already been received rather than arriving cold.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Before you ask for something significant from someone, name what they've already given you — not as flattery, but as an honest accounting that makes the next ask legible as a continuation, not an imposition.
Professional
- When requesting a stretch commitment from a stakeholder — more budget, more time, more trust — open by naming what's already been delivered on their side; grounding the ask in prior credit changes how it lands compared to raising it cold.
Family & Social
- Before raising a bigger need with someone close to you, name what they've already given first — it turns the request into a continuation of an existing exchange rather than a demand out of nowhere.
Ask yourself
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