Sanskrit
मया प्रसन्नेन तवार्जुनेदम् रूपं परं दर्शितमात्मयोगात् । तेजोमयं विश्वमनन्तमाद्यम् यन्मे त्वदन्येन न दृष्टपूर्वम् ॥
mayā prasannena tavārjunedaṃ rūpaṃ paraṃ darśitam ātmayogāt tejomayaṃ viśvam anantam ādyaṃ yan me tvadanyena na dṛṣṭapūrvam
Translation
Arjuna, by My favour thou hast seen, This loftiest Form by yoga's self revealed! Radiant, all-penetrating, endless, first, That none except thyself hath ever seen.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna’s answer opens by naming the mechanism before anything else: “prasannena,” by my grace, and “ātmayogāt,” through my own yogic power — not Arjuna’s discipline, not anything he earned, but a gift given. That framing matters for what’s coming in verses 48 and 53-54: if the vision was granted rather than achieved, then no achievement — no study, no ritual, no austerity — could have produced it either, and the chapter is about to say exactly that. “Na dṛṣṭapūrvam,” never seen before, closes the verse by confirming what the whole hymn already assumed: Arjuna has just had an experience unique in the tradition itself, not merely unique to him. Krishna names the mechanism first: prasannena, by grace, and ātma-yogāt, by his own power — not Arjuna’s discipline, not anything earned. That framing sets up BG 11.48 and BG 11.53–BG 11.54: if it was given, no achievement could have produced it.
Study deeper
Word by word
- mayā prasannena tavārjunedaṃमया प्रसन्नेन तवार्जुनेदं
- by Me, well-pleased, to you, O Arjuna, this (mayā + prasannena + tava + arjuna + idam)
- rūpaṃ paraṃ darśitam ātmayogātरूपं परं दर्शितं आत्मयोगात्
- supreme form has been shown, by My own yoga power (rūpam + param + darśitam + ātma-yogāt)
- tejomayaṃ viśvam anantam ādyaṃतेजोमयं विश्वं अनन्तं आद्यं
- full of light, universal, infinite, primeval (tejaḥ-mayam + viśvam + anantam + ādyam)
- yan me tvadanyena na dṛṣṭapūrvamयन् मे त्वदन्येन न दृष्टपूर्वं
- which none but you has ever seen (yat + me + tvat-anyena + na + dṛṣṭa-pūrvam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna names the mechanism, grace, his own yogic power, only after the vision is already over, not as an advance announcement. Said beforehand, “I will show you this by my favor” would have sounded like a claim Arjuna had to take on faith; said afterward, it’s simply describing what already, visibly, happened. Sequence turns what could have been a boast into a plain report.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you want someone to trust that something was a gift rather than an achievement, it often lands better to explain the mechanism after they've experienced the result rather than announcing it in advance — after the fact it reads as honest description, beforehand it can sound like a claim they have to take on faith.
Professional
- When crediting a lucky break or someone else's help for a win, mention it after the result is visible rather than hedging your pitch with it in advance — post-hoc honesty about the real cause lands as credibility, pre-emptive hedging can just sound like lowered expectations.
Family & Social
- If you want a family member to understand that something good happened because of circumstances rather than pure effort, explain that after they've seen the good outcome, not as a disclaimer beforehand — timing changes whether it reads as reflection or excuse-making.
Ask yourself
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