Sanskrit
नाहं वेदैर्न तपसा न दानेन न चेज्यया । शक्य एवंविधो द्रष्टुं दृष्टवानसि मां यथा ॥
nāhaṃ vedair na tapasā na dānena na cejyayā śakya evaṃvidho draṣṭuṃ dṛṣṭavān asi māṃ yathā
Translation
Nor can I be seen as thou hast seen Me by the Vedas, nor by austerities, nor by alms, or by offerings;
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna repeats verse 48’s list almost exactly — Vedas, austerity, alms, ritual offering — but the repetition itself is the point. This isn’t new information; it’s the negative half of an argument being restated immediately before its positive resolution, the classic rhetorical setup where the same claim is driven home twice before the actual answer is allowed to land. The sentence doesn’t even close on its own; it runs straight into verse 54, withholding the positive method for one more line of suspense before naming it. BG 11.48’s list, restated almost exactly — the repetition is the point: the negative half of an argument driven home twice before its resolution. The sentence runs straight into BG 11.54, withholding the positive method one more line.
Study deeper
Word by word
- nāhaṃ vedair na tapasāनाहं वेदैः न तपसा
- not I, by the Vedas, nor by austerity (na + aham + vedaiḥ + na + tapasā)
- na dānena na cejyayāन दानेन न चेज्यया
- nor by gift, nor by sacrifice (na + dānena + na + ca + ijyayā)
- śakya evaṃvidho draṣṭuṃशक्य एवंविधो द्रष्टुं
- can [I], in such a form, be seen (śakyaḥ + evam-vidhaḥ + draṣṭum)
- dṛṣṭavān asi māṃ yathāदृष्टवान् असि मां यथा
- as you have seen Me (dṛṣṭavān + asi + mām + yathā)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna is essentially repeating himself — verse 48’s list returns almost intact — and restating your own point immediately before delivering the payoff is a specific pedagogical choice: it removes any chance the listener missed the ground-clearing the first time around, so that whatever comes next in verse 54 cannot be mistaken for one more item to add to the list rather than the answer replacing it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you're about to share the real answer to something you've been circling, it can help to briefly restate what doesn't work one more time immediately beforehand — repetition right before the payoff makes sure the real answer registers as the answer, not as one more option among several.
Professional
- Before delivering the actual recommendation in a proposal, briefly restating why the alternatives were ruled out right before the payoff sharpens how the audience receives it — the repetition isn't redundant, it's making sure the recommendation reads as a conclusion, not one more item in a list.
Family & Social
- Before finally telling someone close to you the real reason behind a decision, briefly re-naming what it wasn't about first, even if you've said it before, can help the actual reason land clearly as the answer, rather than getting lost among everything you'd already ruled out.
Ask yourself
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