Sanskrit
इदं ते नातपस्काय नाभक्ताय कदाचन । न चाशुश्रूषवे वाच्यं न च मां योऽभ्यसूयति ॥ ६७ ॥
idaṃ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṃ na ca māṃ yo'bhyasūyati
Translation
Never is this to be spoken by thee to anyone who is without asceticism, nor without devotion, nor to one who desireth not to listen, nor yet to him who speaketh evil of Me.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Immediately after the highest teaching comes a restriction: never speak this to one without austerity or devotion, unwilling to listen, or hostile to Krishna. It’s a gatekeeping clause in the oldest sense of wisdom literature — the text insists some teachings do real harm when handed to someone unprepared to receive them, and it states readiness in terms of disposition rather than status, in contrast to the birth-based sorting the chapter opened with. The teaching is not for everyone — it needs tapas (some discipline), bhakti (some love), śuśrūṣā (willingness to hear), and the absence of abhyasūyā (contempt). The same entry conditions as BG 4.39: without them it does not land.
Study deeper
Word by word
- idaṃ te nātapaskāyaइदं ते नातपस्काय
- this [teaching] of yours, never to one without austerity (idam + te + na + a-tapaskāya)
- nābhaktāya kadācanaनाभक्ताय कदाचन
- nor to one without devotion, ever (na + a-bhaktāya + kadācana)
- na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṃन चाशुश्रूषवे वाच्यं
- nor to one unwilling to listen — to be told (na + ca + a-śuśrūṣave + vācyam)
- na ca māṃ yo'bhyasūyatiन च मां योऽभ्यसूयति
- nor to one who carps at Me (na + ca + mām + yaḥ + abhyasūyati)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The four disqualifications aren’t identical in kind: lacking austerity or devotion is simply being unready, unwillingness to listen is passive resistance, and open hostility is active opposition. The restriction reads as a gradient of closedness rather than a single flat gate — the text discriminates between someone who isn’t ready yet and someone who has actively closed the door, and treats them differently in how much caution each warrants.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Before sharing something you've hard-won and care about, notice where the other person actually sits — simply unready is different from actively hostile, and the second calls for real restraint in a way the first doesn't.
Professional
- Before pushing a controversial recommendation on a stakeholder, distinguish between someone merely unfamiliar with the context and someone actively opposed — the first deserves patient explanation, the second deserves you holding back until the opposition itself is addressed.
Family & Social
- When deciding whether to bring up something sensitive with a family member, tell the difference between someone simply not ready to hear it yet and someone who's made clear they don't want to — the second deserves more restraint than the first.
Ask yourself
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