Sanskrit
व्यासप्रसादाच्छ्रुतवानेतद् गुह्यमहं परम् । योगं योगेश्वरात्कृष्णात्साक्षात्कथयतः स्वयम् ॥ ७५ ॥
vyāsa-prasādāc chrutavān etad guhyam ahaṃ param yogaṃ yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇāt sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam
Translation
By the favour of Vyâsa I listened to this secret and supreme yoga from the Lord of Yoga, Krishna Himself, speaking before mine eyes.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Sanjaya credits Vyasa’s grace for the extraordinary fact of his own position — hearing this “secret and supreme yoga” directly from Krishna, “speaking before mine eyes.” It’s a small piece of meta-textual housekeeping, acknowledging that Sanjaya’s presence at a dialogue he wasn’t physically near required a gift outside the ordinary, and crediting the sage traditionally held to be the epic’s own author for granting it. Vyāsa-prasādāt — “by Vyāsa’s grace.” Sanjaya names his own link in the chain: Vyāsa granted him the far-sight, and through it he heard Krishna “sākṣāt, directly.” The reader is three removes from the field.
Study deeper
Word by word
- vyāsa-prasādāc chrutavān etadव्यास-प्रसादाच् छ्रुतवान् एतद्
- by Vyāsa's grace I have heard (vyāsa-prasādāt + śrutavān + etat)
- guhyam ahaṃ paramगुह्यं अहं परं
- this supreme secret (guhyam + aham + param)
- yogaṃ yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇātयोगं योगेश्वरात् कृष्णात्
- the yoga, from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga (yogam + yoga-īśvarāt + kṛṣṇāt)
- sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayamसाक्षात् कथयतः स्वयं
- speaking it directly, himself (sākṣāt + kathayataḥ + svayam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Sanjaya insists the experience was direct — sākṣāt, before his own eyes — in the same breath that he admits it was only possible because Vyasa gave it to him. The verse holds both without treating them as a contradiction: the experience is fully his, genuinely firsthand, and also entirely a gift he did nothing to earn.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- An opportunity someone else made possible for you doesn't make your experience of it any less genuinely yours — you can hold both at once: what you lived through was real and firsthand, and you still didn't earn the access to live it.
Professional
- A big opportunity a mentor or sponsor opened for you is still fully your accomplishment once you're in it — acknowledging the gift that got you there doesn't diminish the real, firsthand work you then did.
Family & Social
- A meaningful experience a parent or partner made possible for you is no less genuinely yours for having been given — you can be fully grateful for the gift and still own the experience itself as real and yours.
Ask yourself
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