Bg. 18.67

BG 18.67

Devanagari

इदं ते नातपस्काय नाभक्ताय कदाचन । न चाश‍ुश्रूषवे वाच्यं न च मां योऽभ्यसूयति ॥ ६७ ॥

Verse text

idaṁ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ na ca māṁ yo ’bhyasūyati

Synonyms

idam this ; te by you ; na never ; atapaskāya to one who is not austere ; na never ; abhaktāya to one who is not a devotee ; kadācana at any time ; na never ; ca also ; aśuśrūṣave to one who is not engaged in devotional service ; vācyam to be spoken ; na never ; ca also ; mām toward Me ; yaḥ anyone who ; abhyasūyati is envious.

Translation

This confidential knowledge may never be explained to those who are not austere, or devoted, or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

67. This is not to be spoken to one without control of his senses, to one without true devotion, to one who does not render humble service, or to one who envies Me, thinking that I am material.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

67. This is not to be spoken to one without control of his senses, to one without true devotion, to one who is not willing to hear, or to one who envies Me, thinking that I am material.

Purport

Persons who have not undergone the austerities of the religious process, who have never attempted devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, who have not tended a pure devotee, and especially those who are conscious of Kṛṣṇa only as a historical personality or who are envious of the greatness of Kṛṣṇa should not be told this most confidential part of knowledge. It is, however, sometimes found that even demoniac persons who are envious of Kṛṣṇa, worshiping Kṛṣṇa in a different way, take to the profession of explaining Bhagavad-gītā in a different way to make business, but anyone who desires actually to understand Kṛṣṇa must avoid such commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā. Actually the purpose of Bhagavad-gītā is not understandable to those who are sensuous. Even if one is not sensuous but is strictly following the disciplines enjoined in the Vedic scripture, if he is not a devotee he also cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. And even when one poses himself as a devotee of Kṛṣṇa but is not engaged in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities, he also cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. There are many persons who envy Kṛṣṇa because He has explained in Bhagavad-gītā that He is the Supreme and that nothing is above Him or equal to Him. There are many persons who are envious of Kṛṣṇa. Such persons should not be told of Bhagavad-gītā, for they cannot understand. There is no possibility of faithless persons’ understanding Bhagavad-gītā and Kṛṣṇa. Without understanding Kṛṣṇa from the authority of a pure devotee, one should not try to comment upon Bhagavad-gītā.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Having given the instructions of the scripture of the Gītā, the Lord now indicates the process for passing on the information, starting a sampradāya. Atapaskāya refers to one who does not control his senses. The smṛti says: manasaś cendriyāṇāṁ ca aikāgryaṁ paramaṁ tapaḥ Concentration of the mind and senses on one object is the greatest austerity. Mahābhārata, Śānti Parvā, 23 Even if a person controls the senses, if he is not a devotee, he should not be taught. Even if he is qualified with three good qualities just mentioned (sense control, devotion and obedience), he should not be taught if he is envious Me, if he thinks that I am a combination of material qualities contaminating the pure Brahman.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

In this verse the Lord instructs that the teachings of the Gītā which He Himself has taught should be given to qualified candicates only, not the unqualified. This scripture should not be spoken by you to a person who does not have sense control (atapaskāya). Even if he does control the senses, it should to be given to the non-devotee, who has no devotion to you, the teacher of the scripture, and to Me, the Supreme Lord, the maker of the scripture. And even if he controls the senses, and has devotion to you and Me, you should not teach to him if he has no desire to hear it. You should never speak it to that person who envies Me, the Supreme Lord, who possesses eternal form and eternal qualities, to that person who attributes material form and qualities to Me. The declension, nominative case (yaḥ) is used for the envious person instead of dative case which was used for the others in the list (atapaskāya, abhaktāya, aśuśrūṣave) to point out his particular degraded nature. The author of Vedānta says anāviṣkurvann anvayāt: the teacher should tell the disciple not to reveal the knowledge to the unqualified person, because that is the custom. (Vedānta Sūtra 3.4.50)