BG 18.67 idam te natapaskaya... cited

Expressions researched:
"18.67" |"idam te na atapaskaya" |"idam te natapaskaya" |"na ca mam yo 'bhyasuyati" |"na casusrusave vacyam" |"nabhaktaya kadacana"

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 18.67, Translation and Purport:

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.

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.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Prabhupāda: It is the conclusion of whole Bhagavad-gītā. Yes. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). It is very simple thing.

Indian: But it is...

Prabhupāda: Everywhere the same thing is. Everywhere the same thing. But it is concluded that sarva-guhyatamam: "I am speaking to you." in the Eighteenth Chapter. Just open the Eighteenth Chapter. Sarva, giving up meat-eating, giving up all kinds of intoxicants including coffee and tea, they are giving up illicit sex life—don't you think this is not tapasya? Great tapasya, at least for this country. So idaṁ te nātapaskāya. (BG 18.67) Without undergoing austerity, this science is difficult to understand. Therefore it is warned, idaṁ te nātapaskāya. Now people ask us, "Swamiji, why you make condition?" The condition, if I don't make condition, he'll not be able to understand it. But I don't make condition in the beginning. I invite everyone to come and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then you automatically accept all conditions. This is so nice. Because he becomes purified. When he's a little bit purified, he immediately accepts all conditions. So those who are not tapasvīs, or voluntarily accepting some, I mean to say, inconvenience... Suppose I am habituated to doing something, liquor or something. If I am stopped, there is inconvenience. But if somebody accepts voluntarily, "Yes, for Kṛṣṇa's sake I shall accept it," then I am stopped, there is inconvenience. But if somebody accepts voluntarily, "Yes, for Kṛṣṇa's sake I shall accept it," that is tapasya.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

"You are My dear friend." This is... Sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). "Whatever I've spoken, they are all nonsense. There is sense, but the truth which I am speaking to you just now, 'You just become My devotee, just think of Me, just offer your obeisances unto Me, just work for Me,' this is the most confidential." But those who are not able to understand, they are not to be spoken. They are to be instructed that "You become a yogi, you practice your breathing, you sit like this, you sit like that." Because he's unable to understand. Therefore He says, idaṁ te na atapaskāya. One who has not undergone severe austerities, don't speak this final knowledge. He'll not understand. He'll misunderstand. Just like scholars, like Radhakrishnan, misunderstands because he has no tapasya. It requires tapasya to understand this philosophy. Therefore Bhāgavata says tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). "My dear boys, just accept austerity voluntarily. Restrain."

Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972:

Prabhupāda:

idaṁ te nātapaskāya

nābhaktāya kadācana

na cāśuśruṣave vācyaṁ

na ca māṁ yo 'bhyasūyati

(BG 18.67)

So we were discussing this verse yesterday. So there are persons abhyasūyati, envious of Kṛṣṇa. Envious. Who is envious of Kṛṣṇa? Demons. Just like Kaṁsa. Always making plan, how to kill Kṛṣṇa. As soon as he heard that his eighth son of his sister Devakī would kill him, as soon as he heard this prophecy, he become a determined enemy of Kṛṣṇa. He was always thinking in a different way. Prātikūlyena. Ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlyaṁ vivarjanam. This devotional service means to accept favorable and reject unfavorable. This is called śaraṇāgati. Surrender means to accept favorable things, how I can make progress towards Kṛṣṇa, and prātikūlya, pratikūla means rejecting unfavorable things which are not very congenial for my progress to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Rakṣayiṣyaty iti viśvāsa-pālanam. And to have firm faith that "Kṛṣṇa will give me protection. Kṛṣṇa will give me protection."

Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972:

You have to approach a person who has seen tattva, tattva-darśinaḥ. So that tattva-darśī already explained. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). One can become tattva-darśī simply by devotional service. So for coming to the platform of devotional service one has to make some sacrifice. That is called tapasya. Tapasya means voluntarily accepting some difficult things. That is called tapasya. Therefore those who have not taken to that, those who have taken Bhagavad-gītā as a table talk, they cannot understand. Not Bhagavad-gītā should be preached amongst them. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is warning: idaṁ te na atapaskāya nābhaktāya. Idaṁ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana: (BG 18.67) "Never describe, never described this Bhagavad-gītā." Kṛṣṇa said in the previous verse... People will not be able to understand. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This simple fact cannot be understood by any man who has not undergone some austerities, penances, and who has not become a devotee. It is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is warning: "Don't speak to these nonsense. They will not understand." But a devotee of Kṛṣṇa tries to make them devotee. Because Kṛṣṇa, in the next verse, says, ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati (Bg 18.68). Mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati.

Lecture on BG 18.67-69 -- Ahmedabad, December 9, 1972:

Prabhupāda: ...about Kṛṣṇa's forbidding Arjuna not to speak this Bhagavad-gītā to a person who is not very much advanced in austerity and penance. The verse is on the Eighteenth Chapter, verse number 67, (BG 18.67) in which Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna:

idaṁ te nātapaskāya

nābhaktāya kadācana

na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ

na ca māṁ yo 'bhyasūyati

Kṛṣṇa says, "This confidential knowledge may not be explained to those who are not austere or devoted or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me." So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He knows very well that there will be so many rascals who are envious of Him. Actually, everyone is trying... Because Bhagavad-gītā is very popular book of profound knowledge, everyone is trying to prove his own theory through the medium of Bhagavad-gītā, excluding Kṛṣṇa. This is going on. They want to kill Kṛṣṇa, demonic. Anyone who is trying to kill Kṛṣṇa, he's a demon. So to warn the devotees from these demons, this śloka was spoken by Kṛṣṇa Himself.

Lecture on BG 18.67-69 -- Ahmedabad, December 9, 1972:

So Bhagavad-gītā is kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. Directly Kṛṣṇa giving the instruction. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the instruction about Kṛṣṇa. So this is our business. We have become guru, spiritual master, not with a false position, that "I have become God." No. We are servant, simply servant, ordinary servant. Just like post peon. Not very high salaried servant. Ordinary, third-class servant. What is our business? To deliver the letter. That's all. "Here is your letter, sir." So to become spiritual master is not very difficult. Any ordinary man can become, provided he becomes a pure servant, delivering the letter. "Here is Kṛṣṇa's message, sir. You surrender to Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa says, "Surrender unto Me." We, spiritual master, we say, "Surrender to Kṛṣṇa." Where is my difficulty? I haven't got to manufacture things by high meditation and tapasya. This is tapasya, simply to become a faithful servant of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. So where is the difficulty? This is tapasya, that "I shall not speak anything beyond what Kṛṣṇa has spoken." This is tapasya. But if I want to adulterate, "Oh, I am bigger than Kṛṣṇa. I am greater than Kṛṣṇa. I am Kṛṣṇa," then you spoil the whole thing. That's all. Therefore it is warned: idaṁ te na atapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana. (BG 18.67) "Never speak to rascals." Na ca aśuśrūṣave. One who's not... Here is another opportunity, one is eager to hear.

So we are speaking to persons who are at least eager to hear. Śuśrūṣave. Vācyaṁ na ca māṁ yaḥ abhyasūyati. Abhyasūyati means one who is envious. So this is right warning. But still, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to create the situation so that people may kindly hear about Kṛṣṇa. That is our business. Although it is warned that if we discriminate in that way, that here is a person, he has not undergone any austerities. He's not a devotee, he's not, I mean, prepared to hear, then where we shall find our customer? The whole world is like that.

Lecture on BG 18.67-69 -- Ahmedabad, December 9, 1972:

It is, these are not the subject matter of advanced in A-B-C-D. No. These are transcendental subject matter. Tat. Oṁ tat sat. Unless one is advanced... Everything... Just like on our ordinary life also, unless one has graduated, he cannot enter into the law college. So it is not prohibition. The law college is open for everyone. But he must be properly qualified to get entrance. Similarly, one must be properly qualified to enter into the transcendental subject matter. Everyone and anyone cannot. Śūdras, those who are in śūdra qualification, how they can understand Vedas? It is not possible.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa knows that mostly they are persons contaminated. Therefore He said, idaṁ te na atapaskāya. Those who are too much contaminated with the material qualities, three qualities: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa... So generally, people are contaminated with tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa. Hardly, at the present moment, hardly we shall find out one is qualified with the sattva-guṇa, brahminical qualification. Śāstra says, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In this age, Kali-yuga, mostly all of them are śūdras." No brāhmaṇa, no kṣatriya, no vaiśya, according to qualification. You can, by force, you can say, "I am brāhmaṇa; because I am son of a brāhmaṇa, I am brāhmaṇa." That you can do, but that is not the qualification. If somebody says, "My father is high-court judge. Therefore I am a high-court judge," is that very nice proposal? One must attain the qualification of high-court judge, even though he's a son of a high-court judge.

Lecture on BG 18.67-69 -- Ahmedabad, December 9, 1972:

So here Kṛṣṇa says that idaṁ te na atapaskāya na abhaktāya. Abhakta, rascal, will not understand what is Bhagavad-gītā. Nābhaktāya. In the beginning also, Kṛṣṇa, before speaking Bhagavad-gītā, He selected Arjuna because... He said, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me rahasyam etad uttamam: (BG 4.3) "The mystery of Bhagavad-gītā, it is very transcendental subject matter. Therefore I shall speak to you." "Why? Why You are selecting me? I am not a Vedantist. I am not a sannyāsī. I am ordinary gṛhastha. That also, I am a soldier, fighting man. Why You are selecting me?" Bhakto 'si: "Because you are My devotee." Nobody can understand Bhagavad-gītā unless he's a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. It is not a rascaldom, that you speculate some interpretation, speculation. No, these things are not allowed, strictly. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any malinterpretation. This is the significance. And people are appreciating. Macmillan Company, our publisher, they printed fifty thousand copies of this book in August, and it was finished by October. Not in this country, of course. In Europe and America. We have got very good demand for our books, all these books. We are selling twenty-five to thirty thousand rupees' worth books daily all over the world.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation in car -- May 23, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: There is sometimes a child is born with three heads. Sometimes it is. (laughter)

Devotee (1): Yes.

Prabhupāda: Therefore in Bhagavad-gītā it is said, idaṁ te na atapaskāya. Those who have no life of penance and austerities, don't talk with them. It will be a waste of time. You know that there is verse in the Bhagavad-gītā? In Eighteenth Chapter. Idaṁ te na atapaskāya, māṁ ca yaḥ abhyasūyati: "Persons who are envious of Me and those who have not undergone austerity and penances, don't talk with them." But we take the risk. We go even to these rascals. Because for Kṛṣṇa's sake, "Never mind, it will take some time. Let me try this rascal." Therefore the easiest process is that every rascal will agree to take nice food and dance. So induce them to come to us, dance, and take nice food. Let them come on this ground. And by hearing Hare Kṛṣṇa, gradually they will be all right. This is the policy. So far argument, logic, philosophy is concerned, they are beyond... Because they are animal. They cannot understand.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Read, after sixty-fourth verse, read all the verses.

Pradyumna:

sarva-guhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ

śṛnu me paramaṁ vacaḥ

iṣṭo 'si me dṛḍham iti

tato vakṣyāmi te hitam

(BG 18.64)

"Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you the most confidential part of knowledge. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit."

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto

mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru

mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te

pratijāne priyo 'si me

(BG 18.65)

"Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend."

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

(BG 18.66)

"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear."

idaṁ te nātapaskāya

nābhaktāya kadācana

na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ

na ca māṁ yo 'bhyasūyati

(BG 18.67)

"This confidential knowledge may not be explained to those who are not austere, or devoted, or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me."

ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ

mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati

bhaktiṁ mayi parāṁ kṛtvā

mām evaiṣyaty asaṁśayaḥ

(BG 18.68)

"For one who explains the supreme secret to the devotees, devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me."

na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu

kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ

bhavitā na ca me tasmād

anyaḥ priyataro bhuvi

(BG 18.69)

"There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear."

Prabhupāda: This is decided, that if we present this Bhagavad-gītā as it is, ya idaṁ param? What is that? Ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyam (Bg 18.68)?