← Chapter 10 · Divine Glories

Bhagavad Gita 10.13 · Arjuna

From hearsay to hearing

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आहुस्त्वामृषयः सर्वे देवर्षिर्नारदस्तथा।

असितो देवलो व्यासः स्वयं चैव ब्रवीषि मे॥

āhustvāmṛṣayaḥ sarve devarṣirnāradastathāasito devalo vyāsaḥ svayaṃ caiva bravīṣi me

All the sages say this of you, Narada the divine seer, Asita, Devala and Vyasa. And now you tell me yourself.

What it means

Arjuna had heard great sages praise Krishna as divine. He had nodded, the way we nod at things we have been told. Now the same truth comes from Krishna himself. Tradition and direct encounter meet. What was secondhand becomes firsthand.

The story

Vyasa, named here, is the sage traditionally credited with composing the Mahabharata itself. He visited the Pandavas in their hardest years. Arjuna remembers those voices, and now hears the one they were all pointing to.

In your life

A woman has read about the Grand Canyon all her life. Then she stands at the rim at sunrise and has no words at all. This month, go and see for yourself one thing you have only heard about.

First the sages told me. Now you do.