Chapter 2Verse 29 of 72

Bhagavad Gita 2.29

आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेनमाश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्यः । आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः शृणोति श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित् ॥

āścarya-vat paśyati kaścid enam āścarya-vad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ | āścarya-vac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti śrutvāpy enaṃ veda na caiva kaścit ||

Translation

Some look upon this as a wonder, others speak of it as a wonder, and others hear of it as a wonder. And yet, even after hearing, no one truly knows it.

Āścarya-vat. Like a wonder. Three times. The first honest line in the section. The atman is the kind of thing that some see, some speak of, some hear about; and even after hearing, no one truly knows. Krishna names the limit of the teaching itself. The words can point. They cannot deliver the thing. Shankara reads this as the verse that names self-knowledge as different in kind from textbook knowledge. You can rehearse the doctrine perfectly and still not have arrived. The verse builds humility into the curriculum.

Reflection

What teaching can you recite perfectly that you have not yet arrived at?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Two

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