4.34 Bowing, asking, serving Krishna speaks
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः
tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśhnena sevayā
upadekṣhyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśhinaḥ
Learn it by bowing down, by asking, by serving. Those who know will teach you.
Explanation
By bowing down, by asking, by serving.
Three ordinary verbs, and none of them is reading.
The Gita is a text, and here it says the knowledge comes from a person you approach and attend to. It is also, at this moment, a description of exactly what Arjuna is doing in the chariot.
Going further
Word by word
- tat
- the Truth
- viddhi
- try to learn
- praṇipātena
- by approaching a spiritual master
- paripraśhnena
- by humble inquiries
- sevayā
- by rendering service
- upadekṣhyanti
- can impart
- te
- unto you
- jñānam
- knowledge
- jñāninaḥ
- the enlightened
- tattva-darśhinaḥ
- those who have realized the Truth
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By bowing down, by asking, by serving.
Three ordinary verbs, and none of them is reading. The Gita is a text, and here it says the thing it teaches is not primarily got from texts. That is a strange admission for a scripture to make about itself, and an honest one.