विस्तरेणात्मनो योगं विभूतिं च जनार्दन | भूयः कथय तृप्तिर्हि श्रृण्वतो नास्ति मेऽमृतम् ||१८||
vistareṇātmano yogaṃ vibhūtiṃ ca janārdana | bhūyaḥ kathaya tṛptir hi śṛṇvato nāsti me'mṛtam || 18 ||
Tell me again in full of Your yoga and vibhūtis, O Janārdana — I am never sated hearing Your nectar-speech.
Word by word (3)
- vistareṇa ātmano yogaṃ vibhūtiṃ ca janārdana bhūyaḥ kathaya
- — Tell me again in detail, O Janārdana, of Your yoga and vibhūtis · vistareṇa = in detail, at length (instrumental of vistara = expansion, elaboration — from vi + √stṛ = to spread out; vistareṇa = 'in an expanded way, with full elaboration, in detail'). ātmanaḥ = Your own, of the Self (genitive of ātman = Self; ātmanaḥ = 'of Your own Self, Your'). yogaṃ = yoga-power (here: the divine's creative/sustaining power; the yoga of the divine that produces creation and sustains it — V10.7's yogaṃ ca mama). vibhūtiṃ = vibhūti (accusative singular — the divine manifestations). ca = and. janārdana = O Janārdana (vocative — janā = people/beings + ardana = one who stirs/invokes/beseeches; janārdana = 'the one whom all people pray to / who stirs people toward God' — SW commentary: 'to whom all pray for prosperity'). bhūyaḥ = again, further, more (adverb — 'once more, again, yet further'). kathaya = tell, speak (imperative of √kath = to narrate, to speak; kathaya = 'tell! narrate! speak!'). bhūyaḥ kathaya = 'tell me again' — not because Arjuna hasn't heard but because the hearing itself is delightful and he wants more. V18's bhūyaḥ (again) connects to V10.1's bhūyaḥ eva (again) — the chapter opened with Krishna saying 'hear Me again'; now Arjuna requests the same: 'tell me again in detail.'
- tṛptir hi śṛṇvato nāsti me amṛtam
- — I am never satiated hearing Your nectar-like speech · tṛptiḥ = satiation, contentment, fullness (from √tṛp = to be satisfied; tṛpti = 'satisfaction, satiation, contentment'). hi = indeed, for (particle — 'for, because, truly'). śṛṇvataḥ = of (me) hearing (genitive present participle of √śru = to hear; śṛṇvataḥ = 'of one who is hearing, of the hearer'). na asti = there is not. me = my, of me (genitive). amṛtam = nectar (a = not; mṛta = death; amṛta = 'deathless, nectar of immortality' — ambrosia). tṛptir hi śṛṇvato nāsti me'mṛtam = 'I am not satiated hearing Your nectar' / 'there is no satiation for me in hearing Your immortal (speech).' The amṛtam (nectar/immortality) metaphor: Krishna's words are amṛta — the nectar of immortality that the gods obtained from the cosmic ocean-churning. Hearing these words is like drinking amṛta: it satisfies at one level (the hearing is blissful) but the thirst returns because the nectar is inexhaustible. This is the highest bhakti quality: the devotee never tires of the beloved's words. Compare to V2.70's ocean analogy: the brahma-vit is like the ocean that takes in all rivers without being filled — V18's Arjuna is the inverse: he takes in all of Krishna's words without being filled either, because the source is inexhaustible.
- amṛtam — nectar and immortality: why Krishna's words are amṛta
- — V18's amṛtam (nectar/immortality) names why hearing the vibhūti teaching produces inexhaustible satisfaction — the teaching connects to the divine's own inexhaustibility (V10.19's na anto vistarasya me) · The amṛta (nectar/immortality) metaphor in V18 connects to V9.20's soma-pāḥ (soma-drinkers who seek heaven) and their ā-tṛpti (temporary satisfaction). Arjuna's tṛptir nāsti (never satiated) is the devotional opposite of soma-thirst: the soma-drinker is temporarily satisfied and returns to thirst (V9.21's ā-āvṛtti — they return); the devotee hearing amṛtam is inexhaustibly satisfied precisely because the source is inexhaustible. V18's inexhaustibility connects to V10.19's na anto vistarasya me (there is no end to My extent) — the teaching that cannot be exhausted mirrors the divine presence that cannot be exhausted. The three Arjuna verses (V16-V18) thus give three qualities of the ideal receiver of the vibhūti teaching: (1) V16: asks completely (aśeṣeṇa); (2) V17: asks practically (for meditation method); (3) V18: asks from devotional delight (never satiated). All three together describe the ideal student-devotee: comprehensive, practical, and joyfully devoted.
V18 is Arjuna's third and most devotional of his three questions (V16-V18): vistareṇa ātmano yogaṃ vibhūtiṃ ca bhūyaḥ kathaya (tell me again in detail of Your yoga and vibhūtis) + tṛptir hi śṛṇvato nāsti me'mṛtam (I am never satiated hearing Your nectar). The bhūyaḥ (again) is the mark of devoted listening: not because you haven't heard but because the hearing itself is inexhaustibly satisfying. Krishna's teaching is amṛtam — the nectar of immortality that produces delight without end.
A modern analogy
A music lover who has heard a Beethoven symphony 50 times asks to hear it again — not because they failed to understand it but because the hearing itself is inexhaustibly satisfying. V18's tṛptir nāsti (never satiated) is this relationship to the divine teaching. The devotee's spiritual practice is not a task to be completed (then satiation comes) but an inexhaustible delight in the presence of the divine's wisdom.
What it does NOT mean
V18's bhūyaḥ kathaya (tell me again) is not repetition-seeking out of failure to understand. Arjuna has understood (V12-V15 show this). He asks again from the bhakti of inexhaustible love for the teaching — the way a devotee sings a bhajan again and again not from failing to learn it but from never tiring of the bliss of singing it. This is the quality of the highest devotion: inexhaustible delight in the beloved's words.
Take with you
- V18's tṛptir nāsti me'mṛtam (never satiated in hearing the nectar) as the test of genuine spiritual engagement: does your spiritual practice feel like amṛta (inexhaustibly nourishing) or like a task to be completed (seeking tṛpti = eventual satiation/completion)? V18 suggests that genuine engagement with the divine's teaching produces the first quality — if practice feels like obligation-completion, it may need the bhāva-samanvita (loving-devotion quality of V8) to be reinvested.
- V18's bhūyaḥ (again) as a model for how to read the Gita: read it again. And again. Not because you forgot but because each reading reveals new vibhūtis. The Gita is amṛtam — its inexhaustibility is not a problem but a gift. Arjuna asking bhūyaḥ kathaya (tell me again) normalizes the devotee's return to the same teachings with inexhaustible attention.
- V18's three-verse quality (V16+V17+V18 = complete, practical, joyful) as the model for approaching spiritual teachings: (1) ask completely; (2) ask practically; (3) approach with inexhaustible delight. If one of the three is missing, investigate: Is something held back (not aśeṣeṇa)? Is practical application being avoided? Is the joy of the teaching absent?
V10.18 closes the three-verse Arjuna request block (V16-V18) with the most emotionally vivid expression: the amṛtam (nectar/immortality) metaphor for the divine's teaching. The three verses give three dimensions of the ideal receiver: 1. V16: intellectual (ask completely — aśeṣeṇa) 2. V17: practical (ask for method — kathaṃ vidyām sadā) 3. V18: devotional (ask from inexhaustible love — tṛptir nāsti) The combination of all three in one student (Arjuna) is the Gita's portrait of the ideal disciple: intellectually open, practically oriented, and devotionally inexhaustible. This is exactly the combination of jñāna + karma + bhakti that the Gita synthesizes throughout. The amṛtam metaphor in V18 is philosophically significant: amṛta (the nectar of immortality) is the substance the gods obtained from the cosmic ocean-churning (kṣīra-sāgara manthan) in the Puranic myth. It is the divine's own substance — inexhaustible, life-giving, bliss-producing. Calling Krishna's teaching amṛtam identifies it with the divine's own self-revelation: inexhaustible (V10.19: na anto vistarasya me), bliss-producing (V9's ānanda quality of bhakti), and life-giving (V15.13: I enter the earth and sustain beings).
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: amṛtam = the teaching of Brahman = ātman, which is itself amṛta (deathless, immortal). Hearing it is drinking from the source of immortality. The tṛptir nāsti (never satiated) is paradoxically the mark of genuine satisfaction with Brahman: ordinary satisfactions are complete (tṛpti); the satisfaction of Brahman-recognition is inexhaustible because the source (Brahman) is inexhaustible. V18's never-satisfied hearing is the bhakti path's expression of the advaita truth of Brahman's inexhaustibility.
Bhakti lens
For bhakti, V18 is the ultimate description of harikathā (devotional narration/singing) — the inexhaustible bliss of hearing about the divine. The tradition of kīrtana, pravacana, and satsang is grounded in V18's tṛptir nāsti: one can never hear enough of the divine's glory. V18 thus sanctions the devotional tradition's apparently repetitive practice: the repetition is not because nothing new is learned but because the nectar never loses its taste. Arnold's translation captures this beautifully: 'Never enough / Can mine ears drink the Amrit of such words!'
Karma-Yoga lens
V18 for karma yoga: the janārdana (one to whom all pray) vocative connects to V16's aśeṣeṇa request. The karma yogi who acts for the janārdana — the one to whom all beings' welfare is directed — acts from the same inexhaustible motivation as V18's hearing: never satiated in the service because the source of the service is inexhaustible. The karma yoga devotee doesn't get exhausted in service because the amṛtam quality pervades both the practice and its ground.
Modern parallels
V18's amṛtam (nectar) that never produces final satiation parallels Csikszentmihalyi's 'flow' state: activities that produce flow are intrinsically motivating — they produce satisfaction in the doing, not in the completion. The practitioner in flow doesn't want to stop; like V18's Arjuna, they are never satiated because the activity itself (not its product) is the reward. The vibhūti teaching is a flow activity for Arjuna: hearing itself is the reward.
Practice
V18 amṛtam meditation: bring to mind the most alive spiritual teaching you have received — one that consistently nourishes. Hold it like amṛtam: taste it, let it enter, notice the inexhaustible quality (tṛptir nāsti — not tired of it, wanting more). Then hold V18's bhūyaḥ: 'Tell me more, O divine — I am never satiated.' Sit in open reception. Let this openness itself be the meditation — the open posture of never being full, always receptive. 15 minutes.
Public-domain translations (2) compare all →
Speak to me again in detail, O Janardana, of Thy Yoga-powers and attributes; for I am never satiated in hearing the ambrosia (of Thy speech). [4]
Ah! yet again recount, / Clear and complete, Thy great appearances, / The secrets of Thy Majesty and Might, / Thou High Delight of Men! Never enough / Can mine ears drink the Amrit of such words! [7]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Again, O mighty-armed — hear My supreme word: I speak it to you who love Me, out of desire for your welfare.
Vedic ritualists drink soma, seek heaven — purified of sin, they attain Indra's realm and enjoy celestial pleasures.
Your natural eyes cannot see Me — I give you the divine eye; behold My supreme Yoga-power.
Instrument, offering, fire, act, destination — all Brahman. One absorbed in Brahman-action reaches Brahman alone.
Whatever you do, eat, offer, give, or practise as austerity — do it all as mad-arpaṇam, an offering to Me.
I am the origin of all; from Me all evolves — knowing this, the wise worship Me with loving devotion.