व्यासप्रसादाच् छ्रुतवान् एतद् गुह्यम् अहं परम् । योगं योगेश्वरात् कृष्णात् साक्षात् कथयतः स्वयम् ॥
vyāsa-prasādāc chrutavān etad guhyam ahaṃ param | yogaṃ yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇāt sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam ||
Through Vyāsa's grace, I heard this supreme secret Yoga directly from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, speaking Himself.
Word by word (3)
- vyāsa-prasādāc chrutavān etad guhyam ahaṃ param
- — vyāsa-prasādāt = through the grace/favour of Vyāsa (the sage Vyāsa/Vedavyāsa, compiler of the Mahabharata, granted Sañjaya the divine sight and hearing for reporting the battle and the Gita; prasāda = grace, lit. 'making clear/pure'); chrutavān = I have heard (past active participle, first person: 'one who has heard' = aham); etad = this; guhyam = secret/mystery (from guh = to conceal; the most profound knowledge); param = supreme
- yogaṃ yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇāt
- — yogam = yoga (the entire teaching of the Gita as Yoga — both the general yoga and specifically the bhakti-yoga culmination); yogeśvarāt = from the Lord of Yoga (yoga + īśvara = Lord; yogeśvara is one of Krishna's central epithets — the one who commands, embodies, and gives the gift of yoga); kṛṣṇāt = from Krishna (ablative; hearing FROM Krishna — the source is unambiguous)
- sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam
- — sākṣāt = directly, face-to-face (lit. 'with eyes/witnesses'; in-person; not through any intermediary); kathayataḥ = speaking/telling (present participle, genitive: from Him who was speaking); svayam = himself, personally (svayam = the self; emphatic: not through another, not symbolically, but He Himself speaking) — Sañjaya's testimony: I heard the supreme yoga from the Lord of Yoga Himself, speaking in person, directly
Through the grace of Vyāsa, I (Sañjaya) have heard this supreme and most secret Yoga directly from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, Himself speaking in person.
A modern analogy
V75 is Sañjaya's source citation — the ancient equivalent of 'I was in the room where it happened.' A journalist reports: 'Through my editor's assignment (vyāsa-prasādāt), I was present and heard directly from the President himself (sākṣāt svayam) this most confidential policy (guhyam param).' Sañjaya's special gift was Vyāsa's divine sight and hearing — the technology of transmission that allows the Gita to be known at all.
V75 establishes the transmission lineage of the Gita: Brahman/Truth → Krishna (the Lord of Yoga who embodies and speaks) → Sañjaya (through Vyāsa's prasāda, the divinely-gifted hearer) → Dhṛtarāṣṭra (the immediate audience) → the world (all subsequent readers). This lineage is the Gita's sampradāya-foundation: the teaching is not Sañjaya's interpretation or Vyāsa's creation — it is yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇāt sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam (from the Lord of Yoga Himself, speaking directly). The teacher's authenticity is the ground of the teaching's authority.
Yogeśvara (Lord of Yoga) as Krishna's closing title is the culminating characterisation: the entire Gita has been the yogeśvara's transmission. The first verse of the Gita (Ch.1 V1) opens with Dhṛtarāṣṭra asking Sañjaya — and the last testimony (V74-V78) is Sañjaya closing that same frame. The form of the Gita — dialogue-within-narrative, transmitted through divinely-gifted hearing — is itself a teaching about how sacred knowledge is received: through prasāda (grace), ekāgreṇa cetasā (one-pointed mind), and direct presence.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Through the grace of Vyasa have I heard this Supreme and most secret Yoga direct from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, Himself speaking. [1]
Through the grace of Vyasa have I heard this supreme and most profound Yoga, direct from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, Himself speaking. [4]
By favour of Vyasa have I heard this supreme mystery of devotion from Krishna, the Lord of devotion, himself speaking face to face. [9]
Through Vyasa's grace have I heard this supreme mystery of Yoga from the Lord of Yoga Himself, Krishna, speaking in person. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Taking refuge in ego, power, arrogance, kāma, krodha — they hate Me in their own bodies and in others.
At the end of many births, the wise takes refuge in Me — 'Vāsudeva is all.' That great soul is exceedingly rare.
Taking refuge in Me for liberation from old age and death — they know Brahman, Adhyātma, and all of Karma.
By bhakti one truly knows what and who I am; then knowing Me truly, one enters into Me immediately.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
I am the Goal, Lord, Witness, Abode, Refuge, Friend — and the Origin, Dissolution, Seed imperishable.