इदं ते नातपस्काय नाभक्ताय कदाचन ।
न चाशुश्रूषवे वाच्यं न च मां योऽभ्यसूयति ॥
idaṁ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana |
na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ na ca māṁ yo’bhyasūyati ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 18.67)
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] Neither to someone who is neglectful of austerity, nor to a non-bhakta, nor to someone who does not wish to listen, nor to someone who casts aspersions on me is this [i.e., this śāstra, Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā] ever to be spoken.”
Commentary
“Someone who is neglectful of austerity” (atapaska) refers to one who does not observe dharma (dharmānuṣṭhāna-hīnāya) according to Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda, and to one who in not in control of their senses according to Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda and Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇapāda (asaṁyatendriyāya; ajitendriyāya). “A non-bhakta” (abhakta) refers to someone devoid of bhakti to the guru [who teaches the Gītā] and Īśvara [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] according to Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda (gurāv īśvare ca bhakti-śūnyāya), and to one who has no bhakti to you the teacher of the śāstra [i.e., to Arjuna, who is being instructed in regard to potentially teaching others what he learned from Śrī Kṛṣṇa] and me, the subject to be taught by the śāstra [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] according to Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇapāda (śāstropadeṣṭari tvayi śāstra-pratipādye mayi ca). “Someone who does not wish to listen” (aśuśrūṣu) refers to one who does not engage in service [as directed by the teacher] (cāśuśrūṣave paricaryām akurvate) according to Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda. “Someone who casts aspersions on me” means one who defames me, the Supreme Lord, by attributing faults [to me] based on human vision [i.e., seeing me as an ordinary human being] according to Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda (māṁ parameśvaraṁ yo’bhyasūyati manuṣya-dṛṣṭyā doṣāropeṇa nindati), one who attributes false, human faults to me, the Complete Brahman free from all adjuncts according to Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda (mām abhyasūyati mayi nirupādhi-pūrṇa-brahmaṇi māyā-sāvarṇya-doṣam āropayati), and one who casts aspersions on me, the Lord of all possessed of a form of eternal qualities, that is, to one who attributes the state of being a form constituted of māyā’s guṇas to me according to Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇapāda (māṁ sarveśvaraṁ nitya-guṇa-vigraham abhyasūyati mayi māyika-guṇa-vigrahatām āropayati).