Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Bg 11.48

na veda-yajñādhyayanair na dānair
na ca kriyābhir na tapobhir ugraiḥ
evaṁ-rūpaḥ śakya ahaṁ nṛ-loke
draṣṭuṁ tvad anyena kuru-pravīra

Synonyms: 

na — never; veda–yajña — by sacrifice; adhyayanaiḥ — or Vedic study; na — never; dānaiḥ — by charity; na — never; ca — also; kriyābhiḥ — by pious activities; na — never; tapobhiḥ — by serious penances; ugraiḥ — severe; evam–rūpaḥ — in this form; śakyaḥ — can; aham — I; nṛ–loke — in this material world; draṣṭum — be seen; tvat— than you; anyena — by another; kuru–pravīra — O best among the Kuru warriors.

Translation: 

O best of the Kuru warriors, no one before you has ever seen this universal form of Mine, for neither by studying the Vedas, nor by performing sacrifices, nor by charity, nor by pious activities, nor by severe penances can I be seen in this form in the material world.

So Krishna is saying the vision / Darshna of Lord are not easy to see and they do not come by any material endeavor, so now we may wonder do these activities, veda-yajñādhyayanair na dānair, are material endeavor. Well the word material can have various connotations, the word material can be as contrasted to spiritual and in that sense that which is not spiritual is material we generally refer to word material as materialistic and materialistic refers to those people who are in passion and ignorance. Those who live in goodness have human sensitivity and human thoughtfulness and discrimination, so their activity can be material or spiritual, these two possibility are there for everyone but those in passion and ignorance will mostly act at materialistically. 

anyena kuru-pravīra, apart form you no body has seen this form it can be seen only through mercy.

End of transcription.,