Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Now in 53 Krishna will describe what are the ways by which one cannot see Him.

Bg 11.53

nāhaṁ vedair na tapasā
na dānena na cejyayā
śakya evaṁ-vidho draṣṭuṁ
dṛṣṭavān asi māṁ yathā

Synonyms: 

na — never; aham — I; vedaiḥ — by study of the Vedas; na — never; tapasā — by serious penances; na — never; dānena — by charity; na — never; ca — also; ijyayā — by worship; śakyaḥ — it is possible; evam–vidhaḥ — like this; draṣṭum — to see; dṛṣṭavān — seeing; asi — you are; mām — Me; yathā — as.

Translation: 

The form you are seeing with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply by studying the Vedas, nor by undergoing serious penances, nor by charity, nor by worship. It is not by these means that one can see Me as I am.

Impersonalist says that when you are less intelligent you can think of a form and when you are more intelligent you can go to form less but here Krishna is saying seeing Him is not possible by any of these means, it is very-very difficult not at all easy. 

Krishna doesn’t say that seeing is for normal people and going beyond is rare.

It is so rare that with normal vedic process of elevation one cannot get to see it. Vedic process of elevation generally gives Punya and it take one to Swarga but they cannot take one beyond. 

So these are the four things 

(1) study, recitation, memorization of Vedas e.g. Keshav Kashmiri 

(2) by doing lot of austerities e.g. milk drinking Brahmana in CC. It requires pure devotion 

(3) just by giving Charity e.g. Karna

(4) ijyayā means worship, ijyayā  can mean deity worship but normally ijyayā  in vedic context means fire sacrifices by worship, when Brahman is chanting mantra and offering ahuti that is ijyayā . Offering are going to all gods through fire god. E.g. Yagic Brahmanas.

In CC when Lord Chaitanya allowed Mukunda to come and see Him that time Mukunda prayed and thanked Lord to allow him to see Him and he says just seeing You is not seeing You as even demons like Hiranyakaspu, Kamsa etc. sees You, so real seeing You is seeing with devotion and that can happen only when there is devotion so please grant me devotion. So You have allowed me to see You but also kindly give me devotion.

So all these activities mentioned here are good but they alone don’t lead to vision of Lord, which means one may be able to see the Lord but one may not able to understand the significance of having darshan of the Lord.

End of transcription.