Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 18, Verse 55
भक्त्या मामभिजानाति यावान्यश्चास्मि तत्त्वतः।ततो मां तत्त्वतो ज्ञात्वा विशते तदनन्तरम्।।
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram
also searched as "bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yashchasmi tattvatah"
Translation
Through devotion, he comes to know Me fully—who and what I am in reality, who I am and how I am. Knowing Me thus in truth, he forthwith enters into Me.
Vāṇi's rendering
By love one comes to know me as I truly am — how vast, and who. And knowing me truly, one enters me.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| भक्त्याbhaktyā | by love, by devotion |
| माम्mām | me |
| अभिजानातिabhijānāti | comes to know fully, recognizes |
| यावान्yāvān | how great, how vast in extent |
| यःyaḥ | who I am (sandhi: yaś in yaś cāsmi) |
| चca | and |
| अस्मिasmi | I am (sandhi: joined as cāsmi) |
| तत्त्वतःtattvataḥ | in truth, as it really is |
| ततःtataḥ | then, thereafter |
| माम्māṁ | me |
| तत्त्वतःtattvataḥ | in truth, as I really am |
| ज्ञात्वाjñātvā | having known |
| विशतेviśate | enters |
| तदनन्तरम्tad-anantaram | immediately after that, with nothing in between |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Verse 55 mean?
It means love is the door, not the reward. Through bhakti one comes to know Krishna as he actually is — how vast, and who — and that knowing is not the end either. Having known truly, one enters. Recognition and union are not two separate achievements; the second follows the first with nothing in between.
What does bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yashchasmi tattvatah teach us?
That the knowing Krishna speaks of is not information about him. Tattvataḥ means as-it-really-is, and no amount of accurate description reaches it. Love reaches it. Arjuna has heard the vast form and the quiet teaching alike; here he learns which faculty in him is meant to receive them.
Why does Krishna say knowledge comes through devotion and not the other way around?
Because knowledge gathered without love stays outside its object. You can study a person for years and not know them. Bhakti removes the distance first, and then seeing becomes possible. Krishna is not dismissing understanding — he is telling you which order it comes in.
What does it mean to enter Krishna after knowing him?
Viśate is a simple word — one enters. Not merged into an abstraction, not dissolved into nothing. Having known Krishna as he is, the knower is no longer standing apart to look. Tad-anantaram: immediately after. There is no waiting room between true knowing and being taken in.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Knowledge here is not the prize; it is what love does on the way. Krishna has spent seventeen chapters describing himself — vast, unborn, the knower in every field, the taste in water. Now he says the description is not how you arrive. By love. Not by study, not by discipline sharpened to a point, but bhakti — and then knowing follows, and then entering. Arjuna is not asked to be brilliant. He is asked to be devoted, and the rest arrives in order. You have probably tried to think your way close to someone you loved. It never worked. Love first; the seeing comes after.