Bhagavad Gita 11.53
नाहं वेदैर्न तपसा न दानेन न चेज्यया | शक्य एवंविधो द्रष्टुं दृष्टवानसि मां यथा ||
nāhaṁ vedair na tapasā na dānena na cejyayā | śakya evaṁ-vidho draṣṭuṁ dṛṣṭavān asi māṁ yathā ||
Translation
Not by the Vedas, not by austerities, not by gifts, not by sacrifice, can I be seen in such a form as you have seen me.
Reflection
What route have you been told no by, and can you let it stay no while another door opens?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eleven
Not by the Vedas, not by austerities, not by gifts, not by sacrifice, can I be seen in such a form as you have seen me. The exact phrasing of 11.48 returns. Na vedair na tapasa na danena na cha ijyaya. The four standard means listed and denied. Drashtum drishtavan asi yatha. To be seen as you have seen. The doubling with the prior verse is intentional. Krishna emphasizes by repeating that the form is not bought by religious technique, however severe. The reader who would hope to earn this sight is being closed off from that route deliberately. The next verse will say what does open it. The closing teaching depends on the listener fully receiving this no before receiving that yes.