Sanskrit
सुदुर्दर्शमिदं रूपं दृष्टवानसि यन्मम । देवा अप्यस्य रूपस्य नित्यं दर्शनकाङ्क्षिणः ॥
sudurdarśam idaṃ rūpaṃ dṛṣṭavān asi yan mama devā apy asya rūpasya nityaṃ darśanakāṅkṣiṇaḥ
Translation
This Form of Mine beholden by thee is very hard to see. Verily the Shining Ones ever long to behold this form.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna opens the chapter’s final teaching by reframing what just happened — not as an ordeal Arjuna survived, but as a privilege even the gods don’t have permanent access to. “Devā apy… nityaṃ darśanakāṅkṣiṇaḥ,” the gods themselves are perpetually longing to see this form — the same beings cataloged back in verses 21 and 22 as astonished witnesses turn out to be, by this line, no more secure in their access to the vision than Arjuna was. It sets up the three verses that follow, which explain exactly why that access is so hard to come by and what actually grants it.