भवाप्ययौ हि भूतानां श्रुतौ विस्तरशो मया।त्वत्तः कमलपत्राक्ष माहात्म्यमपि चाव्ययम्॥
bhavāpyayau hi bhūtānāṃ śrutau vistaraśo mayātvattaḥ kamala-patrākṣa māhātmyam api cāvyayam
Word by word
The verse says
I have heard from you in detail how beings come into being and pass away, lotus-eyed one, and about your greatness, which does not fade.
In plain words
He summarises what he has been told, accurately, before asking for anything.
How beings come to be. How they pass away. And the greatness behind both.
It is what somebody does when they have actually been listening. It is also why the next request is granted.
Where you've felt this · in family life
Your younger brother asks to borrow the car and starts by repeating back the three things you told him last time — about the handbrake, the petrol, and ringing if he is going to be late. He is not flattering you. He is establishing that the conversation is not starting from zero.
Going deeper
Repeating back what you were told is an underrated move, and Arjuna makes it before every significant request in this book.
It does two things. It shows the other person that nothing has to be covered again, and it shows the speaker himself what he has actually retained, which is often less than he assumed. Both are useful before asking for more.
There is also something specific in what he chooses to repeat. Not the philosophy of the self, which he has just called the highest secret, but the practical part: how things arise and end.
That is the part he is about to ask to see. Which suggests the request in the next verse is not a sudden impulse. He has been working up to it, and he knows exactly which part of what he has been told he wants to look at directly.