BHAGAVAD-GITA 7:13

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 7:13

 

tribhir guna-mayair bhavair

ebhih sarvam idam jagat

mohitam nabhijanati

mam ebhyah param avyayam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

tribhih--three; guna-mayaih--consisting of the gunas; bhavaih--by the

states of being; ebhih--all these; sarvam--whole; idam--this;

jagat--universe; mohitam--deluded; na abhijanati--does not know;

mam--Me; ebhyah--above these; param--the Supreme;

avyayam--inexhaustible.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Deluded by the three modes [goodness, passion and ignorance], the

whole world does not know Me, who am above the modes and

inexhaustible.

 

PURPORT

 

The whole world is enchanted by three modes of material nature. Those

who are bewildered by these three modes cannot understand that

transcendental to this material nature is the Supreme Lord, Krsna.

 

Every living entity under the influence of material nature has a

particular type of body and a particular type of psychological and

biological activities accordingly. There are four classes of men

functioning in the three material modes of nature. Those who are

purely in the mode of goodness are called brahmanas. Those who are

purely in the mode of passion are called ksatriyas. Those who are in

the modes of both passion and ignorance are called vaisyas. Those who

are completely in ignorance are called sudras. And those who are less

than that are animals or animal life. However, these designations are

not permanent. I may either be a brahmana, ksatriya. vaisya or

whatever--in any case, this life is temporary. But although life is

temporary and we do not know what we are going to be in the next life,

by the spell of this illusory energy we consider ourselves in terms of

this bodily conception of life, and we thus think that we are

American, Indian, Russian, or brahmana. Hindu, Muslim, etc. And if we

become entangled with the modes of material nature, then we forget the

Supreme Personality of Godhead who is behind all these modes. So Lord

Krsna says that living entities deluded by these three modes of nature

do not understand that behind the material background is the Supreme

Personality of Godhead.

 

There are many different kinds of living entities--human beings,

demigods, animals, etc.--and each and every one of them is under the

influence of material nature, and all of them have forgotten the

transcendent Personality of Godhead. Those who are in the modes of

passion and ignorance, and even those who are in the mode of goodness,

cannot go beyond the impersonal Brahman conception of the Absolute

Truth. They are bewildered before the Supreme Lord in His personal

feature, which possesses all beauty, opulence, knowledge, strength,

fame and renunciation. When even those who are in goodness cannot

understand, what hope is there for those in passion and ignorance?

Krsna consciousness is transcendental to all these three modes of

material nature, and those who are truly established in Krsna

consciousness are actually liberated.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.