BHAGAVAD-GITA 7:24

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 7:24

 

avyaktam vyaktim apannam

manyante mam abuddhayah

param bhavam ajananto

mamavyayam anuttamam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

avyaktam--nonmanifested; vyaktim--personality; apannam--achieved;

manyante--think; mam--Me; abuddhayah--less intelligent persons;

param--supreme; bhavam--existence; ajanantah--without knowing;

mama--My; avyayam--imperishable; anuttamam--the finest.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, was impersonal before and have

now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do

not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.

 

PURPORT

 

Those who are worshipers of demigods have been described as less

intelligent persons, and here the impersonalists are similarly

described. Lord Krsna in His personal form is here speaking before

Arjuna, and still, due to ignorance, impersonalists argue that the

Supreme Lord ultimately has no form. Yamunacarya, a great devotee of

the Lord in the disciplic succession of Ramanujacarya, has written two

very appropriate verses in this connection. He says,

 

tvam sila-rupa-caritaih parama-prakrstaih

sattvena sattvikataya prabalais ca sastraih

prakhyata-daiva-paramartha-vidam matais ca

naivasura-prakrtayah prabhavanti boddhum

 

"My dear Lord, devotees like Vyasadeva and Narada know You to be the

Personality of Godhead. By understanding different Vedic literatures,

one can come to know Your characteristics, Your form and Your

activities, and one can thus understand that You are the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. But those who are in the modes of passion and

ignorance, the demons, the nondevotees, cannot understand You. They

are unable to understand You. However expert such nondevotees may be

in discussing Vedanta and the Upanisads and other Vedic literatures,

it is not possible for them to understand the Personality of Godhead."

(Stotra-ratna 12)

 

In the Brahma-samhita it is stated that the Personality of Godhead

cannot be understood simply by study of the Vedanta literature. Only

by the mercy of the Supreme Lord can the Personality of the Supreme be

known. Therefore in this verse it is clearly stated that not only are

the worshipers of the demigods less intelligent, but those nondevotees

who are engaged in Vedanta and speculation on Vedic literature without

any tinge of true Krsna consciousness are also less intelligent, and

for them it is not possible to understand God's personal nature.

Persons who are under the impression that the Absolute Truth is

impersonal are described as abuddhayah, which means those who do not

know the ultimate feature of the Absolute Truth. In the

Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that supreme realization begins from

the impersonal Brahman and then rises to the localized Supersoul--but

the ultimate word in the Absolute Truth is the Personality of Godhead.

Modern impersonalists are still less intelligent, for they do not even

follow their great predecessor Sankaracarya, who has specifically

stated that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Impersonalists, therefore, not knowing the Supreme Truth, think Krsna

to be only the son of Devaki and Vasudeva, or a prince, or a powerful

living entity. This is also condemned in the Bhagavad-gita (9.11).

Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam: "Only the fools regard Me

as an ordinary person."

 

The fact is that no one can understand Krsna without rendering

devotional service and without developing Krsna consciousness. he

Bhagavatam (10.14.29) confirms this:

 

athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-

prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi

janati tattvam bhagavan mahimno

na canya eko 'pi ciram vicinvan

 

"My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your

lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But

those who speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead

are unable to know You, even though they continue to study the Vedas

for many years." One cannot understand the Supreme Personality of

Godhead, Krsna, or His form, quality or name simply by mental

speculation or by discussing Vedic literature. One must understand Him

by devotional service. When one is fully engaged in Krsna

consciousness, beginning by chanting the maha-mantra--Hare Krsna, Hare

Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare

Hare--then only can one understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Nondevotee impersonalists think that Krsna has a body made of this

material nature and that all His activities, His form and everything

are maya. These impersonalists are known as Mayavadis. They do not

know the ultimate truth.

 

The twentieth verse clearly states, kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah

prapadyante

'nya-devatah. "Those who are blinded by lusty desires surrender unto the

different demigods." It is accepted that besides the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, there are demigods who have their different

planets, and the Lord also has a planet. As stated in the twenty-third

verse, devan deva-yajo yanti mad-bhakta yanti mam api: the worshipers

of the demigods go to the different planets of the demigods, and those

who are devotees of Lord Krsna go to the Krsnaloka planet. Although

this is clearly stated, the foolish impersonalists still maintain that

the Lord is formless and that these forms are impositions. From the

study of the Gita does it appear that the demigods and their abodes

are impersonal? Clearly, neither the demigods nor Krsna, the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, are impersonal. They are all persons; Lord

Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He has His own

planet, and the demigods have theirs.

 

Therefore the monistic contention that ultimate truth is formless and

that form is imposed does not hold true. It is clearly stated here

that it is not imposed. From the Bhagavad-gita we can clearly

understand that the forms of the demigods and the form of the Supreme

Lord are simultaneously existing and that Lord Krsna is

sac-cid-ananda, eternal blissful knowledge. The Vedas also confirm

that the Supreme Absolute Truth is ananda-mayo 'bhyasat, or by nature

full of blissful pleasure, and that He is the reservoir of unlimited

auspicious qualities. And in the Gita the Lord says that although He

is aja

(unborn), He still appears. These are the facts that we should understand

from the Bhagavad-gita. We cannot understand how the Supreme

Personality of Godhead can be impersonal; the imposition theory of the

impersonalist monist is false as far as the statements of the Gita are

concerned. It is clear herein that the Supreme Absolute Truth, Lord

Krsna, has both form and personality.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.