BHAGAVAD-GITA 9:11

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 9:11

 

avajananti mam mudha

manusim tanum asritam

param bhavam ajananto

mama bhuta-mahesvaram

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

avajananti--deride; mam--Me; mudhah--foolish men; manusim--in a human

form; tanum--a body; asritam--assuming; param--transcendental;

bhavam--nature; ajanantah--not knowing; mama--My; bhuta--of everything

that be; maha-isvaram--the supreme proprietor.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My

transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be.

 

PURPORT

 

>From the other explanations of the previous verses in this chapter, it

is clear that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although appearing

like a human being, is not a common man. The Personality of Godhead,

who conducts the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the

complete cosmic manifestation, cannot be a human being. Yet there are

many foolish men who consider Krsna to be merely a powerful man and

nothing more. Actually, He is the original Supreme Personality, as is

confirmed in the Brahma-samhita

(isvarah paramah krsnah); He is the Supreme Lord.

 

There are many isvaras, controllers, and one appears greater than

another. In the ordinary management of affairs in the material world,

we find some official or director, and above him there is a secretary,

and above him a minister, and above him a president. Each of them is a

controller, but one is controlled by another. In the Brahma-samhita it

is said that Krsna is the supreme controller; there are many

controllers undoubtedly, both in the material and spiritual world, but

Krsna is the supreme controller (isvarah paramah krsnah). and His body

is sac--cid-ananda, nonmaterial.

 

Material bodies cannot perform the wonderful acts described in

previous verses. His body is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge.

Although He is not a common man, the foolish deride Him and consider

Him to be a man. His body is called here manusim because He is acting

just like a man, a friend of Arjuna's, a politician involved in the

Battle of Kuruksetra. In so many ways He is acting just like an

ordinary man, but actually His body is

sac--cid-ananda-vigraha--eternal bliss and knowledge absolute. This is

confirmed in the Vedic language also. Sac-cid-ananda-rupaya krsnaya:

"I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna,

who is the eternal blissful form of knowledge." (Gopala-tapani

Upanisad 1.1) There are other descriptions in the Vedic language also.

Tam ekam govindam: "You are Govinda, the pleasure of the senses and

the cows." Sac-cid-ananda-vigrahan: "And Your form is transcendental,

full of knowledge, bliss and eternality." (Gopala-tapani Upanisad

1.35)

 

Despite the transcendental qualities of Lord Krsna's body, its full

bliss and knowledge, there are many so-called scholars and

commentators of Bhagavad-gita who deride Krsna as an ordinary man. The

scholar may be born an extraordinary man due to his previous good

work, but this conception of Sri Krsna is due to a poor fund of

knowledge. Therefore he is called mudha. for only foolish persons

consider Krsna to be an ordinary human being. The foolish consider

Krsna an ordinary human being because they do not know the

confidential activities of the Supreme Lord and His different

energies. They do not know that Krsna's body is a symbol of complete

knowledge and bliss, that He is the proprietor of everything that be

and that He can award liberation to anyone. Because they do not know

that Krsna has so many transcendental qualifications, they deride Him.

 

Nor do they know that the appearance of the Supreme Personality of

Godhead in this material world is a manifestation of His internal

energy. He is the master of the material energy. As has been explained

in several places (mama maya duratyaya), He claims that the material

energy, although very powerful, is under His control, and whoever

surrenders unto Him can get out of the control of this material

energy. If a soul surrendered to Krsna can get out of the influence of

material energy, then how can the Supreme Lord, who conducts the

creation, maintenance and annihilation of the whole cosmic nature,

have a material body like us? So this conception of Krsna is complete

foolishness. Foolish persons, however, cannot conceive that the

Personality of Godhead, Krsna, appearing just like an ordinary man,

can be the controller of all the atoms and of the gigantic

manifestation of the universal form. The biggest and the minutest are

beyond their conception, so they cannot imagine that a form like that

of a human being can simultaneously control the infinite and the

minute. Actually although He is controlling the infinite and the

finite, He is apart from all this manifestation. It is clearly stated

concerning His yogam aisvaram, His inconceivable transcendental

energy, that He can control the infinite and the finite simultaneously

and that He can remain aloof from them. Although the foolish cannot

imagine how Krsna, who appears just like a human being, can control

the infinite and the finite, those who are pure devotees accept this,

for they know that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Therefore they completely surrender unto Him and engage in Krsna

consciousness, devotional service of the Lord.

 

There are many controversies between the impersonalists and the

personalists about the Lord's appearance as a human being. But if we

consult Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, the authoritative texts

for understanding the science of Krsna, then we can understand that

Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is not an ordinary

man, although He appeared on this earth as an ordinary human. In the

Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, First Chapter, when the sages headed

by Saunaka inquired about the activities of Krsna, they said:

 

krtavan kila karmani

saha ramena kesavah

ati-mart yani bhagavan

gudhah kapata-manusah

 

"Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with Balarama,

played like a human being, and so masked He performed many superhuman

acts."

(SB. 1.1.20) The Lord's appearance as a man bewilders the foolish. No human

being could perform the wonderful acts that Krsna performed while He

was present on this earth. When Krsna appeared before His father and

mother, Vasudeva and Devaki, He appeared with four hands, but after

the prayers of the parents He transformed Himself into an ordinary

child. As stated in the Bhagavatam (10.3.46), babhuva prakrtah sisuh:

He became just like an ordinary child, an ordinary human being. Now,

here again it is indicated that the Lord's appearance as an ordinary

human being is one of the features of His transcendental body. In the

Eleventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gita also it is stated that Arjuna prayed

to see Krsna's form of four hands (tenaiva rupena catur-bhujena).

After revealing this form, Krsna, when petitioned by Arjuna, again

assumed His original humanlike form (manusam rupam). These different

features of the Supreme Lord are certainly not those of an ordinary

human being.

 

Some of those who deride Krsna and who are infected with the Mayavadi

philosophy quote the following verse from the Srimad-Bhagavatam

(3.29.2 1) to prove that Krsna is just an ordinary man. Aham sarvesu

bhutesu bhutatmavasthitah sada: "The Supreme is present in every

living entity." We should better take note of this particular verse

from the Vaisnava acaryas like Jiva Gosvami and Visvanatha Cakravarti

Thakura instead of following the interpretation of unauthorized

persons who deride Krsna. Jiva Gosvami, commenting on this verse, says

that Krsna, in His plenary expansion as Paramatma, is situated in the

moving and the nonmoving entities as the Supersoul, so any neophyte

devotee who simply gives his attention to the arca-murti, the form of

the Supreme Lord in the temple, and does not respect other living

entities is uselessly worshiping the form of the Lord in the temple.

There are three kinds of devotees of the Lord, and the neophyte is in

the lowest stage. The neophyte devotee gives more attention to the

Deity in the temple than to other devotees, so Visvanatha Cakravarti

Thakura warns that this sort of mentality should be corrected. A

devotee should see that because Krsna is present in everyone's heart

as Paramatma, every body is the embodiment or the temple of the

Supreme Lord; so as one offers respect to the temple of the Lord, he

should similarly properly respect each and every body in which the

Paramatma dwells. Everyone should therefore be given proper respect

and should not be neglected.

 

There are also many impersonalists who deride temple worship. They say

that since God is everywhere, why should one restrict himself to

temple worship? But if God is everywhere, is He not in the temple or

in the Deity? Although the personalist and the impersonalist will

fight with one another perpetually, a perfect devotee in Krsna

consciousness knows that although Krsna is the Supreme Personality, He

is all-pervading, as confirmed in the Brahma-samhita. Although His

personal abode is Goloka Vrndavana and He is always staying there, by

His different manifestations of energy and by His plenary expansion He

is present everywhere in all parts of the material and spiritual

creation.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.