BHAGAVAD-GITA 10:2

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 10:2

 

na me viduh sura-ganah

prabhavam na maharsayah

aham adir hi devanam

maharsinam ca sarvasah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

na--never; me--My; viduh--know; sura-ganah--the demigods;

prabhavam--origin, opulences; na--never; maha-rsayah--great sages;

aham--I am; adih--the origin; hi--certainly; devanam--of the demigods;

maha-rsinam--of the great sages; ca--also; sarvasah--in all respects.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin or

opulences, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and

sages.

 

PURPORT

 

As stated in the Brahma-samhita, Lord Krsna is the Supreme Lord. No

one is greater than Him; He is the cause of all causes. Here it is

also stated by the Lord personally that He is the cause of all the

demigods and sages. Even the demigods and great sages cannot

understand Krsna; they can understand neither His name nor His

personality, so what is the position of the so-called scholars of this

tiny planet? No one can understand why this Supreme God comes to earth

as an ordinary human being and executes such wonderful, uncommon

activities. One should know, then, that scholarship is not the

qualification necessary to understand Krsna. Even the demigods and the

great sages have tried to understand Krsna by their mental

speculation, and they have failed to do so. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam

also it is clearly said that even the great demigods are not able to

understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They can speculate to

the limits of their imperfect senses and can reach the opposite

conclusion of impersonalism, of something not manifested by the three

qualities of material nature, or they can imagine something by mental

speculation, but it is not possible to understand Krsna by such

foolish speculation.

 

Here the Lord indirectly says that if anyone wants to know the

Absolute Truth, "Here I am present as the Supreme Personality of

Godhead. I am the Supreme." One should know this. Although one cannot

understand the inconceivable Lord who is personally present, He

nonetheless exists. We can actually understand Krsna, who is eternal,

full of bliss and knowledge, simply by studying His words in

Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. The conception of God as some

ruling power or as the impersonal Brahman can be reached by persons

who are in the inferior energy of the Lord, but the Personality of

Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is in the transcendental

position.

 

Because most men cannot understand Krsna in His actual situation, out

of His causeless mercy He descends to show favor to such speculators.

Yet despite the Supreme Lord's uncommon activities, these speculators,

due to contamination in the material energy, still think that the

impersonal Brahman is the Supreme. Only the devotees who are fully

surrendered unto the Supreme Lord can understand, by the grace of the

Supreme Personality, that He is Krsna. The devotees of the Lord do not

bother about the impersonal Brahman conception of God; their faith and

devotion bring them to surrender immediately unto the Supreme Lord,

and out of the causeless mercy of Krsna they can understand Krsna. No

one else can understand Him. So even great sages agree: What is atma,

what is the Supreme? It is He whom we have to worship.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.