Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya
Now Sri Krishna will talk about the assurance given in 7.14 that by surrendering to Him one goes beyond Maya how does that happen will be discussed in last section of this chapter from 7.25 to 7.30.
Bg 7.25
nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya
yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ
mūḍho ’yaṁ nābhijānāti
loko mām ajam avyayam
Word for word:
na — nor; aham — I; prakāśaḥ — manifest; sarvasya — to everyone; yoga–māyā — by internal potency;samāvṛtaḥ — covered; mūḍhaḥ — foolish; ayam — these; na — not; abhijānāti — can understand; lokaḥ — persons; mām — Me; ajam — unborn; avyayam — inexhaustible.
Translation:
I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and infallible.
BG 7.25 to BG 7.30 is concluding section of this chapter
BG 7.1 to BG 7.12 talks about how Sri Krishna pervades everything, Sri Krishna underlies everything, knowledge of Sri Krishna is actually knowledge of everything.
BG 7.13 to 7.24, talks about depending upon whether people know Sri Krishna or not they defy Krishna or Surrender to Krishna or they Surrender to something connected to Krishna but not directly Krishna. So 7.15 talks about those don’t surrender to Sri Krishna 7.16 to 7.19 talks about those approach Krishna and Surrender to Him, Bhajante in 7.16 and Prapadanta in 7.19. Then 7.20 to 7.23 talks about those who surrender to devatas (krishnetara) and 7.24 talks about those who has approached the Brahman, Param Bhava Ajanto, Sridhar Swami discussed this Bhava refers to form of the Lord. And Viswanath Chakravarti Thakur also quotes in his commentary what is this Pram Bhava, the transcendental nature is Lord has a form a personality and He performs Pastimes and this higher nature they don’t know Param Bhava Ajananto, now impersonalist may say no-no the higher nature is impersonal nature but then Sri Krishna has said very clearly in the same chapter 7.7 mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat, kiñcid asti dhanañ-jaya, there is no truth higher than Me so when He has so clearly stated that it is unwarranted to say that there is some truth higher than Sri Krishna if you look at the Bhagavad Gita there are some verses which can be interpreted in different ways but if look at overall tenure and we look at the context of the verse we see that the interpretation that the impersonal reality is the higher reality doesn’t stand intellectual scrutiny so now immediately after this paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto, Sri Krishna will give an indication of what is this param bhava and there also He doesn’t talk about impersonal Brahman He talks about Himself. So let us look at this verse so this last section is explanation of how knowledge of Krishna leads to liberation, 7.14 has stated that Mam Evae Prapadyante Maya Metan Tarantete. Those who surrender to Me will cross over maya they will attain liberation but how such a thing will happen is not being explained till now so this will be explained in this section. So let us look at this.
nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya
prakāśaḥ means manifested, so I am not manifested to everyone
yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ
I am covered by Yoga Maya
mūḍho ’yaṁ nābhijānāti
mūḍho means the fools, fools do not know me nābhijānāti, why?
loko mām ajam avyayam
they do not know that I am unborn and I am inexhaustible.
So now if we see this verse Sri Krishna is talking about Aham Twice, so He is not talking about some reality higher then Him, He is saying aham-aham, very clearly “I”. So He is saying I am not manifest for everyone so who is the “I” that is referred to? Krishna as a person is standing in front of Arjuna and He is saying “I” am not manifest to everyone. nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya, so why He is not manifest to everyone because actually Sri Krishna reserves the right to reveal Himself or conceal Himself depending on His own sweet freewill. In today’s society everyone wants to know their rights for example women have their rights, lower class they have their rights, colored people like African and American have their rights so like that different people have their rights so among these different people who have their rights what about the right of Sri Krishna the Supreme Lord? The right of the Supreme Lord is to decide whether He will reveal Himself or nor reveal Himself. Even in this world the more powerful a person is more influential a person is the person can choose. Sometimes people says if God exists let Him come in front of Me. No we are not the order givers to God we are the order carriers of God. We cannot demand if the Prime Minister exists let him come here. We can’t demand like that if a child who has born in a tribe in a forest and have never heard of Prime Minister and someone tell him your small village is a small part of a huge country and this entire country is actually controlled by a Prime Minister, so he will say who is Prime Minister I have never seen him I won’t believe if the Prime Minister is there let him come here, if he doesn’t come with in a count of 10 then he never exists. We have to tell him that count is a substance of a tissue in his head, will the Prime Minister come by his count? Actually he has to understand the position of the prime minister and prime minister is having a right even if someone goes and meet the prime minister, the prime minister has a right to choose whether he meet or not with that person. So if ordinary people have their rights if powerful people have their rights then what about Sri Krishna who is Supremely Ordinary Supremely powerful, He has His right and Sri Krishna says that nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya, I do not become manifest to everyone, why does Sri Krishna not become manifest to everyone? Why He let Himself be concealed by Yoga Maya? Because He reciprocates to our desires. No I wanted to see Him so He should come before us. So actually when we say reciprocates it is not based on our spoken desire but according to our overall mentality. Even if I am demanding I wanted I wanted to see Krishna, let Him come in front of me. If the attitude is one of defiance and not of dependence then we cannot access Sri Krishna because ultimately we are Anu and Sri Krishna is Vibhu we are tiny and Sri Krishna is mighty so we can access Sri Krishna when we Turn towards Him with devotion. Just as a person on earth cannot demand Sun rise the Sun will rise according to its own accord, when Sun will rise it will become manifest to the people. So similarly Sri Krishna it is described that He has His own will and He chooses when to manifest and when not to manifest, so if in our heart there is desire to defy Krishna then we may think that I am god I am supreme or even if I am not supreme certainly Krishna is not Supreme may be there is no Supreme only. May be nature is Supreme, impersonal light is Supreme. My own conception is Supreme whatever but certainly Sri Krishna is not supreme. So this kind of attitude will not take us very far. This kind of attitude will keep us trapped in material existence. And in order to come out of material existence we need to give up this attitude, so when Krishna see that we want to be Surrogate gods we want to substitute god we want to play god then Krishna allows us to play god. And it doesn’t reveal His potent in this world except as death. So it is called Ananthak i.e. who does Antha, so Krishna will manifest as death at that time and everything will be finished but that is not Krishna’s cruelty that is Krishna’s arrangement by which we can continue to play the game we want to, or we will wake up and realign ourselves with reality if we want to, so death access are reminder as an educator if we are going to take that education if we don’t want then we can continue our misadventure life time after life time but the point is Sri Krishna has his right we cannot ask Krishna to come before us as an attitude of defies our attitude for Sun cannot be of defies it has to be dependents, Sun come by its own accord when Sun come we are benefited by the warmth and light that comes from Sun similarly Krishna manifests by His own will and Sri Krishna is ready to manifest at this moment but it is not just our express desire it is underlying attitude that is important, so Sri Krishna sees out attitude and if our attitude is not of dependence or service or of compliance then Krishna will not manifest. So we will show Krishna that we wanted to see Him? Not defiance but by dependence and compliance. Compliance means we start recognising our subordinate position and start serving Sri Krishna.
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, start serving Krishna sincerely Seva Unmukhe, become Unmukh towards Krishna with an attitude of devotion, Jihva Dau, beginning with tongue by chanting and having Prasadam offered to Krishna. svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ, He Himself becomes manifested by His own freewill so by understanding that we are tiny and Sri Krishna is infinite and Sri Krishna wants us to choose to either love Him or defy Him and try to be independent of Him. So those who wanted to remain independent of Him, Krishna chooses to not to revel His glories to them, so even if they claim to be turning towards Krishna towards spiritual enquiry, I wanted to know about God? Is God a person? No he is an impersonal light. So people may seem to know about God but often what they are doing is impose their opinion about God. When they are doing that they are basically in the name of knowing about God trying to play God as my opinion is the best. So therefore mūḍho ’yaṁ nābhijānāti, to such people Sri Krishna doesn’t reveal His glories, Sri Krishna says they are mūḍho. mūḍho ’yaṁ nābhijānāti these people cannot know, what they cannot know? loko mām ajam avyayam, they cannot know that I am Aja and avyaya, I am unborn and imperishable inexhaustible, this means that Sri Krishna is saying that I am beyond time it is not that I came in a particular time and my existence will cease in particular time, I am aja, which means no beginning and avyaya means no ending. So this is actually a logical continuation of 7.24 where Sri Krishna is telling that avyaktam avyaktinapanyam. I was unmanifest before and I become manifest now, those who think like this they are abuddhayaḥ. So Sri Krishna is similarly continuing the same point over here He is saying that I am aja and those who think that this particular form which I am manifesting as Krishna has a particular beginning and particular end they are mistaken, Krishna is saying in this form only I have manifested all times, so those who cannot understand Him are Mudha, Sri Krishna is revealing here to us that what we need is not attitude of defiance but attitude of compliance.
Now Sri Krishna is telling here which is interesting is yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ
Now Sri Krishna is talking over here is covering, now Sri Krishna is talking about foolish people over here Mudha, now Mudha will be covered by Maha-Maya and not by Yoga-Maya we know that there are those two categories of energies, Maha Maya and Yoga Maya, now Maha maya is energy which allows people to separate from God, by giving them false conceptions that I am the body I am male or female, I am separate independent from God and I can enjoy by gratifying my senses, so all such conceptions come because of Maha Maya in contrast with that there is Yoga Maya, Yoga maya is Oxymoron two contrasting words brought together, to convey deeper meaning, Yoga means connection with Krishna and Maya means disconnection from Krishna so how we can have connection and disconnection? There is an idea that Krishna is God and there is reconnection Yoga, reconnection with the understanding that actually He is God, this God is a small boy what Yashoda Mayi thinks, this God is my friend, so all such notions are under Yoga Maya, so Yoga maya is the illusion that increases devotion, Maha Maya is the illusion that depletes devotion, Yoga Maya brings about the illusion that increases devotion, here the question come why Sri Krishna is using the word Yoga Maya, so there are several understanding for this first is that Sri Krishna is referring to Himself over here, He is not talking about the conditioned soul who are covered, Srila Prabhupada has described for them I am covered with my internal potencies, So I am covered by my internal potencies that is true, but for whom for them as we discussed earlier for the people on the ground the Sun is covered for the people on the ground, actually Sun is far greater it cannot be covered by the cloud, so from Sri Krishna’s point of view Yoga Maya and Maha Maya are the same, how are they the same? Because both of them are ultimately the same energy they are just performing different function, Srila Prabhupada used the example of electrical energy which can be used for heat or for cold, either way the energy is the same, so actually the energy is one but it has different functions, so because Sri Krishna is talking in terms of His position so He is saying that actually when it comes to covering Him it actually done by Maya, the Yoga Maya or Maha Maya is not used here in the same technical sense as it is used to describe Yoga Maya and Maha Maya, Sri Krishna has used in the sense that there is a covering which covers certainly the souls who is mūḍho ’yaṁ nābhijānāti, here Mudha are not referring to the Krishna’s associates like Sridama etc. but it is referring to the second categories of people the demigod worshiper and the impersonalists. My personal form doesn’t manifest to such people because they don’t understand my unborn and imperishable nature, Now Srila Prabhupada is referring a simple point over here, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya, I am not revealed to everyone but when Sri Krishna was present on earth that time was He not revealed to everyone? So when Krishna appears something mysterious happens actually Krishna may be accessible to the vision but Krishna is not seen with the eyes He is seen with the heart, and if heart doesn’t have devotion seeing Krishna with eyes doesn’t help much, devotion is the real vision which enables us to see Krishna without that we really cannot see Krishna we may see something but we cannot understand Krishna’s position so there are many warriors at the time of Mahabharat war and those warriors were thinking of Krishna not as the Supreme Lord they were thinking of Him as just another warrior they are very powerful warriors killed many demons but just another warrior, so Balaram Ji didn’t like conception of other warriors so He spoke strongly to show His power and even when Sri Krishna showed His power still even after that also people didn’t accept Krishna’s supreme position as in SB it is described about the demonic king who claim himself to be Krishna and even if this person who claim to be Krishna came in front of real Krishna still that person continued his bragging and said that actually you have taken my paraphernalia return it so the bogus one is telling real Krishna that you have taken my paraphernalia, you have taken my chakra return it otherwise I will come and punish you, so Krishna and all Yaduvasis laugh over there, and then they challenge him for battle and then Krishna said you wanted My Chakra so take it and He released His Chakra and it cuts his head, so Krishna doesn’t like those who defy His position and He killed him not because of any hatred for him but to save him for the offences which comes by for pretending like Krishna by trying to take Krishna’s position, so the whole point is the Mudha’s were referred in this verse are the people who misunderstand Sri Krishna’s higher reality, His personal reality, they think of Krishna as impersonal. Krishna manifested to everyone but His supremacy His position is not revealed to everyone,
Srila Prabhupada’s Purport:
hiraṇmayena pātreṇa
satyasyāpihitaṁ mukham
tat tvaṁ pūṣann apāvṛṇu
satya-dharmāya dṛṣṭaye
“O my Lord, You are the maintainer of the entire universe, and devotional service to You is the highest religious principle. Therefore, I pray that You will also maintain me. Your transcendental form is covered by the yoga-māyā.The brahma-jyotir is the covering of the internal potency. May You kindly remove this glowing effulgence that impedes my seeing Your sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, Your eternal form of bliss and knowledge.” The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His transcendental form of bliss and knowledge is covered by the internal potency of the brahma-jyotir, and the less intelligent impersonalists cannot see the Supreme on this account.
End of transcription.
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