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← Chapter 7: The Yoga of Knowledge and Wisdom

Verse 7.24

Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit

अव्यक्तं व्यक्तिमापन्नं मन्यन्ते मामबुद्धयः | परं भावमजानन्तो ममाव्ययमनुत्तमम् ||२४||

Transliteration (IAST)

avyaktaṁ vyaktimāpannaṁ manyante māmabuddhayaḥ | paraṁ bhāvamajānanto mamāvyayamanuttamam ||24||

Word-by-Word Meanings

अव्यक्तम्-the unmanifest
व्यक्तिम्-manifestation
आपन्नम्-having assumed
अबुद्धयः-the unintelligent
परम्-supreme
भावम्-nature
अव्ययम्-imperishable
अनुत्तमम्-unsurpassed

Translation

The unintelligent think of Me, the unmanifest, as having come into manifestation, not knowing My supreme nature which is imperishable and unsurpassed.

Commentary

Krishna addresses a common misunderstanding - that His incarnation means He is limited by a material body. The ignorant mistake the eternal, unmanifest Divine for a temporary manifestation. Shankaracharya explains this as the error of reducing the infinite to the finite through limited understanding.

Themes

jnanabhakti