FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Bhagavad-gītā 9.11

అవజానన్తి మాం మూఢా మానుషీం తనుమాశ్రితమ్ । పరం భావమజానన్తో మమ భూతమహేశ్వరమ్ ॥ ౧౧ ॥
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
[avajaananti maam moodhaa]
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
[maanusheem tanum aashritam]
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
[param bhaavam ajaananto]
mama bhūta-maheśvaram
[mama bhoota-maheshvaram]
Word-for-word
avajānanti — deride mām — Me mūḍhāḥ — foolish men mānuṣīm — in a human form tanum — a body āśritam — assuming param — transcendental bhāvam — nature ajānantaḥ — not knowing mama — My bhūta — of everything that be mahā - īśvaram — the supreme proprietor .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
avajānanti
deride
mām
Me
mūḍhāḥ
foolish men
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
mānuṣīm
in a human form
tanum
a body
āśritam
assuming
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
param
transcendental
bhāvam
nature
ajānantaḥ
not knowing
mama bhūta-maheśvaram
mama
My
bhūta
of everything that be
mahā - īśvaram
the supreme proprietor .
Important Words
  • avajānanti — they deride
    Ava + √jñā — to know downwards, to look down upon. Not ignorance simply but contemptuous misjudgment. The mūḍhas don't merely fail to recognize Kṛṣṇa; they actively rate Him low.
  • mūḍhāḥ — fools
    From √muh — to be bewildered, deluded. The mūḍha is not stupid in IQ; he is bewildered about the categories. He sees a body and concludes: ordinary. He cannot read the supreme through the human form.
  • mānuṣīm — human
    Adjective qualifying tanu (body). Kṛṣṇa Himself names His form as mānuṣī — yet in the same breath calls Himself bhūta-maheśvara. The two are not in conflict; the human form is a feature, not a limit.
  • tanum — form, body
    Accusative of tanu — body, form. Kṛṣṇa's tanu is His specific personal embodiment. The mūḍha sees only the tanu; the wise sees the bhāva inside the tanu.
  • āśritam — assumed (lit. taken shelter in)
    Past participle of ā + √śri — to take shelter in. Kṛṣṇa 'takes shelter' in the human form rather than being constrained to it. The form is volitionally assumed, not karmically imposed — a critical distinction the mūḍha misses.
  • param — supreme
    Param qualifies bhāva — supreme nature. Behind the mānuṣī tanu is the param bhāva. The fool sees the tanu and stops; the wise sees through to the param bhāva.
  • bhāvam — nature, essence
    Accusative of bhāva — being, essence. The 'inner Kṛṣṇa' behind the human form. Param bhāva together names the supreme essence that the mūḍha fails to perceive.
  • mahā - īśvaram — great Lord
    Mahā + īśvara — the great controller. Bhūta-maheśvara: the great Lord of all beings. The mūḍhas do not just fail to see Kṛṣṇa as Lord; they fail to see Him as the Lord of the very wrestling ring or palace from which they mock Him.
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 Kṛṣṇa to be merely a powerful man and nothing more. Actually, He is the original Supreme Personality, as is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā ( īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ ); He is the Supreme Lord. There are many īśvaras, 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-saṁhitā it is said that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme controller; there are many controllers undoubtedly, both in the material and spiritual world, but Kṛṣṇa is the supreme controller ( īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ ), and His body is sac-cid-ānanda, 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 mānuṣīm because He is acting just like a man, a friend of Arjuna’s, a politician involved in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. In so many ways He is acting just like an ordinary man, but actually His body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha – eternal bliss and knowledge absolute. This is confirmed in the Vedic language also. Sac-cid-ānanda-rūpāya kṛṣṇāya: “I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is the eternal blissful form of knowledge.” ( Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad 1.1) There are other descriptions in the Vedic language also. Tam ekaṁ govindam: “You are Govinda, the pleasure of the senses and the cows.” Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraham: “And Your form is transcendental, full of knowledge, bliss and eternality.” ( Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad 1.38) Despite the transcendental qualities of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s body, its full bliss and knowledge, there are many so-called scholars and commentators of Bhagavad-gītā who deride Kṛṣṇa as an ordinary man. The scholar may be born an extraordinary man due to his previous good work, but this conception of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is due to a poor fund of knowledge. Therefore he is called mūḍha, for only foolish persons consider Kṛṣṇa to be an ordinary human being. The foolish consider Kṛṣṇa 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 Kṛṣṇa’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 Kṛṣṇa 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 māyā duratyayā ), 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 Kṛṣṇa 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 Kṛṣṇa is complete foolishness. Foolish persons, however, cannot conceive that the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, 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 aiśvaram, 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 Kṛṣṇa, 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 Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore they completely surrender unto Him and engage in Kṛṣṇa 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-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the authoritative texts for understanding the science of Kṛṣṇa, then we can understand that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is not an ordinary man, although He appeared on this earth as an ordinary human. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, First Chapter, when the sages headed by Śaunaka inquired about the activities of Kṛṣṇa, they said: kṛtavān kila karmāṇi saha rāmeṇa keśavaḥ ati-martyāni bhagavān gūḍhaḥ kapaṭa-māṇuṣaḥ “Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with Balarāma, played like a human being, and so masked He performed many superhuman acts.” ( Bhāg. 1.1.20 ) The Lord’s appearance as a man bewilders the foolish. No human being could perform the wonderful acts that Kṛṣṇa performed while He was present on this earth. When Kṛṣṇa appeared before His father and mother, Vasudeva and Devakī, He appeared with four hands, but after the prayers of the parents He transformed Himself into an ordinary child. As stated in the Bhāgavatam (10.3.46) , babhūva prākṛtaḥ śiśuḥ: 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-gītā also it is stated that Arjuna prayed to see Kṛṣṇa’s form of four hands ( tenaiva rūpeṇa catur-bhujena ). After revealing this form, Kṛṣṇa, when petitioned by Arjuna, again assumed His original humanlike form ( mānuṣaṁ rūpam ). These different features of the Supreme Lord are certainly not those of an ordinary human being. Some of those who deride Kṛṣṇa and who are infected with the Māyāvādī philosophy quote the following verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.29.21) to prove that Kṛṣṇa is just an ordinary man. Ahaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu bhūtātmāvasthitaḥ sadā: “The Supreme is present in every living entity.” We should better take note of this particular verse from the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas like Jīva Gosvāmī and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura instead of following the interpretation of unauthorized persons who deride Kṛṣṇa. Jīva Gosvāmī, commenting on this verse, says that Kṛṣṇa, in His plenary expansion as Paramātmā, is situated in the moving and the nonmoving entities as the Supersoul, so any neophyte devotee who simply gives his attention to the arcā-mūrti, 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 Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura warns that this sort of mentality should be corrected. A devotee should see that because Kṛṣṇa is present in everyone’s heart as Paramātmā, 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 Paramātmā 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 Kṛṣṇa consciousness knows that although Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality, He is all-pervading, as confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Although His personal abode is Goloka Vṛndāvana 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.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
11. The fools deride Me in this human form, not knowing that I am the great Lord of the Brahman, higher than all else.
Commentary

“That well known Mahāpuruṣa lying on the Kāraṇa Ocean with sat-cid-ānanda form, spreading Himself through millions of universes, who creates the universe by His own energy, is indeed You. But some say in deprecation that when You come as the son of Vasudeva with human-like form it is just an aṁśa of that Mahāpuruṣa.” In response the Lord speaks this verse. Yes, they deride this human-like form that I assume. They do not know that this human-like body is the supreme form (paraṁ bhāvam). It is My svarūpa, My actual form, more attractive than and superior to the Mahāpuruṣa lying on the Kāraṇa Ocean and other forms as well. What type of form is this? It is the highest truth (bhūta), meaning Brahman; and it is the great lord (maheśvaram). The phrase “great lord” excludes other meanings of the word bhūta. According to the Amara Kośa, bhūta has various meanings such as truth, the elements like earth, or being fit. The śruti says: tam ekaṁ govindaṁ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaṁ vṛndāvana-sura-bhūruha-bhāvanāsīnaṁ satataṁ sa-marud-gaṇo’haṁ paramayā stutyā toṣayāmi I constantly satisfy with praises along with the Maruts that one Govinda with sat-cid-ānanda form sitting beneath a desire tree. Gopāla Tāpanī Upaniṣad 1.35 The smṛti says narākṛti-para-brahma: the supreme Brahman has a human form. (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 4.11.2) Thus My knowledgeable devotees describe My human-like body as being sat-cid-ānanda. My mother Yaśodā also saw that sat-cid-ānanda form during My childhood, that form which extended over the whole universe. Or another meaning of paraṁ bhāvam [Note: The first meaning of paraṁ bhāvam was that it was superior to the form of Mahāviṣṇu.] is as follows. The last line describes the reality of that mānusīṁ tanum. That human form is the most exalted state (param bhāvam), viśuddha-sattva, a svarūpa of sat-cid-ānanda. Amara Kośa says bhāva means state, ones nature or intention. That highest state is then detailed. I am the great lord (maheśvāram) of beings such as Brahmā (bhūta) whom I create. This means that I, the lord of Brahmā and others, unlike the jīvas, since I am their lord, am not different from My human body. I am My body. My body is Myself. That body is Brahman. Śukadeva, who is knowledgeable, says My body is directly Brahman: śābdaṁ brahma dadhad vapuḥ Then, in the Satya-yuga, the lotus-eyed Supreme Personality of Godhead, being pleased, showed Himself to that Kardama Muni and displayed His transcendental form, which can be understood only through the Vedas.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
11. The fools deride Me, the Lord of all beings, in this eternal human form, not knowing it is My original spiritual form, pure brahman, higher than all else.
Bhūrijana Dāsa Gauḍīya
Commentary

Krsna is doing this: universes are coming in and out with no effort from Him and yet He is standing there on the battlefield. Even when Brahma saw Him, after Krsna killed the Aghasura demon, as a young cowherd boy standing there with His friends with a lump of foodstufs in His left hand, Brahma couldn't understand: "it is impossible that this boy is creating universes." Brahma was bewildered by that. Similarly, Krsna explains here 'people don't know that this form that looks like a human being, this is a superior form.' But people cannot conceive this. This human‑like form of Krsna is even superior to the four‑armed Visnu forms worshiped by so many people. People not knowing this, they deride Krsna. Srila Prabhupada explains in his Purport: "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." If someone is bewildered and doesn't accept that Krsna, the Supreme Lord, the controller of the finite and infinite is in this human form, what happens to him?

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study Key verse
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

Fools think of Krishna’s form as ordinary human and do not consider Aishvarya-Jnana of Text 9.4 –

9.10

Fools do not consider His transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be

Focus of Learning

(a) First half of the purport establishes that Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, although

appearing ordinary but He is not a common man

Based on 9.4 – 9.10 (Yogam-Aishvaram) – One who conducts such inconceivable acts of creation, cannot be a common man
Ref. Brahma Samhita 5.1 – Krishna is the Supreme Ishvara – Supreme Controller
Ref. Gopala-Tapani Upanisad and Brahma Samhita – His body is sac-cid-ananda and not like a common man
If Bg. 7.14 (“daivi hy...”) says: ‘A soul surrendered unto Krishna can get out of material energy’ – Then how can Lord who conducts creation, etc., and controls material energy, have a material body like us
Mudhas – Great scholars, who may be born as extra-ordinary man due to good karma, deride Him because of poor fund of knowledge – They are called Mudhas
What knowledge they lack? – They do not know Krishna’s transcendental knowledge like...

▪ Confidential activities of Supreme Lord and His different energies

▪ His eternal body is of complete bliss and knowledge

▪ He is Supreme proprietor

▪ He can award liberation to anyone

▪ His manifestation in material world is a manifestation of internal energy

▪ He controls infinite (biggest) and finite (smallest) and still He is aloof

▪ This can be established by ‘Yogam-Aishvaram’ (9.4 – 9.10)

Who accepts Krishna ‘yogam-aishvaram’ easily
Pure devotee who know Krishna as the Supreme personality of Godhead
Result of this knowledge – Complete surrender in devotional service

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF TEXTS 9.11 – 9.15

Different people will appreciate Krishna in different ways

according to their level of devotional consciousness

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 9.11 & 9.12:

What happens to those, who in bewilderment, disrespect Krishna’s form

Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
9.11 Ajanatah, not knowing; mama, My; param, supreme; bhavam, nature-My supreme Reality, which is like space, nay, which is subtler and more pervasive than space; as bhuta-maheswaram, the Lord of all beings, the great Lord of all beings who is their Self; mudhah, foolish people, the non-discriminating ones; avajananti, disregard, belittle; mam, Me, although I am by nature thus eternal, pure, intelligent, free and the Self of all beings; and asritam, who have taken; manusim tanum, a human body common to men, i.e৷৷. when I act with the help of a human body. As a result of that, as a result of continously disrespecting Me, those wretches get ruined. How?
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
9.11 Because of their evil actions (Karmas), fools disregard Me - the great Lord of all beings, the Omniscient, whose resolves are true, who is the sole cause of the entire universe, and who has taken the human body out of great compassion so that I might become the refuge of all. They consider Me to be a man like themselves. The meaning is that they disregard Me, not knowing My higher nature which is an abode of compassion, generosity, condescension and parental solicitude. This nature of mine is the cause of My resorting to the human shape. But without understanding this, the ignorant consider Me as of the same nature as others, because I have assumed the human form.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
9.11 Avajananti etc. I am reclining within all that is born Being the Self of all, I become the object of disrespect. For, [they raise the estion] : 'Apart from the fourteen types of creation, like man etc., no Lord is found; hence how can He exist ?'
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
9.11 Fools disregard Me, clad in human form, not knowing My higher Being as the great Lord of (all) beings.
Commentary

9.11 अवजानन्ति disregard? माम् Me? मूढाः fools? मानुषीम् human? तनुम् form? आश्रितम् assumed? परम् higher? भावम् state or nature? अजानन्तः not knowing? मम My? भूतमहेश्वरम् the Great Lord of beings.Commentary Fools only find fault with My pure nature? just as a man with jaundiced eyes finds all objects to be yellow. The man who is suffering from fever finds even milk as bitter as the essence of neem. Those who wish to behold Me by means of the physical eyes cannot know Me. If anyone takes the mirage for the Ganga? can he find any water thereFools who do not have discrimination and right understanding despise Me? dwelling in the human form. I have taken this body to bless My devotees. These fools have no knowledge of My higher Being. They do not know that I am the great Lord? the Supreme SElf? the luminous? omniscient? pure? ever free? immortal? wise? the Self of all. These fools take Me for an ordinary mortal and despise Me always. The wise know both My transcendental nature and the glory of My manifestation.I pervade? permeate and interpenetrate the universe. I am the support of this world? body? mind? lifeforce and the senses and yet there are some miserable fools? who say that I do not exist. There is thus not a place anywhere where I am not? and yet these people are not able to see Me. Look at the misfortune of these people. Pitiable is their lot (Cf.IV.6VII.24)

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
9.11 Not knowing My supreme nature as the Lord of all beings, foolish people disregard Me who have taken a human body.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
9.11 Fools disregard Me, seeing Me clad in human form. They know not that in My higher nature I am the Lord-God of all.
Related values & verses
Related values
Vairagya (Detachment / Dispassion)Discriminative WisdomSeva (Service / Selfless Action)Bhakti (Devotion)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)
Related verses
BG 7.15 BG 7.24 BG 4.9 SB 10.14.7 SB 7.1.25 SB 1.7.37 CC Madhya 6.82 CC Madhya 17.135 CC Ādi 2.117 Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.23Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.2.3
Study Q&A referencing this verse
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Fools deride Me when I appear in human form — not knowing My transcendental nature as Lord of all.
Practical Applications
  • Don't reduce Kṛṣṇa to His human appearance.
  • Honor the descent (avatāra) without diminishing the descender.
  • Recognize Kṛṣṇa's human form as supremely transcendental.
Reflection Questions
  • Where have I quietly reduced Kṛṣṇa's form to 'just a man'?
  • What restores His transcendence?
Analogy

A king travels through his own provinces in plain dress, eating at roadside stalls, walking among his subjects. Some peasants laugh at the simply-dressed traveller for putting himself in their company; they do not know they are mocking the man whose seal hangs on every law they obey. So Kṛṣṇa, descending in human form (mānuṣīm tanum), is laughed at by the mūḍhas — who do not know they laugh at the source of the seal.

Stories
Śiśupāla's hundred offenses

Śiśupāla, king of Cedi, hated Kṛṣṇa from childhood. At Yudhiṣṭhira's Rājasūya sacrifice, when Bhīṣma recommended that Kṛṣṇa be worshipped first, Śiśupāla rose and railed: 'This cowherd boy, this trickster, this man of common form — why is he worshipped before kings?'

He did not know — or refused to know — that the mānuṣīm tanum he derided was the param bhāva, the supreme nature of the Lord of all beings. Kṛṣṇa let him utter a hundred such offenses (the number He had promised Śiśupāla's mother to forgive) and then released the Sudarśana cakra. The verse 9.11 is the diagnosis; Śiśupāla is the textbook case.

The wrestlers and washerman of Mathurā

When Kṛṣṇa came to Mathurā as a youth, Kaṁsa's washerman refused Him fresh clothes, mocking the country boys for asking. The wrestlers Cāṇūra and Muṣṭika in the arena saw before them only two cowherd lads and laughed at the unfair match.

All three made the same error 9.11 names: avajānanti mām mūḍhāḥ mānuṣīm tanum āśritam. The Lord in human form was standing in front of them; the mūḍha lens turned Him into prey. Within hours, the washerman had lost his head and the wrestlers their lives — and all three, by His touch, attained higher births. Even derision, when directed at His personal form, is not lost on Him.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

← Read full Chapter 9