Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9, Verse 11 (BG 9.11) — Meaning, Translation & 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)

Commentaries

Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.

This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

Modern

In the seventh chapter, while describing the supreme and inferior natures of Brahman, the Blessed Lord Sri Krishna declared that the deluded do not know My imperishable and supreme nature, and they regard Me, who am truly unmanifest in essence, as manifest in form. In this chapter, while proclaiming Himself as the Self of all beings, Sri Krishna again employs this harsh word "deluded" to condemn those who, abandoning the essence, cling only to form. Not knowing My supreme nature, the deluded regard Me as dwelling in some particular body. To mistake an idol for the Divine, or to understand the Teacher's body as the infinite Supreme Self, is the same kind of error or inverted knowledge as mistaking the vessel for the substance it contains. The idol is merely a symbol of that subtle truth imperceptible to the senses. When hungry or thirsty, one does not gain nourishment by playing with a bottle of milk. In truth, when hungry, no satisfaction comes from striking a spoon upon an empty plate. To mistake the symbol for the goal means committing the error of confusing the means with the end. Such inverted notions give birth to religious rigidity and intolerance, which sow seeds of enmity and jealousy among people. From these seeds, in due time, only the harvest of calamity and destruction is reaped. All of this occurs in the name of different faiths' stone deities, wooden symbols, and gods fashioned from fig wood. A khadi tricolored cloth may be the national flag, yet it is not my motherland itself. But when I bow my head during the flag hoisting, I express my reverence toward the nation. That flag is the sacred symbol of my nation's culture and aspirations. Keeping this principle in mind, when this verse is studied, it becomes entirely clear. The Blessed Lord says that ordinary devotees do not know Me as the Lord of all beings, and when I assume human form, they show Me disrespect. Why are these deluded people unable to gain proper understanding of the Self? In answer, He states—