Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7, Verse 25

Chapter 7 – Jnana Vijnana Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

नाहं प्रकाशः सर्वस्य योगमायासमावृतः ।
मूढोऽयं नाभिजानाति लोको मामजमव्ययम् ॥

Transliteration

nāhaṃ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ .
mūḍho.ayaṃ nābhijānāti loko māmajamavyayam ॥

Meaning

Veiled by My yoga-maya, I am not revealed to all. This deluded world does not know Me, the unborn and imperishable.

Word meanings

न – not
अहम् – I
प्रकाशः – revealed, manifest
सर्वस्य – to all
योगमायासमावृतः – veiled by yoga-maya
मूढः – deluded
अयम् – this
अभिजानाति – knows
लोकः – world, people
माम् – Me
अजम् – unborn
अव्ययम् – imperishable

Anvaya (word order)

योगमायासमावृतः अहं सर्वस्य प्रकाशः न (भवामि); अयं मूढः लोकः अजम् अव्ययं मां न अभिजानाति ।

Explanation

In the previous verse Krishna said that the ignorant take Him to be an ordinary human being. Now He gives the reason: yoga-maya-samavritah — I remain veiled by My yoga-maya. Yoga-maya is the Lord's special power by which He conceals His divine nature and appears in an ordinary form.

Why does the Lord hide Himself? If He appeared before everyone in His full majesty, devotion and free choice would lose their meaning. People would bow out of fear or compulsion, not love. So the Lord keeps a veil that is lifted only by faith, devotion and a pure heart. When the sun is covered by clouds, people say 'there is no sun', though the sun is right there; the clouds cover our sight, not the sun.

Mudho 'yam nabhijanati loko mam ajam avyayam — this deluded world does not know Me, the unborn and imperishable. The Lord is aja — He has no real birth; and avyaya — He suffers no decay. Shankara says the Lord is not manifest to all, only to some of His devotees; yoga-maya, he explains, is the conjunction of the three gunas, which is subject to His will. Ramanuja says that while assuming a human form, the Lord keeps His divine nature hidden from non-devotees under the appearance of that form being ordinary.

The verse shows that our failure to see God is not His absence but a defect in our vision.

Context

Verse 7.24 said that the ignorant regard the Lord as an ordinary person; this verse gives the reason — the veil of yoga-maya. In the next verse (7.26) Krishna says that He knows all beings past, present and future, but no one knows Him.

Life lesson

Not experiencing God is no proof of His absence. As the sun appears when the clouds part, strive to remove the coverings of the mind — ego, desires and doubts; the truth will reveal itself.

Key terms

Yoga-maya: the Lord's power by which He conceals His divine nature
Samavrita: completely veiled
Aja: unborn
Mudha: deluded, ignorant