Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9, Verse 11

Chapter 9 – Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

अवजानन्ति मां मूढा मानुषीं तनुमाश्रितम् ।
परं भावमजानन्तो मम भूतमहेश्वरम् ॥

Transliteration

avajānanti māṃ mūḍhā mānuṣīṃ tanumāśritam .
paraṃ bhāvamajānanto mama bhūtamaheśvaram ॥

Meaning

Fools disregard Me when I take on a human form, not knowing My supreme nature as the great Lord of all beings.

Word meanings

अवजानन्ति – disregard, belittle
माम् – Me
मूढाः – the deluded
मानुषीम् – human
तनुम् – body, form
आश्रितम् – having assumed
परम् – supreme
भावम् – nature, reality
अजानन्तः – not knowing
मम – My
भूतमहेश्वरम् – great Lord of beings

Anvaya (word order)

मम भूतमहेश्वरं परं भावम् अजानन्तः मूढाः मानुषीं तनुम् आश्रितं माम् अवजानन्ति ।

Explanation

Having described His cosmic, all-pervading nature as the overseer of prakriti, Krishna now names a mistake that many make: ‘The deluded disregard Me when I dwell in a human form.’ When the Lord out of grace descends as an avatara, the ignorant see only another man and treat Him lightly.

The reason is param bhavam ajanantah, not knowing His supreme nature. They see the outer body eating, walking, talking, driving a chariot, and conclude that He is just like them. Duryodhana, Shishupala and Kamsa looked at Krishna this way, while within that very form was the bhuta-maheshvara, the great Lord of all beings.

Ramanuja points out the irony: the Lord takes a human form out of compassion, to make Himself accessible to all; but the deluded take this very accessibility as proof of His ordinariness. The quality that should evoke deeper love becomes their reason for contempt. As Krishna said in chapter 4, He appears by His own yoga-maya, governing His nature; His body is not formed by karma as ours is.

The verse also carries a wider lesson. We often fail to recognise the divine when it comes in simple guise: in an unassuming saint, a plain prayer, a small moment of grace. To see beyond outer form is the mark of true devotion.

Context

In earlier verses Krishna described His supreme, pervading nature as presiding over prakriti. Here He explains how those who do not know this belittle His incarnate form. The next verse describes the character of such people and the futility of their hopes.

Life lesson

Do not judge worth by outward appearance. The divine often arrives in simple, ordinary forms, and only the eye of faith and discernment recognises it.

Key terms

Manushi tanu: human body, the form of an avatara
Param bhava: the Lord’s supreme, true nature
Bhuta-maheshvara: great Lord of all beings
Avajna: disregard, contempt