Bg. 10.2 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

न मे विदु: सुरगणा: प्रभवं न महर्षय: । अहमादिर्हि देवानां महर्षीणां च सर्वश: ॥ २ ॥

Verse text

na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣayaḥ aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣīṇāṁ ca sarvaśaḥ

Synonyms

na — never ; me — My ; viduḥ — know ; sura-gaṇāḥ — the demigods ; prabhavam — origin, opulences ; na — never ; mahā-ṛṣayaḥ — great sages ; aham — I am ; ādiḥ — the origin ; hi — certainly ; devānām — of the demigods ; mahā-ṛṣīṇām — of the great sages ; ca — also ; sarvaśaḥ — in all respects.

Translation

Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin or opulences, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and sages.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

2. The devatās and great ṛṣis do not know about My extraordinary birth, for I am the source of the devatās and great ṛṣis.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

2. The devatās and great ṛṣis do not know about My extraordinary powers since I am the source of the devatās and great ṛṣis.

Translation (Bhurijana Dasa)

Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin or opulences, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and sages. (com) "Demigods, sages dont' know this knowledge. Why? Because I am the source. This can only be known by My mercy. No other way. My wonderful birth from Mother Devaki, even the demigods cannot know ‑ because they are attached to sense objects. But sages aren't attached. Even they don't know, because I am source and cause of everything, so how can they understand, as sons c understand father's birth unless he explains." Prabhav ‑ birth ‑ first sight. like pravastha of Ganges in Gango tri. Baladev: This cannot be understood without mercy of My devotees. Whether demigods, Brahma, Siva, etc. or sages like Four Kumaras, cannot understand My svarupa, how I have My own potencies. Why? Because in all ways I am their source. Sarvesa ‑ all sources. I am source of all, their intelligence too, so they therefore can't understand My source unless I explain it to them. I've awarded their position as demigod or sage because of their worship so it's not possible for them to know Me. Srutis also say demigods cannot understand from who the creation came because of His existence before creation.

Purport

As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. No one is greater than Him; He is the cause of all causes. Here it is also stated by the Lord personally that He is the cause of all the demigods and sages. Even the demigods and great sages cannot understand Kṛṣṇa; they can understand neither His name nor His personality, so what is the position of the so-called scholars of this tiny planet? No one can understand why this Supreme God comes to earth as an ordinary human being and executes such wonderful, uncommon activities. One should know, then, that scholarship is not the qualification necessary to understand Kṛṣṇa. Even the demigods and the great sages have tried to understand Kṛṣṇa by their mental speculation, and they have failed to do so. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also it is clearly said that even the great demigods are not able to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They can speculate to the limits of their imperfect senses and can reach the opposite conclusion of impersonalism, of something not manifested by the three qualities of material nature, or they can imagine something by mental speculation, but it is not possible to understand Kṛṣṇa by such foolish speculation. Here the Lord indirectly says that if anyone wants to know the Absolute Truth, “Here I am present as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I am the Supreme.” One should know this. Although one cannot understand the inconceivable Lord who is personally present, He nonetheless exists. We can actually understand Kṛṣṇa, who is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, simply by studying His words in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The conception of God as some ruling power or as the impersonal Brahman can be reached by persons who are in the inferior energy of the Lord, but the Personality of Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is in the transcendental position. Because most men cannot understand Kṛṣṇa in His actual situation, out of His causeless mercy He descends to show favor to such speculators. Yet despite the Supreme Lord’s uncommon activities, these speculators, due to contamination in the material energy, still think that the impersonal Brahman is the Supreme. Only the devotees who are fully surrendered unto the Supreme Lord can understand, by the grace of the Supreme Personality, that He is Kṛṣṇa. The devotees of the Lord do not bother about the impersonal Brahman conception of God; their faith and devotion bring them to surrender immediately unto the Supreme Lord, and out of the causeless mercy of Kṛṣṇa they can understand Kṛṣṇa. No one else can understand Him. So even great sages agree: What is ātmā, what is the Supreme? It is He whom we have to worship.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

“My appearance can be known only by My unprecedented mercy and by no other means. The devatās do not know My most extraordinary (pra) birth (bhavam) from Devakī.” “Well, the devatās may not know because they are absorbed in material pleasure, but the sages must know.” “No, they also do not know (na maharṣayaḥ).” The Lord explains the reason why they do not know: “Because I am the cause of all of them, in all ways, they do not know about My birth, just as the sons cannot know about the birth of the father.” One should not think of another meaning of the word prabhavam, [Note: Prabhava means “power” as well as “birth.”] because in verse 14, Arjuna says in confirmation of that meaning that neither the demons nor devas know about the appearance (birth) of the Lord: na hi te bhagavan vyaktiṁ vidur devā na dānavāḥ.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

The Lord speaks in order to show that this knowledge is difficult to understand without the mercy of His devotees The devas staring with Brahmā and the great ṛṣis such as Sanaka (sura gaṇā) do not know My status with its lordship (prabhavam)—the extent of its unlimited dazzling forms, qualities and powers which will make them dizzy. Why is this? It is because I am their origin, the first cause in all ways (sarvaśaḥ)—as the cause of their appearance and the bestower of their intelligence and other qualities, since I give to them all of their positions as devatāṣ, and their powers, being satisfied with their worshipping Me. Thus they do not know Me, who am eternally perfect in Myself, nor do they know My powers. Śruti says: ko addhā veda ka iha prāvocat kuta ā jātā kuta iyaṁ visṛṣṭiḥ arvāg-devā asya visarjanāya athā ko veda yata ābabhūva Who knows clearly, who in this world can proclaim, from where the universe was born, from where this creation has come? The devas came later that the creation. Therefore, who knows from where it arose. Rg Veda 10.129.6 naitad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arśat He cannot be attained by the devas. He has existed before them. Isopaniṣad 4

Surrender Unto Me

It is impossible for something that is created, to know the source of that which has created it. The creation cannot understand where the creation came from. Even the demigods who are so powerful and the great sages who are so knowledgeable, they cannot understand Krsna completely, because they cannot understand His origin. But because the sages and demigods cannot understand Krsna completely, that doesn't mean that no one can understand Krsna. If one hears from Krsna, then and only then, can he understand Krsna. Therefore Krsna explains,