Devanagari
त्वामात्मानं परं मत्वा परमात्मानमेव च ।
आत्मा पुनर्बहिर्मृग्य अहोऽज्ञजनताज्ञता ॥ २७ ॥
Verse text
tvām ātmānaṁ paraṁ matvā
param ātmānam eva ca
ātmā punar bahir mṛgya
aho ’jṣa-janatājṣatā
Synonyms
tvām
—
You
;
ātmānam
—
the real self
;
param
—
something else
;
matvā
—
thinking
;
param
—
something else
;
ātmānam
—
Yourself
;
eva
—
indeed
;
ca
—
also
;
ātmā
—
the Supreme Self
;
punaḥ
—
again
;
bahiḥ
—
outside
;
mṛgyaḥ
—
must be searched out
;
aho
—
oh
;
ajṣa
—
ignorant
;
janatā
—
of persons
;
ajṣatā
—
the ignorance .
Translation
Just see the foolishness of those ignorant persons who consider You to be some separated manifestation of illusion and who consider the self, which is actually You, to be something else, the material body. Such fools conclude that the supreme soul is to be searched for somewhere outside Your supreme personality.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Just see the foolishness of those ignorant persons who consider You to be some separated manifestation of illusion and who consider the self, which is actually You, to be something else, the material body. Such fools conclude that the supreme soul is to be searched for somewhere outside Your supreme personality.
KB 10.14.27
“If one therefore thinks that the Supersoul is something different from Your personality and thus searches out the Supersoul or the Supreme Brahman somewhere else, in the forest or in the caves of the Himalayas, his condition is very lamentable. Your teachings in the Bhagavad-gītā are that one should give up all other processes of self-realization and simply surrender unto You, for that is complete. Because You are the Supreme in every respect, those who are searching after the Brahman effulgence are also searching after You. And those who are searching after Supersoul realization are also searching after You. You state in the Bhagavad-gītā that You Yourself, by Your partial representation as the Supersoul, have entered into this material cosmic manifestation. You are present in everyone’s heart, and there is no need to search out the Supersoul anywhere else. If someone does so, he is simply in ignorance.
Purport
Lord Brahmā is amazed at the gross ignorance of conditioned souls who consider Lord Kṛṣṇa’s supreme spiritual body to be material. Ignorant of the spiritual form of the Lord, such persons also consider their own material bodies to be the self, and therefore they conclude that spiritual reality is to be found somewhere beyond the supreme personality of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes such fools consider Lord Kṛṣṇa to be one of many individual souls who together constitute a single impersonal spiritual entity. Unfortunately, such speculators are not inclined to hear from the Lord Himself or from the Lord’s authorized representatives, such as Lord Brahmā. Because they whimsically speculate on the nature of the Supreme, their ultimate result is confusion and ignorance, which they euphemistically describe as “the mystery of life.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Those who think they are knowledgeable of spiritual things (but are actually not), do not respect your form in Vraja. They are beating empty husks as previously mentioned. They think that you, who are paramatma with form, are something else (param), something material. And they search for paramatma (atma) elsewhere. What ignorance of these foolish people! The vivartavadis and parinamavadis involve themselves in discussing about the material world instead of the Perfect Lord. The form of this cit Brahman is described : sadba brahma vapur dadhat sb 3.12. 47. ( the supreme Brahman has a body.) yat tad vapor bhati vibhusanayudhair avyakta cidvyaktam adharayadvibhuh babhuva tenaiva sa vamana sb 8.14.12 (that eternal form decorated with ornaments and weapons which is invisible and spiritual, the lord reveals by his mercy. Becoming visible to his mother and father, Vamana appeared as brahmana boy, like a dramatic actor. ) satyajnananantananda matraika rasa murtaya (the form described in the srutis as satya jnana ananta, satya jnana ananda is none other than the cowherd boy. (sb 10.13.54) govindam sac cid ananda brahma vrndavana surabhuruha talasinam (govinda situated beneath the trees of vrndavana is a form of sac cit ananda) tasam madhye saksad brahma gopalapuri among the cowherd boys Krsna is directly Brahman. Gopal tapani upanisad. Being blind, ignoring these scriptural statements that show that Brahman has a body and exists in a dhama, people instead take a blind guru parampara and discuss vivartavad, so fallen they are. They are in a most lamentable condition (aho) of all lamentable conditions in my creation. Another reading of ajna janata (ignorant people) is jna janata. In this case it could be translated "what foolishness of so called learned men."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Those who think of you, the ātmā of all ātmās, only as jīva are fools. Those who think of you, Paramātmā, to be just a pure jīva (ātmanam param) will again become materialists. The word api means “and.” The Lord is called ātmā since he spreads everywhere and is like a mother. You are not sought externally, in Vṛndāvana (apunar bahir mṛgyaḥ). The syllable a in apunaḥ indicates a negative. They search internally for you as the pure jīva. Aho expresses surprise. What ignorance of ignorant people! They do not seek out the Lord with astounding qualities mentioned previously.
Or thinking you, the basis of all souls (ātmānam) to be other than ātmā (param), thinking that others are also like you, they search for the ātmā elsewhere, not at your lotus feet. This is the ignorance of ignorant people. Or, thinking that you are pure form of the jīva, thinking of you only as antaryāmī, having achieved a special excellence, they do not search for you in Vṛndāvana. Ignorant people end up in this ignorance for they do not listen to the words of the Lord:
atha vā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna |
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat ||
But what is the use of all this knowledge for you, Arjuna? Please understand: by just one portion of myself, Paramātmā, I am firmly established in this universe. BG 10.42
That ātmā should be sought externally. With his two index fingers, Brahmā points to the two lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. If that were not so, I would have remained meditating on you in my mind in Brahmaloka. I would not have come here to Vṛndāvana again. One does not search in the forest for an object lost in the house. Or, those who think they are in knowledge are ignorant. Or those who know the nature of jīva and the Lord give up everything and search for the Lord in Vṛndāvana. The verse is praise for such people.
Or, first (param) thinking of you as the jīva by worship using Advaita philosophy, then realizing you as Paramātmā, they search for the real ātmā of all beings using the external senses. Oh! These people are knowledgeable among the knowledgeable (jña-janatā jñātā)! Or ajña can mean “having incomparable knowledge” just as anuttama can mean “incomparable.” The words mrgyaḥ and aho do not become mṛgyo ‘ho since first vowel of aho becomes long to indicate crying in a state of misery. Thus the rule ato roraplutād aplūte (Pāṇini 4.1.113) does not apply.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Those who think of you, the ātmā of all ātmās, only as a jīva are fools. Those who think of you, Paramātmā, to be just a pure jīva (ātmanam param) will again become materialists. The word api means “and.” The Lord is called ātmā since he spreads everywhere and is like a mother. You are not sought externally, in Vṛndāvana (apunar bahir mṛgyaḥ). The syllable a in apunaḥ indicates a negative. They search internally for you as the pure jīva. Aho expresses surprise. What ignorance of ignorant people! They do not seek out the Lord with astounding qualities mentioned previously.
Or thinking you, the basis of all souls (ātmānam), to be other than ātmā (param), thinking that others are also like you, they search for the ātmā elsewhere, not at your lotus feet. This is the ignorance of ignorant people. Or, thinking that you are the pure form of the jīva, thinking of you only as antaryāmī, having achieved a special excellence, they do not search for you in Vṛndāvana. Ignorant people end up in this ignorance for they do not listen to the words of the Lord:
atha vā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna |
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat ||
But what is the use of all this knowledge for you, Arjuna? Please understand: by just one portion of myself, Paramātmā, I am firmly established in this universe. BG 10.42
That ātmā should be sought externally. With his two index fingers, Brahmā points to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. If that were not so, I would have remained meditating on you in my mind in Brahmaloka. I would not have come here to Vṛndāvana again. One does not search in the forest for an object lost in the house. Or, those who think they are in knowledge are ignorant. Or those who know the nature of jīva and the Lord give up everything and search for the Lord in Vṛndāvana. The verse is praise for such people.
Or, first (param) thinking of you as the jīva by worship using Advaita philosophy, then realizing you as Paramātmā, they search for the real ātmā of all beings using the external senses. Oh! These people are knowledgeable among the knowledgeable (jña-janatā jñātā)! Or ajña can mean “having incomparable knowledge” just as anuttama can mean “incomparable.” The words mrgyaḥ and aho do not become mṛgyo ‘ho since first vowel of aho becomes long to indicate crying in a state of misery. Thus the rule ato roraplutād aplūte (Pāṇini 4.1.113) does not apply.