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TEXT 11 avajananti mam mudha
SYNONYMS  avajananti--deride;
mam--Me;
mudhah--foolish men; manusim--in human form;
tanum--body;
asritam--assuming; param--transcendental;
bhavam--nature;
ajanantah--not knowing; mama--Mine;
bhuta--everything
that be; maha-isvaram--the supreme proprietor.
TRANSLATION Fools deride
Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental
nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.
PURPORT From the other
explanations of the previous verses in this chapter, it is clear that the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, although appearing like a human being,
is not a common man. The Personality of Godhead, who conducts the creation,
maintenance and annihilation of the complete cosmic manifestation, cannot
be a human being. Yet there are many foolish men who consider Krsna to
be merely a powerful man and nothing more. Actually, He is the original
Supreme Personality, as is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita (isvarah
paramah krsnah); He is the Supreme Lord.
There are
many isvaras, controllers, and one appears greater than another.
In the ordinary management of affairs in the material world, we find some
official or director, and above him there is a secretary, and above him
a minister, and above him a president. Each of them is a controller, but
one is controlled by another. In the Brahma-samhita it is said that
Krsna is the supreme controller; there are many controllers undoubtedly,
both in the material and spiritual world, but Krsna is the supreme controller
(isvarah paramah krsnah) and His body is sac-cid-ananda,
nonmaterial.
Material
bodies cannot perform the wonderful acts described in previous verses.
His body is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge. Although He is not
a common man, the foolish deride Him and consider Him to be a man. His
body is called here manusim because He is acting just like a man,
a friend of Arjuna's, a politician involved in the Battle of Kuruksetra.
In so many ways He is acting just like an ordinary man, but actually His
body is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha--eternal bliss and knowledge absolute.
This is confirmed in the Vedic language also (sac-cid-ananda-rupaya
krsnaya): "I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Krsna, who is the eternal blissful form of knowledge." There are other
descriptions in the Vedic language also. Tam ekam govindam: "You
are Govinda, the pleasure of the senses and the cows." Sac-cid-ananda-vigraham:
"And Your form is transcendental, full of knowledge, bliss and eternality."
Despite
the transcendental qualities of Lord Krsna's body, its full bliss and knowledge,
there are many so-called scholars and commentators of Bhagavad-gita
who deride Krsna as an ordinary man. The scholar may be born an extraordinary
man due to his previous good work, but this conception of Sri Krsna is
due to a poor fund of knowledge. Therefore he is called mudha, for
only foolish persons consider Krsna to be an ordinary human being because
they do not know the confidential activities of the Supreme Lord and His
different energies. They do not know that Krsna's body is a symbol of complete
knowledge and bliss, that He is the proprietor of everything that be and
that He can award liberation to anyone. Because they do not know that Krsna
has so many transcendental qualifications, they deride Him.
Nor do they
know that the appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this
material world is a manifestation of His internal energy. He is the master
of the material energy. As has been explained in several places (mama
maya duratyaya), He claims that the material energy, although very
powerful, is under His control, and whoever surrenders unto Him can get
out of the control of this material energy. If a soul surrendered to Krsna
can get out of the influence of material energy, then how can the Supreme
Lord, who conducts the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the whole
cosmic nature, have a material body like us? So this conception of Krsna
is complete foolishness. Foolish persons, however, cannot conceive that
the Personality of Godhead, Krsna, appearing just like an ordinary man,
can be the controller of all the atoms and of the gigantic manifestation
of the universal form. The biggest and the minutest are beyond their conception,
so they cannot imagine that a form like that of a human being can simultaneously
control the infinite and the minute. Actually although He is controlling
the infinite and the finite, He is apart from all this manifestation. It
is clearly stated concerning His yogam aisvaram, His inconceivable
transcendental energy, that He can control the infinite and the finite
simultaneously and that He can remain aloof from them. Although the foolish
cannot imagine how Krsna, who appears just like a human being, can control
the infinite and the finite, those who are pure devotees accept this, for
they know that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore they
completely surrender unto Him and engage in Krsna consciousness, devotional
service of the Lord.
There are
many controversies amongst the impersonalists and the personalists about
the Lord's appearance as a human being. But if we consult Bhagavad-gita
and Srimad-Bhagavatam, the authoritative texts for understanding
the science of Krsna, then we can understand that Krsna is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. He is not an ordinary man, although He appeared
on this earth as an ordinary human. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, First
Canto, First Chapter, when the sages inquire about the activities of Krsna,
it is stated that His appearance as a man bewilders the foolish. No human
being could perform the wonderful acts that Krsna performed while He was
present on this earth. When Krsna appeared before His father and mother,
Vasudeva and Devaki, He appeared with four hands, but after the prayers
of the parents, He transformed Himself into an ordinary child. His appearance
as an ordinary human being is one of the features of His transcendental
body. In the Eleventh Chapter of the Gita also it is stated, tenaiva
rupena etc. Arjuna prayed to see again that form of four hands, and
when Krsna was thus petitioned by Arjuna, He again assumed His original
form. All these different features of the Supreme Lord are certainly not
those of an ordinary human being.
Some of
those who deride Krsna, who are infected with the Mayavadi philosophy,
quote the following verse from the Srimad-Bhagavatam to prove that
Krsna is just an ordinary man. Aham sarvesu bhutesu bhutatmavasthitah
sada: "The Supreme is present in every living entity." (Bhag. 3.29.21)
We should better take note of this particular verse from the Vaisnava acaryas
like Jiva Gosvami instead of following the interpretation of unauthorized
persons who deride Krsna. Jiva Gosvami, commenting on this verse, says
that Krsna, in His plenary expansion as Paramatma, is situated in the moving
and the nonmoving entities as the Supersoul, so any neophyte devotee who
simply gives his attention to the arca-murti, the form of the Supreme
Lord in the temple, and does not respect other living entities is uselessly
worshiping the form of the Lord in the temple. There are three kinds of
devotees of the Lord, and the neophyte is in the lowest stage. The neophyte
devotee gives more attention to the Deity in the temple than to other devotees,
so Jiva Gosvami warns that this sort of mentality should be corrected.
A devotee should see that Krsna is present in everyone's heart as Paramatma;
therefore every body is the embodiment or the temple of the Supreme Lord,
and as such, as one offers respect to the temple of the Lord, he should
similarly properly respect each and every body in whom the Paramatma dwells.
Everyone should therefore be given proper respect and should not be neglected.
There are
also many impersonalists who deride temple worship. They say that since
God is everywhere, why should one restrict himself to temple worship? But
if God is everywhere, is He not in the temple or in the Deity? Although
the personalist and the impersonalist will fight with one another perpetually,
a perfect devotee in Krsna consciousness knows that although Krsna is the
Supreme Personality, He is all-pervading, as is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita.
Although His personal abode is Goloka Vrndavana and He is always staying
there, still, by His different manifestations of energy and by His plenary
expansion, He is present everywhere in all parts of the material and spiritual
creations.
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