Bhagavad Gita BG 7.24

Chapter 7, Verse 24 — Meaning, Translation & Explanation

अव्यक्तं व्यक्तिमापन्नं मन्यन्ते मामबुद्धयः । परं भावमजानन्तो ममाव्ययमनुत्तमम् ॥

avyaktam vyaktim apannam manyante mam abuddhayah param bhavam ajananto mamavyayam anuttamam

Meaning

The unintelligent think that I, the Unmanifest, have become manifest — not knowing My supreme, undecaying, unsurpassed nature.

Understanding

This verse identifies a fundamental error in popular religious thinking. 'Abuddhayah' (those without proper buddhi, without discriminating intelligence) see Krishna's human manifestation and think: 'The formless has taken a form — the Unmanifest has become Manifest.' This is the mistake. 'Avyaktam vyaktim apannam manyante mam' — they think of Me as having 'descended into manifestation' (apannam = having fallen into/having come into). The error is in the word 'apannam' — as if the Unmanifest condenses or contracts into the manifest form, giving up its prior nature. In reality, Krishna's para bhava (supreme nature) is avyayam (undecaying, imperishable) and anuttamam (unsurpassed, highest). He has not given up the Unmanifest to become a man — He is simultaneously both. The Infinite does not become finite by appearing in finite form. As an analogy: the sky does not become the pot when it appears within the pot — the pot-space is the sky, not less than sky. But the pot-space seems bounded. Abuddhayah only see the apparent limitation, not the underlying infinite nature.

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