Fools know Me as who have assumed human form

Swami Kaivalayananda discussed another important verse in the 9th chapter;

‘Avajananti mam mudhah, manushim tanum asritam,
Param bhavam ajananto mama bhutamaheshvaram.’

Here the Lord says, ‘fools curse Me, who have assumed human form! They don’t know my supreme nature, as the Lord of all beings.’

One interesting thing is that it refers to those who don’t know the ‘param bhavam,’ the supreme nature of the Lord. We should understand that this doesn’t only refer to those who don’t believe in the Incarnation and those who abuse him. There is another group who also are ignorant of the Lord’s true nature – so-called ‘devotees.’

Actually, the devotees are worse than the enemies of the Avatar. Why? Because the enemies only abuse the Lord from a distance, while the devotees hold tightly close and abuse Him. How do they abuse the Lord? That is said, ‘param bhavam ajananta’ – they think that the Lord is confined in a human body, and that the Lord has likes and dislikes. They think the presence of the Lord is confined in human body, so they become sad when separated from that body. They think that the Lord loves them specially, more than any others. Who are such ‘devotees’?

According to Sri Krishna, he calls them ‘moodhas’ – Fools. They are never aware of the Lord’s true nature, so the Lord considers their ‘devotion’ as abuse. This is seen in many stories of the Bhagavatam. Lord Sri Krishna tells devotees like Narada and the gopis, when they became proud of their devotion to the Lord, ‘you think that I love you specially, and that you have great devotion. Actually, your devotion is abuse for me, because you remain ignorant of My true nature.’

Suppose a disciple has a close relationship with the Guru. He may feel, ‘the Guru has special love for me. I am most close to the Guru.’ When one feels this, what happens? That ‘gurutvam,’ the Guru-hood in the Guru is destroyed. He confines the Guru to his narrow ideas and emotions.

Normally, we consider ourselves as ‘devotees,’ but is it really true? This is a question that everyone should whole-heartedly reflect on and introspect.

Piyush,
June 8, 2007