Verse 25
Naaham prakaashah sarvasya
Yogamaayaasamaavritah;
Moodho’yam naabhijaanaati
Loko maamajamavyayam.
I am not manifest to all (as I am), being veiled by the Yoga Maya. This
deluded world does not know Me, the unborn and imperishable.
Yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ: “I have covered Myself with the veil of the
presentation of this world of prakriti — sattva, rajas and tamas.”
The Absolute has put on a dress, as it were, and we see only this dress of the
manifestation in the form of the three gunas of prakriti.
When we open our eyes and see, we see only
the manifestation of prakriti in the form of this world — the
three gunas. The essence behind it, the purusha behind
the prakriti, is not cognized by the vision of our eyes or the
action of any of our sense organs.
Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya
yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ.
Here, yoga maya means the veil that God seems to be putting on
Himself in the form of His creation. The radiance of the sun may blind our eyes
to such an extent that we may not be able to see the sun.
Tat tvaṁ pūṣan āpāvṛṇu
satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye is a prayer in the Isavasya Upanishad: “O
Sun! Withdraw your rays, the golden cover that You are hiding Yourself with, so
that I may behold You in Your essence.” The glory of God in the form of
this creation blinds our eyes to such an extent that we cannot see God behind
this glory. The radiance of a nugget of gold may blind us to the real
perception of it.
So too is the wonder of this world that
tantalizes us, attracts us, promises us all things, and gives us immense
satisfaction. It is a cover that God has put on Himself so that we may be
blinded with the attraction for the things of sense — which is the veil that is
referred to as maya — and, therefore, we will not be able to behold
Him that is behind. We will see the dramatic personae, but the director Himself
is not seen.
Mūḍho’yaṁ nābhijānāti loko
mām ajam avyayam: “I am the eternal in the process of time, but the temporal mind that
is in this world of space and time concentrates itself only on that which is
visible to the eyes.” Mūḍha is the word that is used here. Fools are they, idiots, who think
that the visible is the real while the invisible alone is the real. They go for
the objects of visible perception.
The invisible does not attract them in any
way whatsoever because all attraction is sensory, and the senses cannot see or
behold that which is un-manifest. They see only the manifest world of sense
objects. Therefore, deluded are these people.
Mūḍhoyaṁ nābhijānāti loko
mām ajam avyayam: “The immortal and uncreated essence that I am cannot be beheld by
deluded people who only look through their eyes, hear through their ears, and
enjoy through their physical personality.”
Swami answers to a question thus:-
Qn:-It has always
happened that many people around the Avatar knew that
the Avatar was God in human form; yet, they often forgot that
fact. Why? Swami explains:
Swami:-When
the Avatar appears in human form, we find that He exhibits
human consciousness along with Divine Consciousness. Ordinary people cannot
grasp the Divine Consciousness of the Avatar.
God appears to be an ordinary human being to
the limited intelligence of lay people because of the co-existence of the
Divine and the human aspects of the Consciousness exhibited by Him. Man's
perception is limited to the level of human consciousness.
Therefore, human comprehension is restricted
by the limits of human consciousness. But the sages of yore were able to
cognize the Formless God in the visible Form because they had imbued themselves
with Divine Consciousness. Thus, according to their levels, different people
regard an Avatar as a mere human being or the Cosmic Reality.
Love.
