Chapter 10 · Shloka 2— The Yoga of Divine Glories

na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣhayaḥ aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣhīṇāṁ cha sarvaśhaḥ

na

— neither

me

— my

viduḥ

— know

sura-gaṇāḥ

— the celestial gods

prabhavam

— origin

na

— nor

mahā-ṛiṣhayaḥ

— the great sages

aham

— I

ādiḥ

— the source

hi

— certainly

devānām

— of the celestial gods

mahā-ṛiṣhīṇām

— of the great seers

cha

— also

sarvaśhaḥ

— in every way

"Na me viduh sura-ganah prabhavam na maharsayah, aham adir hi devanam maharsinam ca sarvasah." — Neither the hosts of gods nor the great sages know My origin; for I am the source of the gods and the great sages in every way. Krishna reveals the unfathomable nature of His being. 'Na me viduh sura-ganah prabhavam na maharsayah' — neither the hosts of gods (sura-ganah) nor the great sages (maharsis) know My origin (prabhava). Even the most exalted beings — the celestial gods and the greatest illumined sages — cannot fully comprehend the source and full nature of the Divine. The reason: 'aham adih hi devanam maharsinam ca sarvasah' — for I am the source (adi, the origin) of the gods and the great sages in every way (sarvasah). Shankaracharya explains the logic: since Krishna is the very origin from which even the gods and sages arise, they cannot fully know Him as their source. The created cannot fully comprehend its creator; the effect cannot encompass its cause. The eye cannot see itself; the source of all knowing cannot be made fully into an object of knowledge. This verse establishes the proper humility before the Divine. Even the most exalted, wisest beings do not fully fathom the supreme source. The Divine is not a finite object that can be exhaustively known; it is the infinite ground from which all knowers and all knowledge arise. The teaching instills wonder and humility. The deepest reality exceeds even the comprehension of the wisest beings. This is not cause for despair but for awe: we are in the presence of something genuinely infinite, something that no finite mind — however exalted — can fully encompass. The appropriate response to the deepest reality is not the pretense of complete understanding but reverent wonder before the boundless. Some things are known not by mastering them but by standing in awe before them.

Krishna says even the wisest beings — gods and great sages — cannot fully comprehend the deepest source, because they themselves arise from it. The logic is elegant: the effect can't fully encompass its cause; the eye can't see itself; the source of all knowing can't be made entirely into an object of knowledge. This instills a genuine and valuable humility. We live in an age that assumes everything can eventually be fully explained, mastered, and grasped. But the deepest realities may genuinely exceed complete comprehension — not as a failure of intelligence, but as their inherent nature. And the right response isn't despair or 'so why bother' — it's awe. There's a kind of wisdom that comes not from mastering something but from standing in wonder before it. The vastness of existence, the mystery of consciousness, the sheer fact that anything exists at all — these are best met not with the pretense of having it all figured out, but with reverent wonder. Sometimes the wisest stance is humble awe before what genuinely exceeds you.

Krishna says even the wisest beings — gods and great sages — can't fully comprehend the deepest source, because they themselves arise from it. The logic is elegant: the effect can't fully contain its cause; the eye can't see itself; the source of all knowing can't be made entirely into an object of knowledge. This instills a genuine and valuable humility. We live in an age that assumes everything can eventually be fully explained, mastered, and grasped — that there are no real mysteries, just gaps in data. But the deepest realities may genuinely exceed complete comprehension — not as a failure of intelligence, but as their inherent nature. And the right response isn't despair or 'then why bother' — it's awe. There's a kind of wisdom that comes not from mastering something but from standing in wonder before it. The vastness of existence, the mystery of consciousness, the sheer fact that anything exists at all — best met not with 'I've got it all figured out,' but with reverent wonder. Sometimes the wisest move is humble awe before what genuinely exceeds you.

Krishna shares something amazing and humbling! He says that even the gods and the wisest sages can't fully understand where He comes from — because He is the SOURCE that they all came from! It's like how a drawing can't fully understand the artist who drew it, or how your eye can see everything but can't see itself! Some things are just too big and wonderful to completely figure out. And that's okay — it's actually beautiful! When something is so vast and amazing that even the wisest beings just stand in wonder, we don't need to feel sad about not understanding it all. We can just feel AMAZED! Sometimes the smartest thing is to look at something wonderful and simply say 'wow!' Wonder is a kind of wisdom too!