Bhagavad Gita 10.2
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 2 of 42
न मे विदुः सुरगणाः प्रभवं न महर्षयः | अहमादिर्हि देवानां महर्षीणां च सर्वशः ||२||
na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṃ na maharṣayaḥ | aham ādir hi devānāṃ maharṣīṇāṃ ca sarvaśaḥ || 2 ||
Neither the gods nor the great sages know My origin — for I am the source of them all, in every way.
Word by word (3)
- na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavam na maharṣayaḥ
- — Neither the hosts of gods nor the great sages know My origin · na = not. me = My (genitive). viduḥ = they know (√vid = to know; perfect tense viduḥ = 'they know, they understand'). sura-gaṇāḥ = hosts of gods (sura = god, divine being; gaṇāḥ = group, host; sura-gaṇāḥ = 'the assembled gods, the company of gods'). prabhavam = origin, source, divine birth (pra + √bhū = to come forth; prabhava = 'coming forth, origin, source, manifestation power'; the word suggests not merely birth-event but the divine's emergence into manifestation — its source/origin). na = not (repeated for emphasis). maharṣayaḥ = great sages (mahā = great + ṛṣi = seer/sage; maharṣi = great sage; plural maharṣayaḥ). V2's first half makes an extraordinary statement: not even the gods (sura-gaṇāḥ) or great sages (maharṣayaḥ) — the two highest categories of spiritual beings in the cosmic hierarchy — know My prabhavam (origin/source). This is not a limitation of the gods and sages but an ontological statement about what it means to be the source: you cannot be simultaneously the source AND be fully known by what you are the source of.
- aham ādir hi devānāṃ maharṣīṇāṃ ca sarvaśaḥ
- — For I am the origin of the gods and great sages in every way · aham = I. ādir hi = the origin indeed (ādi = beginning, origin, source — from √ad = to begin; ādiḥ = 'origin, primal source'; hi = indeed/for — giving the reason). devānāṃ = of the gods (genitive plural of deva). maharṣīṇāṃ = of the great sages (genitive plural of maharṣi). ca = and. sarvaśaḥ = in every way, completely, on every side (sarva = all; sarvaśaḥ = adverb 'in every respect, from every angle, completely'). Aham ādir hi devānāṃ maharṣīṇāṃ — 'I am the origin indeed of the gods and great sages.' This is the reason (hi = for/because) the gods and sages cannot know Krishna's prabhavam: they ARE what has arisen FROM Him. A stream cannot know the spring — it is what the spring produced. The devānāṃ maharṣīṇāṃ ca sarvaśaḥ (in every way, completely) emphasizes that the origination is not partial but complete: the divine is the complete source of gods and sages in every respect. This verse thus presents a cosmological hierarchy: Krishna → gods and sages → all other beings. If even the gods and sages cannot know the source, the teaching that follows (the vibhūtis) is given out of divine grace, not earned through inquiry.
- prabhavaṃ — divine origin as both birth-source and manifestation-power
- — V2's prabhavam names both the divine's origin and the power by which it originates all — the gods/sages cannot know it because it transcends their ontological level · The word prabhavam (from pra + √bhū) is philosophically rich. It means: (1) origin, birth-source; (2) manifestation-power, the power by which something comes into being; (3) the essential nature from which all proceeds. The Swarupananda commentary notes: 'Prabhavam — higher origin (birth) — though birthless, yet taking various manifestations of power.' This commentary note captures the paradox: the divine has no birth (ajam — V3) yet has prabhavam (the power of origin, the source from which all arises). The gods and sages cannot know this prabhavam precisely because they ARE what the prabhavam produced. This is Ch.10's opening epistemological point: the knowledge of Ch.10 (the vibhūtis, the divine manifestations) can only be given by the divine itself — it cannot be reached by inquiry from below, only by revelation from above. Hence the structure: Krishna teaches (V1 = again, hear) rather than waiting to be found through inquiry.
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.
A modern analogy
A computer program cannot know the source code that created it from within its own operation — it runs on the code but cannot access the programmer's originating decision to write it. Similarly, the gods run on Krishna's prabhavam (origin-power) but cannot access that origin from within their own operations. The programmer (Krishna) has to tell them, which is what the opening verse of this chapter sets up: 'hear My supreme word' — the source telling the originated about the originating act.
What it does NOT mean
This verse does not say the gods and sages are ignorant or inferior. It says they cannot know the ORIGIN of what they themselves are — which is a logical statement, not a criticism. The most spiritually advanced beings (gods and sages) cannot know the ground of their own existence through their own faculties because that ground is ontologically prior to them. This is not a failure of their intelligence but a structural feature of the originator-originated relationship.
Take with you
- This verse is a teaching in epistemic humility: if even the gods don't know the divine's origin, the appropriate stance for a human being is receptive openness rather than intellectual certainty about God's nature. It is the Gita's 'I don't fully know the divine's ultimate origin — and that's OK; what I CAN know is given through grace,' as the opening verse said the supreme word is spoken out of care for the listener's welfare.
- This verse's aham ādir (I am the origin) is the frame for Chapter 10's catalogue of divine manifestations: everything that follows — I am the Self in all hearts, I am the sun, and finally, with a single fragment I uphold the whole universe — makes sense in light of this verse: if Krishna is the origin of gods and sages, then wherever excellence appears — in nature, in beings, in activity — that excellence is a manifestation of the originating source.
- This verse and the next form a pair: this verse says not even the gods know My origin (a cognitive-limitation statement); the next says that the MORTAL who knows Me as unborn and beginningless is freed from all sin (a practical possibility). The teaching moves from what gods cannot know to what a human being, through grace, CAN know and benefit from.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
Neither the hosts of Devas, nor the great Rishis, know My origin, for in every way I am the source of all the Devas and the great Rishis. [4]
Neither the assemblage of the Gods nor the Adept Kings know my origin, because I am the origin of all the Gods and of the Adepts. [6]
Not the great company of gods nor kingly Rishis know / My Nature, Who have made the gods and Rishis long ago; [7]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Who knows Me as unborn, beginningless, Great Lord of worlds — that one is undeluded among mortals, freed from all sin.
Veiled by yoga-māyā, I am not manifest to all — this deluded world does not recognize Me, the Unborn, the Imperishable.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
For the protection of the good, destruction of wickedness, establishment of dharma — I come, age after age.
Verse 2 of 42 · back to Chapter 10