Bhagavad Gita 7.24
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 24 of 30
अव्यक्तं व्यक्तिमापन्नं मन्यन्ते मामबुद्धयः | परं भावमजानन्तो ममाव्ययमनुत्तमम् ||२४||
avyaktaṃ vyaktim āpannaṃ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ | paraṃ bhāvam ajānanto mamāvyayam anuttamam || 24 ||
The unwise regard Me — the unmanifest — as manifest, not knowing My supreme, imperishable, and unsurpassed state.
Word by word (3)
- avyaktaṃ vyaktim āpannaṃ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ
- — the unwise regard Me — the unmanifest — as having come into manifestation · avyaktaṃ = the unmanifest (a-vyakta = not manifested, not expressed in form — the opposite of vyakta, the manifest/expressed; avyakta is the transcendent ground that is prior to all manifestation). vyaktim = manifestation, expressed form (the manifest state — being perceptible, having form). āpannaṃ = having come into, having arrived at (āpanna = having obtained, having entered into — the participle of ā + √pad). manyante = they consider, they regard (they think, they believe). mām = Me (accusative — they regard Me). abuddhayaḥ = the unintelligent, those without understanding (a = not; buddhi = intelligence, discriminating wisdom; abuddhayaḥ = those without discriminating wisdom). The error described: the abuddhi regard Krishna — who is avyakta (unmanifest, transcendent) — as though He has come into manifestation in the form of a human being. This is the opposite error from the common materialist view: where the materialist denies any divine presence, the abuddhi accepts Krishna's divinity but reduces it to the manifestation (vyakti), missing the transcendent ground.
- paraṃ bhāvam ajānantaḥ mama avyayam anuttamam
- — not knowing My supreme state — imperishable and unsurpassed · paraṃ bhāvam = the supreme state, the transcendent nature (para = beyond, supreme, transcendent; bhāva = state, nature, mode of being). ajānantaḥ = not knowing (a = not; jānanta = knowing — present participle of √jñā). mama = My. avyayam = imperishable, immutable (a-vyaya = without diminishing — the same avyaya as V13's 'param avyayam'; the immutable ground). anuttamam = unsurpassed, most excellent (an-uttama = beyond which there is nothing higher — the same anuttama as V18's 'anuttamāṃ gatim'). What the abuddhi don't know: Krishna's paraṃ bhāvam (supreme transcendent state) which is avyayam (imperishable) and anuttamam (unsurpassed). They see the manifest human form (vyakti) but miss the unmanifest transcendent ground (avyakta) that the form expresses without being limited to.
- avyakta (the unmanifest) vs. vyakti (the manifest form) — the dual nature
- — Krishna is primarily avyakta (unmanifest ground) who appears as vyakti — but is not reducible to any manifestation · V24's central teaching is the relationship between avyakta (unmanifest) and vyakti (manifest form): Krishna IS the avyakta (the unmanifest transcendent ground); He APPEARS as vyakti (manifest forms including the human Krishna). The abuddhi (unwise) mistake the vyakti for the totality — they see the manifest form and conclude: 'Krishna has come into manifestation from the unmanifest.' The error: this makes the manifestation primary and the unmanifest secondary, as if the Divine begins in the unmanifest and 'becomes' manifest through an avatar birth. The truth: the avyakta is primary and eternal; the vyakti is a temporal expression of the avyakta, not the other way around. Krishna's paraṃ bhāvam (supreme state) is the avyakta, not any particular vyakti.
The unwise think that I, the unmanifest, have taken on form, not knowing My higher state — imperishable and unsurpassed.
A modern analogy
Someone who sees the light from a lamp and concludes: 'the light comes from the lamp' — missing the electricity that generates the light. The lamp IS generating the light, and that is not false. But the primary source (electricity) is unmanifest (invisible) and the lamp (manifest form) expresses it. The unwise here see the lamp and conclude: 'the light came from the darkness into this lamp-form.' The electricity (the unmanifest, avyakta) is the prior reality.
What it does NOT mean
This verse does NOT deny that Krishna appears in manifest form (the avatar). The Gita clearly depicts Krishna as a historical person speaking to Arjuna. This verse is not avatar-denial but avatar-reductionism-correction: the error of the unwise (abuddhi) is assuming that the manifest form is the primary reality ('Krishna was not there before birth, will not be there after death'). The truth: the unmanifest (avyakta) ground is primary and eternal; the manifest form (vyakti) is its temporal expression.
Take with you
- This verse teaches that the manifest form (avatar, teacher, scripture) expresses the unmanifest ground — but the ground is not limited to or reducible to the form. This applies to all spiritual teaching: the teacher expresses the truth; the truth is not the teacher. The form serves the formless; the formless is the primary reality.
- The supreme state (paraṃ bhāvam) — imperishable (avyayam) and unsurpassed (anuttamam) — is the recognition toward which this whole chapter's teaching has been pointing. From the eight-fold lower nature, through the higher life-bearing nature, through the thread on which all is strung, through the teaching that all states are in the Divine yet the Divine is not in them, to the recognition that Vāsudeva is all — all of it points to this: the Supreme's primary nature is unmanifest (avyakta), imperishable, and unsurpassed.
- This verse in spiritual practice: when the teacher, the scripture, or the practice begins to feel limited or finite, this verse's teaching applies — what you have been touching through the form is the unmanifest ground that the form expresses. The limitation is of the form; the ground is imperishable (avyayam). Move toward the ground.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
The unintelligent regard Me — the unmanifested — as having come into manifestation, not knowing My supreme, immutable, and unsurpassed state. [1]
The foolish regard Me, the unmanifested, as come into manifestation, not knowing My supreme state — immutable and transcendental. [4]
The unillumined, not knowing My higher nature — changeless and transcendent — think Me as though passed from the Unmanifested into manifestation. [5]
Not knowing my transcendant and immutable supreme nature, the ignorant think that I, who am unmanifested, am come into a visible manifestation. [6]
The unwise — not perceiving Me behind My veil of light — think Me as though concealed, born on earth to serve some earthly aim. [7]
The unintelligent, not knowing my transcendent and immutable condition, which is beyond all, think me, who am unmanifested, to have become manifest. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Deluded by the three guṇa-constituted states, all this world does not recognize Me — beyond them, imperishable.
Veiled by yoga-māyā, I am not manifest to all — this deluded world does not recognize Me, the Unborn, the Imperishable.
Fools in human form disregard Me, not knowing My supreme nature as the great Lord of all beings.
Your body changed from childhood to age without 'you' dying — changing bodies is no different.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
Verse 24 of 30 · back to Chapter 7