23. antavat tu phalam tesam tad
bhavaty alpamedhasam
devan devata anti mad
bhakt anti mama api
(23) But temporary is the fruit gained by these men of small minds. The worshippers of the gods go to the gods but My devotees come to Me.
As the Transcendent Divine cannot be known easily we resort to aspects of the Supreme and offer our worship. We realize the results we seek, for the Supreme is patient with our imperfect vision. He accepts our prayers and answers them at the level at which we approach Him. No devotion is worthless. Gradually even the illiterate devotee will seek his highest good in the Divine and grow into it. Those who rise to the worship of the Transcendent Godhead which embraces and transcends all aspects realize and attain to the highest state, integral in being, perfect in know-
ledge, absolute in love and complete in will. All other goods are partial and limited and have a meaning only at lower levels of development.
The Power of Ignorance
24. avyaktam vyaktim apannam manyante mam abuddhayah param bhdvam ajananto
mama 'vyayam anuttamam
(24) Men of no understanding think of Me, the unmanif est, as having manifestation, not knowing My higher nature, changeless and supreme.
The forms we impose on the Formless are due to our limitations. We turn away from the contemplation of Ultimate Reality to concentrate upon imaginative reconstructions. All gods except the One manifestation Eternal are forms imposed on Him. God is not one among many. He is the One behind the ever changing many, who stands beyond all forms, the immutable centre of endless mobility.
25. na 'hark prakasah sarvasya
yogaamayasamavrtah
mudho 'yam na ' bhijanati
loko mam ajam avyayam
(25) Veiled by My creative power (yogamaya) I am not revealed to all. This i wildered world knows Me not, the unborn, the unchanging.
yoga: means by it union of the three gunas: for Madhusudana it is samkalpa or will.
The Supreme is not only in the world but beyond it. We mistake Him for this or that limited form.
Cp. Bhagavata: "0 Lord, All pervading Supreme Self, Lord of Yoga, who is there in the three worlds, who can penetrate Thy mystery, know where, when, in what manner and in how many forms Thou engagest Thyself in sport?[1] Only Pure Being
26. veda 'ham samatitam
vartamãndni cã 'rjunun a
bhavisyam ca bhutam z
mark tu vela na kascana
(26) I know the beings that are past, that are present, o Arjuna, and that are to come but Me no one knows.
27. icchãdve?asam'uttliena
dvandvamohena bharata
sarvabhutani sammoham
sarge yanti paramtapa
(27) All beings are born to delusion 0 Bharata (Arjuna) overcome by the dualities which arise from wish and hate, O Conqueror of the foe (Arjuna).
