Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 9, Verse 11
अवजानन्ति मां मूढा मानुषीं तनुमाश्रितम्।
परं भावमजानन्तो मम भूतमहेश्वरम्।।
परं भावमजानन्तो मम भूतमहेश्वरम्।।
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśvaram
also searched as "avajananti mam mudha manushim tanum ashritam"
Translation
Fools disregard Me, dwelling in a human form, not knowing My higher nature as the Supreme Lord of all beings.
Vāṇi's rendering
The foolish see me in a human body and look down on me — blind to my higher being, lord of all.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अवजानन्तिavajānanti | they look down on, they hold in contempt |
| माम्mām | me |
| मूढाःmūḍhā | the deluded, the thick-witted (sandhi form of mūḍhāḥ) |
| मानुषीम्mānuṣīm | human |
| तनुम्tanum | body, form |
| आश्रितम्āśritam | having taken up, dwelling in |
| परम्param | higher, supreme |
| भावम्bhāvam | being, nature |
| अजानन्तःajānanto | not knowing (sandhi form of ajānantaḥ) |
| ममmama | my |
| भूतमहेश्वरम्bhūta-maheśvaram | the great lord of all that exists |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 11 mean?
Krishna says the deluded see him wearing a human body and therefore think less of him, never suspecting the paraṁ bhāvam — the higher being — behind that face. The error is not disbelief. It is a habit of judging by appearance, of assuming that whatever is near and familiar cannot also be vast.
What does avajananti mam mudha manushim tanum ashritam teach us?
It teaches that contempt often wears the mask of realism. Arjuna's charioteer is the lord of all beings, and the very intimacy that lets Arjuna speak freely to him is what lets others dismiss him. Familiarity is not proof of smallness. Notice where you have confused the two.
Why does Krishna call people mudha here?
Mūḍha is not an insult about intelligence. It names a mind clouded over, one that cannot see past the surface it is looking at. Such a mind ranks everything by distance and grandeur, so a body of flesh registers as merely a body. The clouding, not the cleverness, is the problem.
If Krishna is the supreme lord, why take a human body at all?
Because nothing else can be spoken with. A voice you can argue with, a friend who holds your reins on the worst morning of your life — that reaches Arjuna where thunder never would. The form that makes Krishna dismissible is the same form that makes him near enough to hear.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is standing right there — reins in hand, dust on his feet, a friend Arjuna has known for years. That nearness is exactly what makes him easy to dismiss. We expect the highest to arrive as thunder, so when it arrives as a face at eye level, we file it under ordinary. Mūḍha is not stupid; it is the mind that measures greatness by distance. Whatever comes close enough to touch, you rank lower. Look at what you have already downgraded because it was simply available to you — the person who stayed, the work at hand, the body you live in.