Commentary

Commentary

Having declared in the previous verse that those who consider Him to have emerged from an impersonal source are mistaken, Krishna now explains why that mistake is so common and so persistent. It is not because the truth is merely hard to reason out. It is because He is actively veiled — not by external illusion but by His own internal divine potency called yoga-maya.

Yoga-maya is distinct from the external maya that keeps ordinary beings in material delusion. The external maya operates through the three gunas — tamas, rajas, sattva — and produces the ordinary illusion of the material world. Yoga-maya is the internal spiritual potency of the Lord Himself, through which He arranges and governs His divine pastimes, and through which He also chooses who may see Him and who may not. It is a veil drawn not from outside but from within the divine reality itself.

When Krishna was physically present in Vrindavan, Mathura, and Dwarka, not everyone saw Him as God. Shishupala, who hated Him, saw a rival king. The Kaurava court saw a clever diplomat. The cowherd boys of Vrindavan simply saw their best friend. Only those whose hearts were purified by devotion — like Bhishma, Vidura, the gopis, the Pandavas — could recognise who stood before them. The same person, the same light — seen differently according to the quality of the eye.

This is why spiritual practice matters. It is not about acquiring new information about God. It is about purifying perception. The Upanishad prays: hiranmayena patrena satyasyaapihitam mukham — the face of truth is covered by a golden lid. The prayer asks for that lid to be lifted. The devotee who sincerely practises — whose heart is gradually cleared of selfish desire and pride — begins to see what was always there. The veil thins. Krishna remains the same; the devotee’s perception shifts.

Historical Context

The concept of yoga-maya appears in the Bhagavatam in Kunti’s famous prayer (1.8.19), where she says that Krishna is veiled by yoga-maya and therefore ordinary people cannot understand Him. The Isha Upanishad (mantra 15) also refers to this covering: hiranmayena patrena — a golden lid covering the truth — and prays for it to be removed. Both texts point to the same teaching: proximity to the divine does not guarantee recognition; only qualified vision, purified by devotion, can see truly.