Sanskrit
दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया । मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन्ति ते ॥ १४ ॥
daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṃ taranti te
Translation
This divine illusion of Mine, caused by the qualities, is hard to pierce; they who come to Me, they cross over this illusion.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Maya gets its name here — the guna-born illusion of verse 13 is “divine” (daivī) and “hard to pierce” (duratyayā), not a flaw in the world but a built-in feature of it. The escape clause is narrow and immediate: not effort or understanding on its own, but coming to Krishna (mām eva ye prapadyante) — the same verb verse 19 uses for the rare mahatma’s culminating realization, and the same verb verse 20 uses, ironically, for those who surrender to lesser gods instead. Daivī… duratyayā — “divine, hard to get past” — makes māyā a designed feature, not a bug. The one exit named is prapadyante, taking refuge — the same verb, and same act, that BG 7.20 shows misdirected.
Study deeper
Word by word
- daivī hy eṣā guṇamayīदैवी ह्य् एषा गुणमयी
- for this divine māyā of Mine, made of the guṇas (daivī + hi + eṣā + guṇa-mayī)
- mama māyā duratyayāमम माया दुरत्यया
- My māyā, hard to cross over (mama + māyā + duratyayā)
- mām eva ye prapadyanteमां एव ये प्रपद्यन्ते
- those who take refuge in Me alone (mām + eva + ye + prapadyante)
- māyām etāṃ taranti teमायां एतां तरन्ति ते
- they cross beyond this māyā (māyām + etām + taranti + te)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Calling maya “daivī” — divine — is a strange word choice for an obstacle Krishna is simultaneously telling people to get past. It isn’t described as a flaw, an accident, or an enemy force; it’s built in, by design, the way a lock is built into a door rather than jammed by rust. That reframes struggling against it: difficulty here isn’t evidence something has gone wrong, it’s evidence the structure is working as intended.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Site Commentary — Second Reading
Notice what the verse withholds: no technique, no gradual practice, no method for crossing maya — only a single verb, prapadyante, “they come to me.” Elsewhere the text is exacting about method — posture, breath, the discipline of repeated practice — but here, at the hardest crossing it names, it offers no engineering plan, only a direction. Worth sitting with if your instinct in the face of a stubborn problem is always to build a better process: this verse suggests some obstacles don’t yield to a better method, only to where you’re already pointed.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When something feels persistently hard despite your best effort, consider that the difficulty might be structural rather than a sign you're doing something wrong — some obstacles are built into the design of the situation, not evidence of personal failure. Struggling against a built-in obstacle is still worth doing; it just isn't proof of fault.
Professional
- When a process keeps resisting improvement despite genuine effort, consider that the friction might be structurally built into the system rather than a failure of execution. Diagnosing 'built-in' versus 'broken' changes whether you fix the process or accept a harder, sustained effort against it.
Family & Social
- When a recurring tension in a relationship doesn't go away despite real effort from both sides, consider that it might be a structural feature of two different people being close, not evidence someone is failing. Some friction is built in and simply needs ongoing tending, not a one-time fix.
Ask yourself
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