Sanskrit
नाहं प्रकाशः सर्वस्य योगमायासमावृतः । मूढोऽयं नाभिजानाति लोको मामजमव्ययम् ॥ २५ ॥
nāhaṃ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ mūḍho'yaṃ nābhijānāti loko mām ajam avyayam
Translation
Nor am I of all discovered, enveloped in My creation-illusion. This deluded world knoweth Me not, the unborn, the imperishable.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna states his own concealment directly: not manifest to all, veiled by yoga-maya, so “this deluded world” fails to recognize him as unborn and imperishable — the same self-concealment that makes verse 24’s confusion possible in the first place. It’s a deliberately unresolved tension the Gita doesn’t fully return to until chapter 9’s own meditation on being hidden in plain sight. Yoga-māyā-samāvṛta — “wrapped in yoga-māyā” — makes the concealment active and chosen, not a limitation. BG 9.11 returns to it: “fools disregard Me, dwelling in a human form.””
Study deeper
Word by word
- nāhaṃ prakāśaḥ sarvasyaनाहं प्रकाशः सर्वस्य
- I am not manifest to all (na + aham + prakāśaḥ + sarvasya)
- yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥयोगमायासमावृतः
- veiled by yoga-māyā (yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ)
- mūḍho'yaṃ nābhijānātiमूढोऽयं नाभिजानाति
- this deluded [world] does not recognize (mūḍhaḥ + ayam + na + abhijānāti)
- loko mām ajam avyayamलोको मां अजं अव्ययं
- the world [knows Me not] as unborn, imperishable (lokaḥ + mām + ajam + avyayam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Verse 2 opened the chapter promising knowledge “in its completeness, with nothing left over.” This verse, twenty-three verses later, has the same speaker admitting he isn’t manifest to everyone and stays veiled by his own creative power. The two claims aren’t contradictory once you notice what each is actually about — completeness of teaching for the prepared listener, versus concealment from the world at large — but the chapter never announces that reconciliation, it just lets both stand.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- You can be genuinely open and thorough with someone about one part of yourself while still, honestly, keeping other parts private — those two things don't have to be reconciled out loud for both to be true at once. Let full disclosure and reasonable privacy coexist without forcing an explanation for the gap.
Professional
- You can be completely transparent with your team about the decisions and reasoning that affect their work, while still reasonably keeping some things — a personal struggle, a not-yet-final consideration — private. Full transparency about what matters to them doesn't require full disclosure of everything about you.
Family & Social
- You can promise someone close to you your full honesty about what concerns them, and still hold back parts of your inner life that are simply your own. Those two things can sit together without you owing an explanation for where the line falls.
Ask yourself
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