(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswami)

God Must Have Both A Personal And A Formless Element To His Personality In Order To Be Whole And Complete

अवजानन्ति मां मूढा मानुषीं तनुमाश्रितम् |
परं भावमजानन्तो मम भूतमहेश्वरम् || 9.11||

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣhīṁ tanum āśhritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśhvaram|| 9.11||

Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 9- Ver. 11:

Deluded people are unable to identify Me when I descend in My personal form. They have no understanding of My divinity as the Supreme Lord of all beings.

Explanation

Despite the fact that Ishvara is infinite, many people are stuck with one form or another. Shri Krishna calls such persons ignorant and their behaviour disrespectful in this shloka.

‘Those who claim that God is solely formless and cannot manifest in a personal form contradict God’s characterization as all-powerful and all-mighty. This entire world, full of forms, shapes, and colours, was created by the Supreme Lord. Can He not create a form for Himself if He can create so many forms for the rest of the world?
We, as small souls, have forms as well. If God cannot take on a physical form, the conclusion is that He has even less power than we do as humans. God’s personality must have both a personal and a formless element in order for Him to be whole and complete.

We must remember that the personal form of God is a divine form, which means it is free of all the flaws present in material forms. It is eternal, knowledge-filled, and made out of divine bliss. Not only does God have a physical form, but He also comes to earth as an Avatar.

Because of the divine character of God’s form, each human can only perceive His divinity to the level of his or her spiritual ability. Only the God-realized saints, who have gained divine vision through His mercy, can perceive Him as God. As a result, Shree Krishna claims that when He takes an avatar in the world, the ignorant physically conditioned souls do not recognize Him.

Verse & what we can learn

Many of us have been conditioned by our civilizations to believe that Ishvara is a distant entity that requires years and years of devotion to attain. Ishvara’s true essence as infinite, all-pervading, and available right now. Shri Krishna uses a strong term to describe such people, foolish, in order to ensure that we do not resort to our old ways of thinking.

We make the mistake of believing that our eternal nature, our self, is merely our human body before we reach the level of Ishvara. Similarly, we are likely to think of Ishvara as a finite shape, dismissing everything else in the world in the process. Such an attitude is personally offensive to Ishvara, the universe’s supreme controller.

To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.

There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There are also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.

In the next verse Shri Krishna tells Arjuna about unintelligent and their nature.

Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…