Srimad Bhagavatam — Navama Skandha, Shloka 21
Mahārāja Sagara, Kapila Muni, and the Deliverance of the Sixty Thousand Sons
अंशुमानुवाच न पश्यति त्वां परमात्मनोऽजनो न बुध्यतेऽद्यापि समाधियुक्तिभि: । कुतोऽपरे तस्य मन:शरीरधी- विसर्गसृष्टा वयमप्रकाशा: ॥ २१ ॥
aṁśumān uvāca na paśyati tvāṁ param ātmano ’jano na budhyate ’dyāpi samādhi-yuktibhiḥ kuto ’pare tasya manaḥ-śarīra-dhī- visarga-sṛṣṭā vayam aprakāśāḥ
Aṁśumān said: My Lord, even Lord Brahmā is to this very day unable to understand Your position, which is far beyond himself, either by meditation or by mental speculation. So what to speak of others like us, who have been created by Brahmā in various forms as demigods, animals, human beings, birds and beasts? We are completely in ignorance. Therefore, how can we know You, who are the Transcendence?
icchā-dveṣa-samutthena dvandva-mohena bhārata sarva-bhūtāni sammohaṁ sarge yānti parantapa
FAQs
This verse says that the ignorant cannot see the Supreme Soul, and even samādhi techniques may fail to reveal Him without true spiritual understanding and divine grace.
He emphasizes the Lord’s transcendence: if those relying on yogic samādhi still do not comprehend Him, then ordinary beings—products of secondary creation—should be even more humble about their capacity to know Him.
Cultivate humility and prioritize sincere devotion and inner purification rather than relying only on technique, intellect, or external methods to “force” spiritual realization.