Shloka 48
Arjuna Marries Subhadrā; Kṛṣṇa Honors Two Devotees in Mithilā (Śrutadeva and Bahulāśva)
नमोऽस्तु तेऽध्यात्मविदां परात्मने अनात्मने स्वात्मविभक्तमृत्यवे । सकारणाकारणलिङ्गमीयुषे स्वमाययासंवृतरुद्धदृष्टये ॥ ४८ ॥
namo ’stu te ’dhyātma-vidāṁ parātmane anātmane svātma-vibhakta-mṛtyave sa-kāraṇākāraṇa-liṅgam īyuṣe sva-māyayāsaṁvṛta-ruddha-dṛṣṭaye
Meine Ehrerbietung sei Dir dargebracht. Die Kenner der geistigen Wahrheit erkennen Dich als die Höchste Seele, während Du als die Zeit den vergesslichen Seelen den Tod auferlegst. Du erscheinst sowohl in Deiner ursachlosen geistigen Gestalt als auch in der geschaffenen Gestalt dieses Universums; durch Deine eigene māyā öffnest Du den Blick Deiner Geweihten und verstellst die Sicht der Ungeweihten.
When the Lord appears before His devotees in His eternal, spiritual form, their eyes become “uncovered” in the sense that all vestiges of illusion are dispelled and they drink in the beautiful vision of the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead. For the nondevotees, on the other hand, the Lord “appears” as material nature, His universal form, and in this way He covers their vision so that His spiritual, personal form remains invisible to them.
FAQs
This verse says that by His own māyā, the Lord remains veiled to conditioned vision—people cannot truly perceive Him unless He reveals Himself through devotion and grace.
At Kurukṣetra the visiting sages recognize Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Soul. They glorify His transcendence—beyond material identity, beyond cause and effect—while acknowledging that ordinary perception is blocked by māyā.
It encourages humility and devotional practice: instead of assuming reality is limited to what we perceive, we cultivate sādhana (hearing, chanting, remembering) so spiritual vision becomes clear and ego-based misidentification weakens.