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अवजानन्ति मां मूढा मानुषीं तनुमाश्रितम् ।
परं भावमजानन्तो मम भूतमहेश्वरम् ।। ९.११ ।।

मोघाशा मोघकर्माणो मोघज्ञाना विचेतसः ।
राक्षसीमासुरीं चैव प्रकृतिं मोहिनीं श्रिताः ।। ९.१२ ।।

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum-āśritam |
paraṁ bhāvam-ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśvaram || 9.11 ||

moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ |
rākṣasīm-āsurīṁ caiva prakṛtiṁ mohinīṁ śritāḥ || 9.12 ||

     

Human body hosts such a great Knowledge-dimension. But people, by and large, do not seek and display the glory and potential of this inner dimension. Instead they just take to the immediate though transient delights of sensory objects and remain enslaved to their influences. For them, it seems a mockery to think of or accept any higher spiritual dimension where one becomes Supreme-like.

The superior dimension (param bhava) not being known to them, they ridicule and find fault with the Knowers for what they say and propound. The contradiction will continue. It is a question of difference in perception, difference in the motivations. Why so?

The answer lies in Kathopanishad, the message that Krishna quotes zealously in this dialogue.

पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत् स्वयम्भूः
तस्मात्पराङ्पश्यति नान्तरात्मन् ।
कश्चिद्धीरः प्रत्यगात्मानमैक्षत्-
आवृत्तचक्षुरमृतत्वमिच्छन् ।।
(Kathopanishad 2.4.1)

The Creator created the senses that have only an outgoing capacity. Caught up in their flair, all begin to perceive and get involved only in the sensory perceptions and thus miss the Source within. A wise man desirous of immortality turns his eyes inward, and beholds the inner Atman.

Our birth is a physical event or outcome. As such, the senses in the body become the first and foremost in one’s life and interactions. The senses have the power only to perceive external things, the objects of the world. Once they begin and get involved in the outward perceptions, the resulting impressions start ruling them. The further perceptions and their impressions instigate subsequent interactions, which cause their impressions. It becomes a ceaseless process.

Where then is the time, occasion or motivation to look within, the source that first employed the senses to perceive the objects? The Subject, as different from the objects, never thus strikes the normal human. Overpowered greatly by the outward objects, he pitiably misses the one internal Subject of them all.

Rarely one, in such countless outward going people, pauses to think of the Subject, the great Source within the body, on which subsists everything and all. Does not what Krishna says become clear now? The conflict and resultant derision on the part of those that do not seek this lofty inner vision will continue. Such people not only slight the Knowers, but also are given to sinful, derogatory ways, that give them scope and freedom to indulge in and enjoy the sensory delights. Every trait they court and get will accordingly be a downgrading one alone (9. 11, 12).