Chapter 7, Verse 25
नाहं प्रकाशः सर्वस्य योगमायासमावृतः | मूढोऽयं नाभिजानाति लोको मामजमव्ययम् ||७-२५||
nāhaṃ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ . mūḍho.ayaṃ nābhijānāti loko māmajamavyayam ||7-25||
Meaning
7.25 I am not manifest to all (as I am) veiled by the Yoga-Maya. This deluded world does not know Me, the unborn and imperishable.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna explains why the Divine remains hidden from most. He is 'veiled by Yoga-Maya' — the very power by which the Infinite cloaks itself within the finite world. The unborn and imperishable is not absent; He is screened, like the sun behind cloud. The deluded world, looking only at surfaces, fails to recognise the eternal reality present everywhere.
The veil is not a punishment but a condition of ordinary perception. As long as we look through the lens of separateness and desire, the sacred stays concealed within the obvious. The seeker's work is not to make God appear — He is already and always here — but to thin the veil, to purify perception until the ever-present becomes evident. Devotion and surrender, as the chapter has taught, are precisely what dissolve the cloud and let the hidden Light shine through.
💡 Key Takeaway
The Divine is not absent but veiled; the work is not to summon God but to clear the perception that hides Him.
Related Verses
ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास्तामसाश्च ये | मत्त एवेति तान्विद्धि न त्वहं तेषु ते मयि ||७-१२||
ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasāstāmasāśca ye . matta eveti tānviddhi na tvahaṃ teṣu te mayi ||7-12||
7.12 Whatever beings (and objects) that are pure, active and inert, know that they proceed from Me. They are in Me, yet I am not in them.
त्रिभिर्गुणमयैर्भावैरेभिः सर्वमिदं जगत् | मोहितं नाभिजानाति मामेभ्यः परमव्ययम् ||७-१३||
tribhirguṇamayairbhāvairebhiḥ sarvamidaṃ jagat . mohitaṃ nābhijānāti māmebhyaḥ paramavyayam ||7-13||
7.13 Deluded by these Natures (states or things) composed of the three alities of Nature all this world does not know Me as distinct from them and immutable.
दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया | मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन्ति ते ||७-१४||
daivī hyeṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā . māmeva ye prapadyante māyāmetāṃ taranti te ||7-14||
7.14 Verily, this divine illusion of Mine, made up of the (three) alities (of Nature) is difficult to cross over; those who take refuge in Me alone, cross over this illusion.