Bhagavad-Gita: Chapter 7, Verse 14

Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Visnuswami

Sridhara Swami's Commentary

The question may arise as to who are those who are able to know Lord Krishna. To answer this the word daivi meaning divine is used. This divine, supernatural and wonderfully marvellous illusion of the Supreme Lord constituted of the power of Lord Krishna, consisting of the products of the gunas being the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance is extremely difficult to surmount. This is a well known fact and is proven by the fact that only a very minuscule portion of humanity surmount this maya or illusory impressions superimposed upon the mind in every generation. Yet it is also a fact that those who take exclusive shelter of Lord Krishna with loving affection in unwavering devotion are the only ones to cross over this insurmountable illusion that is otherwise impossible to navigate and by accepting His shelter they come to learn Him as He is. This is the purport.

Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Madhvacarya

Madhvacarya's Commentary

Why has the delusion of maya or illusory impressions superimposed upon the mind been unable to be overcome since time immemorial? Lord Krishna reveals that it is because it is daivi meaning divine is this illusion. This is the purport. Illusion is that which beguiles and bewilders people. Maya by her activity of permeating creation deludes all people by her potent power of allusion which causes all people to follow desire and sense gratification. Therefore definitions of daivi yields such explanations as: lustrous, sport or play, desire to conquer, splendour, adoration, pleasure, imagination, brilliance and movement. But why is this maya divine? It is because it is under the control of the Supreme Lord and He alone is its controller. The Vyasa Yoga states that: Sri the Goddess of Fortune Laxsmi, Bhu the Goddess of the Earth and Durga the external material energy are the distinct forms of this grand illusion. Regarding Sri Laxsmi, she does not partake of the endless energies of the Supreme Lord as she has taken complete shelter in Him. Because of such propensity Brahma, Rudra and all the demigods do not possess even a minor portion of her manifestation. Having received the grace of the Supreme Lord by taking complete refuge within Him nothing can ever overcome her power. But yet the question will still persist of how can this maya be overcome? To answer this Lord Krishna replies with the words: mam eva ye prapadyante meaning only those who surrender unto Him. Those who renounce all else and take exclusive shelter of Him alone can surmount this maya. Those who humbly serve and devoutly worship the spiritual master in adoration, such worship surely reaches unto the Supreme Lord because they have realised that their holy preceptors greatness is due to the fact that the Supreme Lord has manifested within His heart. The Narada Purana states: The madhya or intermediate humans duly propitiate the holy preceptor due to the Supreme Lord manifesting within him. The uttama or topmost human beings propitiate all beings as they recognise the Supreme Lord in all beings. In the Bhagavat Purana it states: That the Supreme Lord through the form of consciousness which pervades the mind of the spiritual master teaches the humble aspirant true wisdom about Himself.

Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Ramanuja

Ramanuja's Commentary

Those evolved beings who by chance or determination surrender themselves to the Supreme Lord Krishna exclusively as their sole refuge and protector, He who is the most merciful. He who is the most magnanimous, He who is the only one to be depended on, He who is the shelter of all creation; only those so fully surrendered will be able to navigate the tempestuous oceans of maya or illusory impressions superimposed upon the mind. In concise language such surrendered souls circumvent maya by exclusively devoting themselves to the Supreme Lord Krishna.

Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Nimbaditya

Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary

It is stated in the Vedic scriptures that the flowing of the qualities of Lord Krishna's divine potency known as maya or illusory impressions superimposed upon the mind is without a beginning or an end. In the Svestasvatara Upanisad IV.V it states that by the agency of maya unlimited beings are produced possessing like qualities. So it is not possible for those embodied beings deluded and controlled by maya and to ever receive divine benedictions and such being the case they will never be eligible to overcome the delusory effects of maya. Lord Krishna speaks thus to address this point of overcoming the potent effects of maya So marvellous is this wondrous illusion which is perceived in prakriti or the material substratum evolving through the three gunas or the modes of goodness, passion and nescience into physical forms which are all totally controlled by the Self- Effulgent, Supreme Lord full of eternity, knowledge and bliss, who although omnipresent is never touched or influenced by the gunas or prakriti or anything animate or inanimate. There is also nothing which a has a similar nature to maya as its function is one of a kind. In the Svetasvatara Upanisad IV.X it states: One should know that maya's nature is illusory and that the omniscient and omnipotent Supreme Lord is its source filtered into material existence through the three gunas and unable to be surmounted by hundreds of processes and thousands of techniques unless and until the grace of the Supreme Lord is attained. According to the Katha Upanisad V.XIII: He who is the constant within the inconstant, the intelligence among the intelligent, the one within the many and who grants all desires. In the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad I.IV.X it states: Whoever among the demigods becomes awakened to this indeed becomes it, this applies likewise to elevated beings and also to advanced humans. The atma or eternal soul within embodied beings is without limitations but among embodied beings only those who are able to disconnect themselves from all ego sense of I- ness and my-ness and external desires and renouncing all other goals accept the Supreme Lord Krishna as the exclusive goal of their life endeavour and spiritual practices. Thus worshipping Him wholeheartedly as omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient controller of maya, taking total refuge in Him solely and faithfully following the six activities favourable for spiritual advancement such as enthusiasm, endeavouring with confidence, patience, following the Vedic injunctions, abandoning the association of those not devoted to the Vedic culture and accepting and following the instructions of the authorised guru from the bonafide disciplic succession as revealed within the Vedic scriptures; one is with devotion and unshakeable perseverance able to overcome this insurmountable maya. The word eva or only is used in the sense of decisiveness as in exclusively. In the Vamana Purana the child saint Prahlad says: Those highly evolved persons who have taken refuge in the Supreme Lord, infinite, immutable, without a second, the foremost of all lords, the God of Gods, the auspicious bestower of liberation, the Lord of Laxsmi, the goddess of fortune and the master of Garuda, His carrier never have to be subjected to chastisement by Yamaraj the demigod in charge of punishment in diverse hells.