Bhagavad-Gita: Chapter 7, Verse 24

Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Visnuswami

Sridhara Swami's Commentary

One may wonder if the concerted effort to ingratiate oneself to a lesser god or demigod of one's choice is the same concerted effort as offering one's devotion to the Supreme Lord; yet the result is so obviously a vast difference in rewards; then why doesn't everyone worship Lord Krishna exclusively and abandon the worship of all other inferior gods. This question is answered by the word ajanantah meaning oblivious. They are unaware of Lord Krishna being totally transcendental to the material existence and beyond the phenomena of this phenomenal creation and regard His different avatars or incarnations as manifestations of prakriti or the material substratum comprising all existence. His Supreme Nature is eternal, immutable and unsurpassed. Therefore those who view the Supreme Lord whose form is made of pure spiritual energy and who by His will assumes various forms according to schedule for the protection of all the worlds and the devotees to be the same and equal to the material bodies of demigods which are acquired and fashioned as a result of reactions from previous activities is completely in ignorance and such dull-witted beings are incapable of worshipping the Supreme Lord Krishna or any of His authorised incarnations. Instead they worship lesser gods for quick results which are temporary and perishable and thus they stay bound in samsara the endless cycle of birth and death perpetually.

Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Madhvacarya

Madhvacarya's Commentary

What is so special that differentiates Lord Krishna from all other gods? He clarifies this by the word avyaktam meaning transcendent explaining by the words vyaktim apannam accepting a human like form for His lila or phenomenal pastimes. Superior and transcendental to prakriti or the material substratum pervading physical existence, He has never any actions to perform. The Supreme Lord who is eternally blissful is considered as having a spiritual body with personality, qualities and attributes. Therefore the Vedic scriptures have stated that without knowing the ultimate truth of the Supreme Lord's existence everyone remains deluded.

Now begins the summation.

The Supreme Lord is transcendental to prakriti whereas the jiva or embodied living entity is not. Those who believe that there is equality between them or that there is a dependency shared between them surely in the next life go to the dark worlds of ignorance in obscurity.

Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Ramanuja

Ramanuja's Commentary

Lord Krishna's supreme, infinite and exalted nature is that He is the adorable by all acts of worship He is to be adored. Lord Krishna is the God of the gods, the Supreme Lord of all, whose essence and attributes are inexpressible by speech and unfathomable by thought. Although Lord Krishna appears as the son of King Vasudeva and is actuated by activities of affection to family members and compassion for all beings in order to be accessible to all, He never relinquishes His transcendental divine nature always maintaining His eternal spiritual presence. Foolish people oblivious to this reality look upon Him as any other son born in royalty to a king, awarded such position by the destiny of karma or reaction to past actions brought into patency from an antecedent state of latency. Such living entities do not seek the Supreme Lord as their shelter neither do they worship Him by their actions. The reason why this is so for them is explained in the next verse.

Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Nimbaditya

Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary

The question might be posed that if Lord Krishna is the only means for moksa or liberation from material existence and the best means for ultimate happiness then why does not everyone abandon the demigods and other lesser gods and with full faith worship Him alone, who is the Supreme Lord of all gods and the bountiful bestower of boundless blessings. Lord Krishna is beyond the perception of the physical mind and senses. The ignorant unaware of His Supreme, immutable, eternal transcendental nature are not qualified to percieve the Supreme Lord because they have not been graced by first approaching and then being accepted by the bonafide spiritual master in one of the four authorised Vedic lines of disciplic succession known as sampradayas as revealed in Vedic scriptures. The Supreme Lord Krishna or any of His Vedically authorised incarnations and expansions manifest themselves fully endowed with eternal transcendental qualities and attributes and are always the sole object of adoration from Brahma, Shiva and all the 33 million demigods. The Supreme Lord manifests Himself out of extreme affection and compassion for His devotees: but the ignorant unaware of the possibility for humans to have an actual relationship with Him, never worship Him wholeheartedly with love and devotion because they believe He has a human form, never realising He possesses a purely spiritual body which is immutable and eternal and transcendental to material existence. But the ignorant simply look at Him as a human being with exceptional powers who took birth as a ksatriya prince as the son of King Vasudeva of the lunar dynasty.