A declaration · expansive in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“Even the highest knowers stand inside the source they seek.”
The hosts of devas do not know my origin, nor do the great sages, for I am the beginning of the devas and the great sages in every way.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallynot · my · know · hosts of devas · origin · not · great sages · I · beginning · indeed · of devas · of great sages · and · in every way
Even the devas and great sages do not know Krishna’s full source, because he is their own beginning.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Vibhuti Yoga" (The Yoga of Divine Glories).
Verse 2 sits in Chapter 10 of the Bhagavad Gita — Vibhuti Yoga, "The Yoga of Divine Glories". The chapter has 42 verses in total.
You think you have understood someone because they are brilliant, spiritual, or widely respected. Then they reveal a depth that even the best minds cannot fully map.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts the mind from treating the divine as an object of study to recognising it as the source of all knowers.
What this verse means
Even the devas and great sages do not know Krishna’s full source, because he is their own beginning.
Context & commentary
On Kurukshetra, Arjuna is still shaken and listening. Krishna begins revealing his divine presence in the world, but first says that even the devas and great sages do not fully know his origin, because he stands before all of them as their source.
Why this verse still matters
You think you have understood someone because they are brilliant, spiritual, or widely respected. Then they reveal a depth that even the best minds cannot fully map.
“Awe deepens when you realize the highest minds still cannot contain the divine.”
Explore related themes: vibhuti (43 verses)