A core teaching · devotional in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“The way beyond the veil is not force, but refuge.”
My divine illusion, made of the three qualities, is hard to cross. Only those who take refuge in Me go beyond it.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallydivine · indeed · this · made of the three qualities · my · illusion · hard to cross · Me · alone · those who · take refuge · this illusion · this · cross beyond · they
The forces that shape ordinary life are hard to overcome on your own. Surrendering to Krishna is what carries a person beyond them.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Jnana Vijnana Yoga" (Knowledge and Wisdom).
Verse 14 sits in Chapter 7 of the Bhagavad Gita — Jnana Vijnana Yoga, "Knowledge and Wisdom". The chapter has 30 verses in total.
Lying awake the night before a court hearing, you rehearse the same arguments for hours and get nowhere. Krishna tells Arjuna that this kind of tangle is crossed by taking refuge in him, and more effort alone falls short.
Did you like this verse?
Krishna calls his maya of three gunas hard to cross, and names refuge in him as the way over.
What this verse means
The forces that shape ordinary life are hard to overcome on your own. Surrendering to Krishna is what carries a person beyond them.
Context & commentary
Krishna explains why ordinary effort cannot by itself break the hold of the three qualities. This verse names the obstacle and the way through it: surrender.
What it looks like today
Lying awake the night before a court hearing, you rehearse the same arguments for hours and get nowhere. Krishna tells Arjuna that this kind of tangle is crossed by taking refuge in him, and more effort alone falls short.
“You do not have to outmuscle confusion. There is relief in letting guidance do what force cannot.”
Explore related themes: bhakti (69 verses), sharanagati (13 verses)