Verse 7.15 Vijnana Yoga (The non believers)

na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah 
mayayapahrta-jnana asuram bhavam asritah

Only the evil-doers and the deluded, who are among the lowest of men, do not surrender unto Me; their knowledge is destroyed by delusion and thus they accept their demonic nature.

The word duskritno or persons of evil and wicked deeds, fall into one of four categories:

mudhahs are the grossly ignorant who have wrong and perverted understanding, who don’t believe in the Supreme Lord and consider to be their own.

naradhamah are the ignoble members of society who although knowing of the Supreme Lord glory disdain to offer Him respect and homage.

mayayapahrta are those who have forfeited the correct knowledge of the Supreme Lord acquired previously, due to irrelevant and irreverent, speculative and so called logical analysis.

asuram bhavam asritah are those of demoniac mentality who, knowing the power and glory of the Supreme Lord, are incited to cultivate deep seeded enmity against Him.

Verse 7.13 Vijnana Yoga (Knowing the Lord)

tribhir guna-mayair bhavair ebhih sarvam idam jagat 
mohitam nabhijanati mam ebhyah param avyayam

Deluded by the manifested world composed of the three qualities of Nature, all do not know Me as distinct from them and immutable.

The world in general does not know the Lord’s exalted position which is far beyond tribhir guna - the three modes of material nature (goodness, passion and ignorance). The world does not understand Him as the possessor of extraordinary blessed attributes, as that of supreme bliss and joy without which nothing can exist and which constitutes the life of all created beings. The word avyayam means imperishable this is synonymous with infinite and eternal. Although He is all this, we are all oblivious to it and completely beguiled by the trivial and fascinated by the ephemeral in the form of objects appearing as physical bodies and subtle senses adopted to furnish enjoyments. Due to these impediments the world in general is not able to know Him.

His illusory energy is very difficult to surmount. In as much as His maya or illusion permeates His prakriti or material manifestation, through the three gunas or modes of sattva or goodness, rajas or passion and tamas or ignorance; so it is extremely difficult to overcome. The total material manifestation is under its sway and influenced by it. It is daivi meaning divine and is created by the Lord for the purpose of sport as is deduced from the root word div meaning to play. Its designation by the term maya is on account of its potency to produce phenomenal effects in the gross material existence albeit depending upon the breadth of one’s knowledge. 

The term maya never signifies what is false. The term mayair is applied to that which is able to produce real impressions upon another’s imagination albeit individual or collective. The effect is certainly real although the cause is definitely illusory. Like a magician by the art of conjuring produces marvellous effects upon the minds of those witnessing by means of incantations; so that when mayair designates a producer of real effects which are not false, the word maya denotes the incantation by which the manifestation was effected. Wherever the term maya is found to be used it invariably means that which has the ability of activating phenomenal and marvellous material effects and is universally accepted.

This maya of the Supreme Lord which is capable of producing sublime and marvelous effects which permeates the entire material creation is the only maya to be considered. The Svetasvatara Upanisad states: mayan-tu prakritim vidyat mahinan-tu mahesvaram which means prakriti the material manifestation of the Lord is to be apprehended by the word maya and mahesvaram or the Supreme Lord by the word mayi. It is the responsibility of maya to veil the true nature of the Supreme Lord from the unqualified and to lure such beings to constantly chase after the desire for sense gratification. Hence all the worlds are beguiled and bewildered by the intrepid effect of maya from the time they are born and thus fail to recognise the magnificent splendour and wonderous glories of the Supreme Lord who is eternity, knowledge and bliss personified of immeasurable transcendental nature.

Verse 7.12 Vijnana Yoga (Lord’s Manifestations)

ye caiva sattvika bhava rajasas tamasas ca ye 
matta eveti tan viddhi na tv aham tesu te mayi

All beings, whether pure, passionate or ignorant, know that they proceed from Me. They are in Me, yet I am not in them.

All manifested beings behave as per three modes of material nature: the pure (sattwa), passionate (rajas), and ignorant/indolent (tamas). All the modes of material nature—goodness, passion and ignorance—are emanations from the Supreme Lord but He is not subject to them.Therefore He is nirguna, which means that these gunas, or modes, although issuing from Him, do not affect Him.

Verse 7.11 Vijnana Yoga (Lord’s Manifestations)

balam balavatam caham kama-raga-vivarjitam 
dharmaviruddho bhutesu kamo ‘smi bharatarsabha

I am the strength of the strong-devoid of desire and attachment, and in all beings, I am the sex desire which is unopposed to Dharma, O Arjuna!

The Lord is the strength of the mighty performing their individual duties devoid of passion and attachment. He is the energy of sexual desire for procreation which is not contrary to virtue and righteousness. Passion (kama) is the unabated craving to get a not yet obtained object with the thought to enjoy it. Attachment (raga) is the mental conditioning which after obtaining and enjoying an object makes one cling to the conception that such an object must always remain and continued to be enjoyed.

Verse 7.9 Vijnana Yoga (Lord’s Manifestations)

punyo gandhah prthivyam ca tejas casmi vibhavasau 
jivanam sarva-bhutesu tapas casmi tapasvisu

I am the sacred fragrance of earth, the brilliance in fire, the life in all manifested beings, and the austerity of ascetics.

He is the subtle principle of fragrance innate within the Earth. He is the pure brilliance in fire. He is the vital life force in all sentient beings and He is the potency of austerities in the ascetics giving them the power to endure in their penance to overcome all dualities.

Verse 7.10 Vijnana Yoga (Lord’s Manifestations)

bijam mam sarva-bhutanam viddhi partha sanatanam 
buddhir buddhimatam asmi tejas tejasvinam aham

Know Me, O Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the intelligence of the intelligent, and the splendour of the powerful!

Now is being revealed the Lord’s glory as the bijam or permanent seed and original cause of life in all creation, woven through all movable and immovable created beings, with this original seed continuing to manifest infinitely through all subsequent generations. He is the tejas or valour of the valiant, and the spiritual intelligence of discrimination in the intelligent.