He knows every being across all three times, yet by their own power no one knows him.
We assume that if we only seek hard enough, we will finally grasp the Lord, as we grasp anything else. The verse meets that instinct with an honest asymmetry: he already knows you completely, while no creature reaches him by its own effort alone.
I know all beings of the past, the present, and the future. But no one knows me.
Having spoken of the rare great soul who finds refuge in him after many births, Krishna now names the gap that makes such a soul so rare: his knowing is total, the creature's knowing of him is blocked.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
He holds within his knowing every being who has gone by and perished, every being now present, and every being yet to come; nothing across the three times stands outside it.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Madhusūdana · Dhanapati · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara · Jñāneśvar · Sivananda · Tilak · RamsukhdasIn Śaṅkara, Madhusūdana, and 8 others’ words
Krishna declares a complete, unobstructed knowledge of all beings across the three times. He says he knows the beings who have already gone by and perished, the beings now present, and the beings yet to come. Several commentators stress that the verb covers all three time-periods deliberately, so that no one can suspect his knowing is confined to the present moment alone. The reach is total: moving and unmoving, past, present, and future, every being stands within his knowing.
Notice the turn: his knowing sweeps over all, but the creature's knowing of him is held back, and that reversal is built into the verse, not an accident.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabha · ŚrīdharaIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 4 others’ words
The verse turns on a deliberate asymmetry, marked in Sanskrit by the small word 'tu' (but, however). The Lord knows everyone, but no one knows the Lord. Commentators point out that this is not an accidental gap but a structural one: the same word 'tu' that closes the first half signals the reversal in the second. The Lord's knowing sweeps over all; the creatures' knowing of the Lord is blocked.
His own knowing is never clouded, for the maya that veils everyone else has no power over the one who wields it, as a power cannot bewilder its own ground.
Across Advaita, BhaktiĀnandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · BaladevaIn Ānandagiri, Madhusūdana, and 5 others’ words
The reason the Lord himself is never deluded, even though his maya (his creative power of appearance, which conceals reality) deludes everyone else, is that maya cannot delude the one who wields it. Maya is dependent on the Lord as its support, and a power has no force to bewilder its own ground. So while the world's knowledge is veiled, the Lord's knowledge stays unobstructed. Where the world takes on conditioning and is deluded, the Lord, taking on no such conditioning and remaining ever pure and free of every adjunct, remains all-knowing.
Veiled by that same maya, beings fail to recognize him, and so most do not turn to him; the one who comes to know him is the rare soul who takes refuge.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Madhva · Vallabha · Sivananda · BaladevaIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 7 others’ words
Because beings are veiled by this maya, they fail to recognize the Lord, and this very failure is why most do not worship him. The negation is universal: 'no one' (kashchana) knows the Lord by his own power, not even the most capable being. The one who does come to know him is the devotee who takes refuge in him, and such a knower is exceedingly rare. Several commentators add that the Lord can be known only when he makes himself known or turns his grace toward a being; the creature cannot plumb him by its own effort.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Advaita Vedānta, in their fuller words
These commentators read the verse as the signature of Ishvara's knowledge: the Lord's omniscience and the individual being's ignorance are two faces of one and the same maya-relation. The crucial point they raise as an objection and answer is this: if the Lord and the world are non-different, why does maya not delude the Lord as it deludes the world? Their answer is that maya, being itself only maya, cannot obstruct the knowing of the maya-wielder, just as a worldly magician is not himself fooled by his own trick. The difference is one of conditioning: the world takes on conditioning-properties and so is deluded, while the Lord takes on none and so remains all-knowing. The reality of the Lord is known only by the discerning devotee, not by every undiscerning person, and the want of this knowledge is exactly why most do not worship.
Viśiṣṭādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators read the unknowability with a strong note of the Lord's descent and refuge. The Lord knows all beings as the objects of his constant dwelling-attention, yet among them not one is found who, having truly known him as the Vasudeva who descended precisely so that all might take refuge in him, then resorts to him alone. So the man of knowledge is exceedingly hard to find. They underline that the asymmetry is by the very nature of the case: the Lord is not known by the powers of any creature unless the Lord makes himself known. The right stance for the seeker is therefore not 'I will plumb the Lord' but 'I will dwell in the refuge by which the Lord makes himself known.'
Dvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators read the verse tightly as setting aside two specific doubts. First, that maya might bind the Lord and leave him ignorant of beings, like two people on either side of a curtain who cannot see each other; the answer is 'I know,' for maya does not bind him. Second, the doubt that even if the incapable world cannot know him, surely some most-capable being such as Brahma could; the answer lies in the word 'no one,' which rules out even the highest. The decisive qualifier is 'by his own power': no being, however able, knows the Lord by his own capacity. This qualifier also removes any contradiction with the earlier verse praising the man of knowledge, since such knowing comes not by the creature's own power.
Śuddhādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators read the asymmetry as by design and tie it to service. The Lord is the cause, support, and indweller of all, so he knows everything as his own; the things known are not in a position to know him until the conscious portion within them is turned by grace. One reads the three groups of beings in terms of service: those who have passed away having failed to render service and so been lost, those now actively rendering service, and those yet to be brought forth for the sake of service, all known by him as his own. Strikingly, this reading holds that even after the knowledge of the Lord has dawned, no one knows him fully as the Lord ruling within the threefold time. The 'Vasudeva is all' realization is here implicitly contrasted with the ordinary state in which the asymmetry stands.
Bhedābheda, in their fuller words
This commentator reads the verse plainly: the Lord knows beings of all three times, but the deluded world does not know him, while the one who is a true knower realizes that 'Vasudeva is all.' He then asks pointedly what has deluded this world, and answers by pointing forward: it is the delusion of the pairs of opposites, arising from desire and aversion, by which all beings fall into bewilderment from their very birth.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
These commentators dwell on the rarity and the mechanics of the veiling. One distinguishes two veils: the external maya that bewilders others but has no power over its own resort, and the internal yogamaya, holding that even a being of great omniscience such as the great Rudra does not know the Lord in his fullness, owing to the veiling of knowledge by maya and yogamaya as appropriate. Another stresses that no modification touches the Lord on account of maya, which is subject to him, overpowered by his radiance, and serves him from afar as if from behind a curtain; one who knows him is rare even among tens of millions. A third voice gives a vivid non-dual gloss: all beings, past, present, and future, are one with the Lord's being and never outside it, and the apparent separate being of creatures is as false as mistaking a rope for a snake, where one cannot truly say the snake is dark or gray or red because it was never there.
A modern reading, in their fuller words
These commentators keep the teaching close to the seeker's experience. One says the deluded, bound by the three qualities of nature, do not know the Lord's real nature and so do not adore him, while the Lord through his omniscience knows beings past, present, and future, and the single-minded devotee comes to know him in essence. Another offers a striking explanation of why the Lord uses three time-words for beings but only the present tense for his own knowing: in the Lord's vision all three times are present at once. Just as a film already contains all its moments while the audience experiences past, present, and future in sequence, so for beings within time there are three times, but for the Lord, who is beyond time, all is present. Beings within time have limited knowledge; the Lord's knowledge is boundless. Some seekers may grow their knowledge by yoga-practice and come to know what they wish when they wish, but the Lord, without any practice, knows all beings and the whole world at all times of himself, and beings forever abide in him and can never be hidden from his sight.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Let this verse quietly correct the stance you bring to the spiritual life. The instinct is to make the Lord an object you will study, conquer, or plumb by the force of your own effort, as if enough seeking would finally pin him down. This verse closes that door, and gently. No one knows him by their own powers, and the asymmetry is in the very nature of things. So shift the posture. Instead of 'I will plumb the Lord,' let it become 'I will dwell in the refuge by which the Lord makes himself known.' The work is not to seize but to take shelter, to keep turning toward the one who turns toward you. The knowing you cannot wrest, you can receive.
Loosen the grip that would seize him by force, and rest instead in the refuge by which he makes himself known; the knowing you cannot wrest, you can quietly receive.
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Convergence
rishna declares a complete, unobstructed knowledge of all beings across the three times. He says he knows the beings who have already gone by and perished, the beings now present, and the beings yet to come. Several commentators stress that the verb covers all three time-periods deliberately, so that no one can suspect his knowing is confined to the present moment alone. The reach is total: moving and unmoving, past, present, and future, every being stands within his knowing.
Braided from 10 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
The verse turns on a deliberate asymmetry, marked in Sanskrit by the small word 'tu' (but, however). The Lord knows everyone, but no one knows the Lord. Commentators point out that this is not an accidental gap but a structural one: the same word 'tu' that closes the first half signals the reversal in the second. The Lord's knowing sweeps over all; the creatures' knowing of the Lord is blocked.
Braided from 6 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī
The reason the Lord himself is never deluded, even though his maya (his creative power of appearance, which conceals reality) deludes everyone else, is that maya cannot delude the one who wields it. Maya is dependent on the Lord as its support, and a power has no force to bewilder its own ground. So while the world's knowledge is veiled, the Lord's knowledge stays unobstructed. Where the world takes on conditioning and is deluded, the Lord, taking on no such conditioning and remaining ever pure and free of every adjunct, remains all-knowing.
Braided from 7 commentators
Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva
Because beings are veiled by this maya, they fail to recognize the Lord, and this very failure is why most do not worship him. The negation is universal: 'no one' (kashchana) knows the Lord by his own power, not even the most capable being. The one who does come to know him is the devotee who takes refuge in him, and such a knower is exceedingly rare. Several commentators add that the Lord can be known only when he makes himself known or turns his grace toward a being; the creature cannot plumb him by its own effort.
Braided from 9 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Madhvācārya · Vallabhācārya · Swami Sivananda · Śrīla Baladeva
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
These commentators read the verse as the signature of Ishvara's knowledge: the Lord's omniscience and the individual being's ignorance are two faces of one and the same maya-relation. The crucial point they raise as an objection and answer is this: if the Lord and the world are non-different, why does maya not delude the Lord as it deludes the world? Their answer is that maya, being itself only maya, cannot obstruct the knowing of the maya-wielder, just as a worldly magician is not himself fooled by his own trick. The difference is one of conditioning: the world takes on conditioning-properties and so is deluded, while the Lord takes on none and so remains all-knowing. The reality of the Lord is known only by the discerning devotee, not by every undiscerning person, and the want of this knowledge is exactly why most do not worship.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Viśiṣṭādvaita
These commentators read the unknowability with a strong note of the Lord's descent and refuge. The Lord knows all beings as the objects of his constant dwelling-attention, yet among them not one is found who, having truly known him as the Vasudeva who descended precisely so that all might take refuge in him, then resorts to him alone. So the man of knowledge is exceedingly hard to find. They underline that the asymmetry is by the very nature of the case: the Lord is not known by the powers of any creature unless the Lord makes himself known. The right stance for the seeker is therefore not 'I will plumb the Lord' but 'I will dwell in the refuge by which the Lord makes himself known.'
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika
Dvaita
These commentators read the verse tightly as setting aside two specific doubts. First, that maya might bind the Lord and leave him ignorant of beings, like two people on either side of a curtain who cannot see each other; the answer is 'I know,' for maya does not bind him. Second, the doubt that even if the incapable world cannot know him, surely some most-capable being such as Brahma could; the answer lies in the word 'no one,' which rules out even the highest. The decisive qualifier is 'by his own power': no being, however able, knows the Lord by his own capacity. This qualifier also removes any contradiction with the earlier verse praising the man of knowledge, since such knowing comes not by the creature's own power.
Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha
Śuddhādvaita
These commentators read the asymmetry as by design and tie it to service. The Lord is the cause, support, and indweller of all, so he knows everything as his own; the things known are not in a position to know him until the conscious portion within them is turned by grace. One reads the three groups of beings in terms of service: those who have passed away having failed to render service and so been lost, those now actively rendering service, and those yet to be brought forth for the sake of service, all known by him as his own. Strikingly, this reading holds that even after the knowledge of the Lord has dawned, no one knows him fully as the Lord ruling within the threefold time. The 'Vasudeva is all' realization is here implicitly contrasted with the ordinary state in which the asymmetry stands.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Bhedabheda
This commentator reads the verse plainly: the Lord knows beings of all three times, but the deluded world does not know him, while the one who is a true knower realizes that 'Vasudeva is all.' He then asks pointedly what has deluded this world, and answers by pointing forward: it is the delusion of the pairs of opposites, arising from desire and aversion, by which all beings fall into bewilderment from their very birth.
Śrī Bhāskara
Bhakti
These commentators dwell on the rarity and the mechanics of the veiling. One distinguishes two veils: the external maya that bewilders others but has no power over its own resort, and the internal yogamaya, holding that even a being of great omniscience such as the great Rudra does not know the Lord in his fullness, owing to the veiling of knowledge by maya and yogamaya as appropriate. Another stresses that no modification touches the Lord on account of maya, which is subject to him, overpowered by his radiance, and serves him from afar as if from behind a curtain; one who knows him is rare even among tens of millions. A third voice gives a vivid non-dual gloss: all beings, past, present, and future, are one with the Lord's being and never outside it, and the apparent separate being of creatures is as false as mistaking a rope for a snake, where one cannot truly say the snake is dark or gray or red because it was never there.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar
Modern
These commentators keep the teaching close to the seeker's experience. One says the deluded, bound by the three qualities of nature, do not know the Lord's real nature and so do not adore him, while the Lord through his omniscience knows beings past, present, and future, and the single-minded devotee comes to know him in essence. Another offers a striking explanation of why the Lord uses three time-words for beings but only the present tense for his own knowing: in the Lord's vision all three times are present at once. Just as a film already contains all its moments while the audience experiences past, present, and future in sequence, so for beings within time there are three times, but for the Lord, who is beyond time, all is present. Beings within time have limited knowledge; the Lord's knowledge is boundless. Some seekers may grow their knowledge by yoga-practice and come to know what they wish when they wish, but the Lord, without any practice, knows all beings and the whole world at all times of himself, and beings forever abide in him and can never be hidden from his sight.
Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
A Seeker Asks
If the Lord knows every being completely yet no one can know him by their own effort, is the spiritual life a closed door, or is there a way in?
The door is not closed; it simply does not open the way we first assume. The verse rules out one route only: knowing the Lord by the creature's own power. Even the most capable being, even Brahma or the great Rudra, does not pierce the Lord's fullness by sheer capacity, because the veiling power of maya is dependent on the Lord and has no force over its own ground. So no amount of self-powered striving reaches the goal.
Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Vedānta Deśika
But the verse names exactly who does come to know him: the devotee who takes refuge in him. Such a knower is rare, even among tens of millions, yet the way in is real. The Lord is known when he makes himself known and turns his grace toward a being, and the conscious portion within is grace-turned. This is why the path is devotion and refuge rather than conquest: you cannot seize the knowing, but you can take shelter and receive it.
Braided from 6 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda
And the reframe is consoling. The reason you cannot fully grasp the Lord is the same reason he never loses sight of you: all beings forever abide in him and can never be hidden from his vision, and he knows each one as his own. The relationship is not absence but asymmetry. He already knows you completely; the spiritual life is simply turning, by refuge and devotion, to be known and to know in return.
Swami Ramsukhdas · Śrī Puruṣottama
Contemplation
Let this verse quietly correct the stance you bring to the spiritual life. The instinct is to make the Lord an object you will study, conquer, or plumb by the force of your own effort, as if enough seeking would finally pin him down. This verse closes that door, and gently. No one knows him by their own powers, and the asymmetry is in the very nature of things. So shift the posture. Instead of 'I will plumb the Lord,' let it become 'I will dwell in the refuge by which the Lord makes himself known.' The work is not to seize but to take shelter, to keep turning toward the one who turns toward you. The knowing you cannot wrest, you can receive.
Sit with this · Vedānta Deśika
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