अवजानन्ति मां मूढा मानुषीं तनुमाश्रितम् । परं भावमजानन्तो मम भूतमहेश्वरम् ॥
avajānanti māṃ mūḍhā mānuṣīṃ tanumāśritam | paraṃ bhāvamajānanto mama bhūtamaheśvaram ||
Translation
The foolish despise Me when I have taken human form — not knowing My supreme nature as the great Lord of all beings.
Interpretation
One of the Gita's important insights: avajānanti (they look down upon, they fail to recognize) — the foolish despise the Divine in human form. The great paradox of divine incarnation: the formless takes form to be accessible, and the very accessibility leads to its being dismissed. People who would worship an image in stone fail to recognize the Divine in the living human teacher. Not knowing Krishna's param bhavam (supreme nature) as bhuta-maheshvaram (the great Lord of all beings), they see only the human surface.