Bg. 9.13

महात्मानस्तु मां पार्थ दैवीं प्रकृतिमाश्रिताः ।
भजन्त्यनन्यमनसो ज्ञात्वा भूतादिमव्ययम् ॥१३॥

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

mahātmānaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmahatmanah

great soul; of the great Lord; of the Mahā-Viṣṇu; the great soul; to all of those great souls; two great souls.—the great souls; tuplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtu

again; also; and; as to; as well as; but (because of misfortune); but; certainly; due to; expletive; however; in fact; indeed; moreover; must; of course; on the contrary; only; that; then; yet.—but; māmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmām

about Me; at me; attains me; from me; Me (Kṛṣṇa); Me (Lord Kṛṣṇa); me (the earth); Me (the Supreme Lord); me (Vasiṣṭha); me; Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; My direction; Myself; of myself; to Me; unto me; upon me.—unto Me; pārthaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigpārtha

Arjuna; My dear Arjuna; O Arjuna; O Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira; O Pārtha (Arjuna); O Pārtha (son of Pṛthā); O Pārtha; O son of Prthā; O son of Pṛthā (Arjuna); O son of Pṛthā (Kuntī); O son of Pṛthā; of Arjuna, son of Pṛthā (Kuntī).—O son of Pṛthā; daivīmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigdaivīm

divine; of the Personality of Godhead; ominous; related to Viṣṇu; transcendental.—divine; prakṛtimplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigprakṛtim

prakṛti; acquired nature or modes of nature; as the source; characteristics; constitutional position; energy; habits; in the material world; material energy; material existence; material nature; matter; my own; natural position; nature; situated in spiritual energy; the material cause; transcendental form; unto material nature.—nature; āśritāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigasritah

accepting; receiving; refuge; situated; situated on; taken refuge; taken shelter of; taking recourse to; taking shelter of; took shelter of (and is living in even now); under; under the protection.—taken shelter of; bhajantiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbhajanti

do render service; do worship; enjoy, resort to; flatter; flatters; offer transcendental loving service; render service; render transcendental service; they worship; worship.—render service; ananyaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigananya

absolutely; by others; extraordinary; no other; not by others; without any other; without deviation.-manasaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmanasah

by the mind; from the mind; more than the mind; of one whose mind; of the mind; of the subtle body; than the mind; the mind; the minds; their minds; those whose minds; whose minds; within their minds.—without deviation of the mind; jñātvāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigjnatva

(the sage) could understand; after understanding; and deciding what to do; and knowing; by knowing; by knowing it; could understand; having known; having understood; knowing; knowing it well; knowing perfectly well; knowing well; thus knowing; understanding; when he learned.—knowing; bhūtaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbhuta

all living entities; all that is created or born; an ordinary ghost; and of the Bhūtas; body; by other living entities; by the five material elements; created; creation; ego; elements; everything that be; evil spirits; ghost; ghosts; ghosts named Bhūtas; gross material elements; jinn; living entities; living entity; material elements; material ingredients; of all existence; of different nations; of living entities; of ordinary living entities; of the living beings; of the living entities; of the material elements; other living beings; other living entities; past; the evil spirits; the five elements; the five gross elements (the sky, etc.); the five gross elements; the five material elements; the ghost; the gross; the gross elements; the material elements; the material energy; the physical elements; to other living entities; with all the gross material elements.—creation; ādimplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigādim

beginning; original; the original Supreme Personality.—original; avyayamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigavyayam

being unchangeable; eternal; everlasting; immutable; imperishable; indestructible; inexhaustible; irreproachable; never ending; spiritual; the inexhaustible; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is inexhaustible; who is the supreme eternal; without diminution; without loss of energy.—inexhaustible. ¶

O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible. ¶

In this verse the description of mahātmā is clearly given. The first sign of the mahātmā is that he is already situated in the divine nature. He is not under the control of material nature. And how is this effected? That is explained in the Seventh Chapter: one who surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, at once becomes freed from the control of material nature. That is the qualification. One can become free from the control of material nature as soon as he surrenders his soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the preliminary formula. Being marginal potency, as soon as the living entity is freed from the control of material nature, he is put under the guidance of the spiritual nature. The guidance of the spiritual nature is called daivīṁ prakṛtim, divine nature. So, when one is promoted in that way-by surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead-one attains to the stage of great soul, mahātmā. ¶

The mahātmā does not divert his attention to anything outside Kṛṣṇa because he knows perfectly well that Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Person, the cause of all causes. There is no doubt about it. Such a mahātmā, or great soul, develops through association with other mahātmās, pure devotees. Pure devotees are not even attracted by Kṛṣṇa’s other features, such as the four-armed Mahā-Viṣṇu. They are simply attracted by the two-armed form of Kṛṣṇa. Since they are not attracted to other features of Kṛṣṇa (what to speak of the demigods), they are not concerned with any form of a demigod or of a human being. They only meditate upon Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are always engaged in the unswerving service of the Lord in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. ¶