Bhagavad Gita · 2.25 · Transcendental Knowledge·25 of 72
अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते।तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं नानुशोचितुमर्हसि ॥
avyakto ’yam achintyo ’yam avikāryo ’yam
uchyate tasmādevaṁ viditvainaṁ nānuśhochitum arhasi
Sanskrit recitation
You are more than this body · 2.11–2.30 · Teaching
Translation
This Self is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing this to be so, you should not grieve.
Meaning
The Self is not an object of perception. It can hardly be seen by the physical eyes. Therefore, the Self is unmanifested. That which is seen by the eyes becomes an object of thought. As the Self cannot be perceived by the eyes, It is unthinkable. Milk when mixed with buttermilk changes its form. The Self cannot change Its form like milk. Hence, It is changeless and immutable. Therefore, thus understanding the Self, thou shouldst not mourn. Thou shouldst not think also that thou art their slayer and that they are killed by thee.
After Swami Sivananda
You are more than this body· 2.11–2.30→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 2.11The Blessed Lord said, "You have grieved for those who should not be grieved for; yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead."
- 2.12Nor, at any time, was I not, nor thou, nor these rulers of men; nor, verily, shall we ever cease to be hereafter.
- 2.13Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so too does it pass into another body; the steadfast one does not grieve over this.
- 2.14The contact of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which causes heat and cold, pleasure and pain, has a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, O Arjuna.
- 2.15That firm man, whom surely these afflictions do not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for attaining immortality.
- 2.16The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the real; the truth about both has been seen by the knowers of the truth (or the seers of the essence).
- 2.17Know that to be indestructible, by which all this is pervaded. No one can cause the destruction of that, the Imperishable.
- 2.18These bodies of the embodied Self, which are eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable, are said to have an end. Therefore, fight, O Arjuna.
- 2.19He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks it is slain, neither of them knows. It does not slay, nor is it slain.
- 2.20It is not born, nor does it ever die; after having been, it again does not cease to be; unborn, eternal, changeless, and ancient, it is not killed when the body is killed.
- 2.21Whoever knows it to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and inexhaustible, how can that person slay, O Arjuna, or cause to be slain?
- 2.22Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so too the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
- 2.23Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it.
- 2.24This Self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, nor dried up; it is eternal, all-pervasive, stable, immovable, and ancient.
2.25This Self is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing this to be so, you should not grieve.
- 2.26But even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed one, thou shouldst not grieve.
- 2.27For the born, death is certain, and for the dead, birth is certain; therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable.
- 2.28Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, O Arjuna, and unmanifest again in their end. What is there to grieve about?
- 2.29One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder; yet, having heard, none understands it at all.
- 2.30This indweller in the body of everyone is ever indestructible, O Arjuna; therefore, you should not grieve for any creature.
Word-by-word→
- avyaktaḥ
- unmanifested
- ayam
- this soul
- achintyaḥ
- inconceivable
- avikāryaḥ
- unchangeable
- uchyate
- is said
- tasmāt
- therefore
- evam
- thus
- viditvā
- having known
- enam
- this soul
- na
- not
- anuśhochitum
- to grieve
- arhasi
- befitting
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