Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 12

ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते । अनादिमत्परं ब्रह्म न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते

jñeyaṃ yattatpravakṣyāmi yajjñātvāmṛtamaśnute | anādimatparaṃ brahma na sattannāsaducyate

Translation

That which has to be known I shall describe; knowing which one attains the Immortal. Beginningless is the Supreme Brahman. It is not said to be 'sat' or 'asat.'

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

jñeyam

to be known

yat

which

tat

that

pravakṣyāmi

(I) will declare

yat

which

jñātvā

being known

amṛtam

nectar, immortality

aśnute

(the Jīva) enjoyed

anādimatparam

beginningless, highest

brahma

Brahman

na

not

sat

being

tat

that

na

not

asat

non-being

ucyate

is called

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

That which has to be known, I shall fully describe as It is. The unsurpassed One, the Brahman, just spoken of as 'That which has to be known,' has no beginning. Being inaccessible to speech, Brahman, the Knowable, is defined in all Upaniṣads only by a denial of all specialities — "Not thus" (Bṛ. Up. 2.3.6) and "not gross, not subtle" (Bṛ. Up. 3.8.8) — in the terms "It is not this." Neither is It non-existent, since It is not an object of the consciousness of non-existence. Being beyond the reach of the senses, It is not an object of consciousness accompanied with the idea of either existence or non-existence. It can be known solely through Revelation (śabda).