Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 20
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन् नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः । अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ | ajo nityaḥ śāśvato'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
Translation
He is not born, nor does He ever die; after having been, He again ceases not to be; nor the reverse. Unborn, eternal, unchangeable and primeval, He is not slain when the body is slain.
— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri
Word meanings
- na
- not
- jāyate
- is born
- mriyate
- dies
- vā
- or
- kadācit
- at any time
- na
- not
- ayam
- this
- bhūtvā
- having been
- bhavitā
- will be
- vā
- or
- na
- not
- bhūyaḥ
- (any) more
- ajaḥ
- unborn
- nityaḥ
- perpetual
- śāśvataḥ
- eternal
- ayam
- this
- purāṇaḥ
- ancient
- na
- not
- hanyate
- is killed
- hanyamāne
- (in) being killed
- śarīre
- in body
Śaṅkarācārya's commentary
He is not born — no such change of condition as birth takes place in the Self. Nor does He die — this denies the last change of condition. "Ever" should be construed with the denial of every change, thus: He is never born, never dies. The Self, having once existed, does not afterwards cease to be (as is meant by "dying" in ordinary parlance), nor does He come into existence having not existed before (as is meant by "being born"). Wherefore He is unborn. Because He does not die, He is eternal. He is unchangeable (avikāra) — not subject to the change of condition known as decline (apakṣaya); having no parts, He does not diminish in His own substance, and being devoid of qualities, He does not diminish by loss of any quality. He is primeval (purāṇa) — not subject to the change of growth (vṛddhi); as devoid of parts, the Self is as fresh now as ever, and never grows. And He is not slain when the body is slain — not transformed when the body is transformed. This verse teaches the absence in the Self of the six bhāva-vikāras — the six changes of condition (birth, existence, growth, transformation, decline, and destruction) to which all beings (bhāvas) in the world are subject. The Self is devoid of every sort of change. Hence the words of the previous verse, "both these know not aright."