Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 21

वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् । कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम्

vedāvināśinaṃ nityaṃ ya enamajamavyayam | kathaṃ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha kaṃ ghātayati hanti kam

Translation

Whoso knows Him as indestructible, eternal, unborn and inexhaustible — how, O son of Pṛthā, and whom, does such a man cause to slay, and whom does he slay?

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

veda

knows

avināśinam

indestructible

nityam

perpetual

yaḥ

who

enam

this

ajam

unborn

avyayam

undiminishing

katham

how

saḥ

he (that)

puruṣaḥ

man

pārtha

O Pārtha

kam

whom

ghātayati

causes to be slain

hanti

kills

kam

whom

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

He who knows the Self as indestructible (devoid of the final change called death), eternal (devoid of transformation), unborn and inexhaustible (devoid of birth and decline) — how does such an enlightened man do the act of slaying, or how does he cause another to slay? He slays nobody at all, nor does he cause another to slay. The denial of the specific act of slaying is meant only as an example; what the Lord here teaches is the denial of all action whatsoever in the case of the enlightened, since the reason — the immutability of the Self — applies to every action alike. The enlightened man, identical with the immutable Self, has only to renounce all works. Hence the Lord distinguishes the enlightened Sāṅkhyas from the unenlightened followers of works and assigns to them respectively the path of knowledge (jñāna-yoga) and the path of works (karma-yoga), as taught in iii.3. The acts enjoined by Scripture are intended for the unenlightened: the unenlightened, on understanding the Vedic injunctions, has yet something to do — to undertake the Agnihotra and the rest, thinking "I am the agent, this is my duty." For the enlightened, on the contrary, nothing remains to be performed after the realization, "the Self is one and non-agent."