Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 21

Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

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

Transliteration

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

Meaning

O Partha, how can a person who knows this Self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn and imperishable kill anyone, or cause anyone to be killed?

Word meanings

वेद – knows
अविनाशिनम् – indestructible
नित्यम् – eternal
यः – who
एनम् – this (Self)
अजम् – unborn
अव्ययम् – imperishable
कथम् – how
सः – that
पुरुषः – person
पार्थ – O Partha
कम् – whom
घातयति – causes to be killed
हन्ति – kills
कम् – whom

Anvaya (word order)

पार्थ, यः एनम् अविनाशिनं नित्यम् अजम् अव्ययं वेद, सः पुरुषः कथं कं घातयति, कं हन्ति ?

Explanation

In the last two verses Krishna described the Self as unborn and deathless. Now He draws the practical conclusion in the form of a question: how can one who knows this truth kill anyone, or cause anyone to be killed? The answer is contained in the question — he kills no one.

Two verbs are used: ‘hanti’, to kill oneself, and ‘ghatayati’, to cause another to kill. Arjuna is a commander; he will shoot arrows himself and also direct his army. Krishna says that the knower of the Self regards himself neither as the doer nor as the instigator. Thinking oneself the doer comes from identifying with body and mind.

Shankara reflects on this verse at length. The Lord's intention, he says, is that for the knower of the Self no action whatever — not only killing — can belong to the Self, since the Self is actionless. On this basis Shankara holds that action does not bind the enlightened. Other teachers read the verse as saying that one who knows the eternity of the Self does not view his duty in a righteous war as sin.

The verse frees Arjuna from a crushing burden of guilt. In life too, when we shrink from a hard but right decision for fear that someone will be hurt, it gives strength to remember that action in harmony with truth and dharma does not bind.

Context

Verse 2.20 described the Self as free from birth and death. Here Krishna draws the conclusion that the knower kills no one and causes no one to be killed. In the next verse (2.22) He explains the passing from body to body with the famous image of changing worn-out clothes.

Life lesson

When we stop taking ourselves to be merely body and mind, the heavy burden of doership grows lighter. While carrying out righteous duty, stay free from needless guilt.

Key terms

Ghatayati: causes to be killed
Avyaya: imperishable
Kartritva: the sense of being the doer