Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 23

Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः ।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥

Transliteration

nainaṃ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṃ dahati pāvakaḥ .
na cainaṃ kledayantyāpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ ॥

Meaning

Weapons cannot cut this Self, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it.

Word meanings

न – not
एनम् – this (Self)
छिन्दन्ति – cut
शस्त्राणि – weapons
दहति – burns
पावकः – fire
च – and
क्लेदयन्ति – wet, dissolve
आपः – waters
शोषयति – dries
मारुतः – wind

Anvaya (word order)

शस्त्राणि एनं न छिन्दन्ति, पावकः एनं न दहति, आपः च एनं न क्लेदयन्ति, मारुतः (एनं) न शोषयति ।

Explanation

To make the indestructibility of the Self still clearer, Krishna now rules out every means by which things in the world are destroyed. An object may be cut, burned, dissolved by water or dried up by wind. None of these can affect the Self.

Four of the five great elements are named here: earth (weapons, made of solid metal), fire, water and air. The fifth, space, holds everything and destroys nothing. The meaning is that no force of the entire physical world can reach the Self, because the Self is not physical.

In Arjuna's situation the verse is especially pointed. He is about to fight with weapons. Krishna says: your weapons — even divine weapons such as the fire-missile, the water-missile and the wind-missile — can do nothing to the Self. They affect only the body.

Shankara explains that the Self is partless (niravayava), so it cannot be cut, and subtlest of all, so no material element can touch it. This understanding removes fear at its root: what we truly are is always safe.

Context

In 2.22 Krishna explained rebirth through the image of changing clothes. Here He shows that no physical element can harm the Self. In the next verse (2.24) He restates this as qualities of the Self.

Life lesson

No force in the world can wound your true nature. Remembering this in hard circumstances brings inner firmness and courage.

Key terms

Pavaka: fire, the purifier
Maruta: wind
Niravayava: partless, indivisible