Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 25

Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते ।
तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं नानुशोचितुमर्हसि ॥

Transliteration

avyakto.ayamacintyo.ayamavikāryo.ayamucyate .
tasmādevaṃ viditvainaṃ nānuśocitumarhasi ॥

Meaning

This Self is said to be unmanifest, unthinkable and unchanging. Therefore, knowing it to be so, you should not grieve.

Word meanings

अव्यक्तः – unmanifest, beyond the senses
अयम् – this
अचिन्त्यः – unthinkable, beyond the mind
अविकार्यः – unchangeable
उच्यते – is said
तस्मात् – therefore
एवम् – thus
विदित्वा – having known
एनम् – this
न अनुशोचितुम् – not to grieve
अर्हसि – you ought

Anvaya (word order)

अयम् अव्यक्तः, अयम् अचिन्त्यः, अयम् अविकार्यः उच्यते । तस्मात् एनम् एवं विदित्वा (त्वम्) अनुशोचितुं न अर्हसि ।

Explanation

This verse is in a sense the summing-up of the description of the Self. Krishna adds three more epithets and then concludes that, knowing the Self to be such, one should not grieve.

‘Avyakta’ — the Self is not an object of the senses. We see colour with the eye and hear sound with the ear, but the Self cannot be known by any sense, because it is what gives the senses their power to see and hear. ‘Achintya’ — the Self is not an object of thought either. Whatever the mind thinks of becomes an object; the Self is the thinker, not the thought. ‘Avikarya’ — the Self undergoes no modification. Milk turns into curd, wood into ash, but the Self remains ever the same.

A natural question arises: if the Self is unmanifest and unthinkable, how can it be known? Shankara's answer is that the Self is not known as an object. Through scripture and the teacher's guidance, as identification with what is not-Self falls away, the Self is realised as self-luminous awareness.

‘Tasmad evam viditvainam nanushochitum arhasi’ — therefore, knowing it thus, you ought not to grieve. Here the argument about the Self that began in 2.11 reaches a conclusion. In the next verses Krishna will establish the same point from a different angle.

Context

In 2.24 Krishna described the Self as eternal, all-pervading and immovable. Here He calls it unmanifest, unthinkable and unchanging, and concludes that grief is unfitting. In the next verse (2.26) He argues that even if the Self were subject to birth and death, grief would still be unwarranted.

Life lesson

Our real nature lies beyond the senses and beyond thought. When we stop identifying ourselves only with our thoughts and emotions, the mind's turbulence loses much of its power to disturb us.

Key terms

Avyakta: unmanifest, not perceptible to the senses
Achintya: unthinkable, beyond the reach of the mind
Avikarya: unchangeable, free from modification