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Ch 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga
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Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 2, Verse 20: Krishna to Arjuna — Sāṅkhya-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 2.20Chapter 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · triṣṭubh
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन् नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतो ऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
na← na(252 verses)not (negation particle) jāyate← √jan(10 verses)present indicative 3rd person singular verbto be born; to produce (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaन उत्पद्यते जनिलक्षणा वस्तुविक्रिया न आत्मनो विद्यते इत्यर्थःviśiṣṭādvaitaम्रियत इति वर्तमानतया सर्वेषु देहेषु सर्वैः अनुभूयमाने जन्ममरणे कदाचिद्dvaitaइति पुनरुक्तमित्याशङ्क्य नेदं भगवद्वाक्यं किन्तूक्तार्थे सम्मतित्वेन मन्त्रवर्णोऽयमुदाह्रियत इत्याह अत्रे तिśuddhādvaitaइत्यादिनोत्पत्त्यस्तित्वनाशरूपा विकारा अन्ये चात्मनिषिद्धाःbhaktiस जन्मानन्तरमस्तित्वं भजते नतु mriyate← √mṛ(3 verses)present indicative pass 3rd person singular verbto die (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaवा । वाशब्दः चार्थे। न म्रियते च इति अन्त्या विनाशलक्षणा विक्रिया प्रतिषिध्यते। कदाचिच्छ ब्दः सर्वविक्रियाप्रतिषेधैः संdvaitaइत्येतत्कस्मात्कारणादित्यर्थःbhaktiचेति विनाशप्रतिषेधःadvaita-bhaktiवेति। वाशब्दः समुच्चयार्थः। न जायते न म्रियते चेत्यर्थः। कस्मादयमात्मा नोत्पद्यते यस्मादयमात्मा कदाचित्कस्मिन्नपि काले vā← vā(25 verses)or; either-or; (also: alternative) kadā← kadācidsometime, ever (kadā + cid)cin
nāyaṃ bhūtvā← bhū(10 verses)convto be, become; the earth (verbal root / noun)attested in commentariesadvaitaभवनक्रियामनुभूय पश्चात् अभविता अभावं गन्ता न भूयः पुनः तस्मात् न म्रियतेviśiṣṭādvaitaभवति वा न भूयः अयं कल्पादौ भूत्वा भूयः कल्पान्तेdvaitaदेहसम्बन्धेन भवितैव तत्कथमुच्यतेभूत्वा भविता न इतीत्यतोऽन्यथा व्याचष्टे न चे तिbhaktiउत्पद्य भविता भवति अस्तित्वं भजतेadvaita-bhaktiअभूत्वा प्राक् भूयः पुनरपि भविता न bhavitā← √bhū(51 verses)future indicative peri 3rd person singular verbto be, become; the earth (verbal root / noun)attested in commentariesadvaitaस म्रियत इत्युच्यते लोकेviśiṣṭādvaitaइति न। केषुचित् प्रजापतिप्रभृतिदेहेषु आगमेन उपलभ्यमानं कल्पादौ जननं कल्पान्ते च मरणम् आत्मानं न स्पृशति इत्यर्थः। अतः सdvaita। तद्धि तदैक्षत छां.उ.6।2।3देशतः कालतो योऽसाववस्थातः स्वतोऽन्यतः। अविलुप्तावबोधात्मा इत्यादिश्रुतिस्मृतिसिद्धम्। कुतः अजbhaktiभवति अस्तित्वं भजतेadvaita-bhaktiन। यो ह्यभूत्वा भवति स उत्पत्तिलक्षणां विक्रियामनुभवति। अयं तु प्रागपि सत्त्वाद्यतो नोत्पद्यतेऽतोऽजः। तथायमात्मा भूत्वा vā← vā(25 verses)or; either-or; (also: alternative) na← na(252 verses)not (negation particle) bhūy← bhūyas(12 verses)more, again, abundantlyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ← nitya(17 verses)nominative masculine singular nouneternal, permanent, dailyattested in commentariesviśiṣṭādvaitaशाश्वतः प्रकृतिवदविशदसततपरिणामैःdvaitaइति पुनरुक्तमित्याशङ्क्य तन्निवर्त्यामाशङ्कामुक्त्वाऽन्यथा व्याचष्टे कुत इतिbhaktiसर्वदैकरुप इति वृद्धिप्रतिषेधःadvaita-bhakti। विनाशायोग्य इत्यर्थः। अत्र न भूत्वेत्यत्र समासाभावेऽपि नानुपपत्तिर्नानुयाजेष्वितिवत्। भगवता पणिनिना महाविभाषाधिकारे नञ śāśv← śāśvata(9 verses)nominative masculine singular nouneternal, perpetualato 'yaṃ purā← purāṇa(4 verses)nominative masculine singular nounancient, primeval; the Purāṇic literatureṇo
na← na(252 verses)not (negation particle) hanyate← √han(11 verses)present indicative pass 3rd person singular verbto slay, kill, strike (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaita। हन्तिः अत्र विपरिणामार्थे द्रष्टव्यः अपुनरुक्ततायै। न विपरिणम्यते इत्यर्थः। हन्यमाने विपरिणम्यमानेऽपि शरीरे । अस्मिन्viśiṣṭādvaitaअयम् आत्माdvaitaहन्यमानेऽपि देहेbhaktiहन्यमाने शरीर इतिadvaita-bhaktiन हन्तुं शक्यत इत्युपसंहारः hanyamāne← √han(11 verses)locative neuter singular present participle pass verbto slay, kill, strike (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaविपरिणम्यमानेऽपि शरीरेviśiṣṭādvaitaअपि न हन्यते अयम् आत्माbhaktiशरीर इतिadvaita-bhaktiतत्संबद्धोऽपि केनाप्युपायेन न हन्यते न हन्तुं शक्यत इत्युपसंहारः śarīre← śarīra(12 verses)locative neuter singular nounbodyattested in commentariesadvaita। अस्मिन् मन्त्रे षड् भावविकारा लौकिकवस्तुविक्रिया आत्मनि प्रतिषिध्यन्ते। सर्वप्रकारविक्रियारहित आत्मा इति वाक्यार्थः।viśiṣṭādvaitaहन्यमाने
spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip
meaning

This self is never born and never dies; it did not spring into being and will not cease. Unborn, eternal, ancient, it is not killed when the body is killed.

Bhāṣyakāra purports

  • Śaṅkaraadvaita

    The ātman (self) neither comes into being nor passes away at any time whatsoever — Śaṅkara is precise: birth and death are not events that happen to ātman but the first and last of six modifications (ṣaḍ-bhāva-vikāra) that belong entirely to the inert body, none of which can touch what is partless and attributeless. Because it never was absent before and will never cease afterward — 'it was not, then was born' describes bodies, not ātman — it is unborn (aja), and because it will not cease, it is eternal (nitya). The verse therefore closes on the clinching paradox: the body is being struck down (hanyamāne śarīre), yet that which pervades it undergoes no modification (na vipariṇamyate) whatsoever — this is the causal ground for Kṛṣṇa's prior claim that neither slayer nor slain is a real category.

  • Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

    Rāmānuja reads the verse as establishing that the individual self, though embedded in and organically related to body, is unaffected by the body's cyclic birth and death — even the cosmic births and deaths of Prajāpati-grade beings at the opening and closing of a kalpa (world-cycle) do not touch the ātman dwelling within. The self is called purātana (ancient) yet is ever freshly experienced as utterly novel (apūrvavad anubhāvya), because it undergoes none of the incremental decays or growths that mark material substance — not the subtle ongoing flux (aviśada-satata-pariṇāma) of primordial nature (prakṛti). This imperishable ātman is always Bhagavān's own śeṣa (dependent remainder), and grasping its deathlessness is the very foundation of niṣkāma-karma as kainkarya (loving service), since one who knows the self does not grieve over what the body must undergo.

  • Madhvadvaita

    Madhva notes pointedly that this verse carries the weight of a Vedic mantra (mantra-varṇa), directly echoing Kaṭha Upaniṣad, and he uses it to demarcate the jīva from Īśvara: the jīva shares the predicate 'unborn and deathless' with Hari, but only because Hari wills it so, not by any intrinsic identity. The phrase 'nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā' — it was not the case that this self was born to exist and will later cease — is glossed by appeal to śruti-smṛti that Īśvara's own consciousness (avilipta-avabodha-ātmā) is undiminished across space, time, state, and cause; the jīva reflects that deathlessness derivatively, sustained always by Hari's independent will (svatantra-icchā). The body is struck (hanyamāne śarīre) but the self, precisely because it inhabits a form that is Hari's ordered creation, is never struck — the dependent but real distinction of jīva and Brahman is the stable ground of that protection.

  • Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

    Vallabha reads this verse as Kṛṣṇa citing Kaṭha śruti as the authoritative witness (pramāṇa-bhūtā Kāṭaka-śruti) for the point already established — the six modifications (ṣaḍ-vikāra) of birth, existence, and destruction are excluded from ātman root and branch. The summary word aja (unborn) gathers the whole negation: what has never been absent from Kṛṣṇa's presence cannot be 'born into' it, and what dwells in Kṛṣṇa's own bliss (ānanda) as a mode of that bliss cannot be extinguished. In Puṣṭi-mārga the practical force is total: the devotee who truly tastes the ātman's indestructibility ceases to regard even bodily death as a rupture in the flow of Kṛṣṇa's līlā (divine play-grace), because the real self was already and always held within that play.

  • Śrīdharabhakti

    Śrīdhara works systematically through all six vikāra (modifications named by Yāska and the Nairu​ktas — birth, existence, growth, transformation, decay, death) and shows how the verse eliminates them one by one: 'na jāyate' cancels birth; 'na mriyate' cancels death; 'nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā' cancels post-birth existence as a separate achievement, because the ātman was already self-existent (svataḥ sad-rūpa) before any body arose; nitya cancels growth; śāśvata (perpetually present) cancels decay; purāṇa cancels transformation, since 'ancient yet ever new' means no new form is ever acquired by accretion. He then gathers the whole into the refrain: the verse was stated to support na hanyate — the self is not struck — and each negation lands back there; the bhakta who holds this truth stands unmoved when the body falls.

  • Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

    Madhusūdana frames the verse as supplying the reason (hetu) for the claim in the prior verse — why ātman is neither agent of slaying nor object of slaying — and he lavishes technical care on the Pāṇinian grammar of 'na bhūtvā' to seal the argument against Kātyāyana's objection, citing Śabara's verdict that 'Kātyāyana is a proponent of non-existence' (asad-vādī hi Kātyāyanaḥ). The structure he identifies is: 'na jāyate mriyate vā' as the thesis (pratijñā); 'nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā' as its logical support (upapādana); 'ajo nityaḥ' as the summation (upasaṃhāra). His synthesis of Advaita and bhakti appears in the coda: this utterly changeless (kūṭastha-nitya) ātman, free from even the subtlest upacaya or apacaya, is precisely the ātman that Kṛṣṇa reveals to Arjuna as himself — so knowing the deathlessness of ātman is inseparable from knowing the deathlessness of the one who speaks it.

Sūtrakṛt-Gītā · v1.0 · gita.ekrasworks.com