BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:16

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:16

 

nasato vidyate bhavo

nabhavo vidyate satah

ubhayor api drsto 'ntas

tv anayos tattva-darsibhih

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

na--never; asatah--of the nonexistent; vidyate--there is;

bhavah--endurance; na--never; abhavah--changing quality;

vidyate--there is; satah--of the eternal; ubhayoh--of the two;

api--verily; drstah--observed; antah--conclusion; tu--indeed;

anayoh--of them; tattva--of the truth; darsibhih--by the seers.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the

nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the

eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by

studying the nature of both.

 

PURPORT

 

There is no endurance of the changing body. That the body is changing

every moment by the actions and reactions of the different cells is

admitted by modern medical science; and thus growth and old age are

taking place in the body. But the spirit soul exists permanently,

remaining the same despite all changes of the body and the mind. That

is the difference between matter and spirit. By nature, the body is

ever changing, and the soul is eternal. This conclusion is established

by all classes of seers of the truth, both impersonalist and

personalist. In the Visnu Purana (2.12.38) it is stated that Visnu and

His abodes all have self-illuminated spiritual existence (jyotimsi

visnur bhuvanani visnuh). The words existent and nonexistent refer

only to spirit and matter. That is the version of all seers of truth.

 

This is the beginning of the instruction by the Lord to the living

entities who are bewildered by the influence of ignorance. Removal of

ignorance involves the reestablishment of the eternal relationship

between the worshiper and the worshipable and the consequent

understanding of the difference between the part-and-parcel living

entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One can understand

the nature of the Supreme by thorough study of oneself, the difference

between oneself and the Supreme being understood as the relationship

between the part and the whole. In the Vedanta-sutras, as well as in

the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Supreme has been accepted as the origin of

all emanations. Such emanations are experienced by superior and

inferior natural sequences. The living entities belong to the superior

nature, as it will be revealed in the Seventh Chapter. Although there

is no difference between the energy and the energetic, the energetic

is accepted as the Supreme, and energy or nature is accepted as the

subordinate. The living entities, therefore, are always subordinate to

the Supreme Lord, as in the case of the master and the servant, or the

teacher and the taught. Such clear knowledge is impossible to

understand under the spell of ignorance, and to drive away such

ignorance the Lord teaches the Bhagavad-gita for the enlightenment of

all living entities for all time.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.