BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:18

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:18

 

antavanta ime deha

nityasyoktah saririnah

anasino prameyasya

tasmad yudhyasva bharata

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

anta-vantah--perishable; ime--all these; dehah--material bodies;

nityasya--eternal in existence; uktah--are said; saririnah--of the

embodied soul; anasinah--never to be destroyed;

aprameyasya--immeasurable; tasmat--therefore; yudhyasva--fight;

bharata--O descendant of Bharata.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal

living entity is sure to come to an end; therefore, fight, O

descendant of Bharata.

 

PURPORT

 

The material body is perishable by nature. It may perish immediately,

or it may do so after a hundred years. It is a question of time only.

There is no chance of maintaining it indefinitely. But the spirit soul

is so minute that it cannot even be seen by an enemy, to say nothing

of being killed. As mentioned in the previous verse, it is so small

that no one can have any idea how to measure its dimension. So from

both viewpoints there is no cause of lamentation, because the living

entity as he is cannot be killed nor can the material body be saved

for any length of time or permanently protected. The minute particle

of the whole spirit acquires this material body according to his work,

and therefore observance of religious principles should be utilized.

In the Vedanta-sutras the living entity is qualified as light because

he is part and parcel of the supreme light. As sunlight maintains the

entire universe, so the light of the soul maintains this material

body. As soon as the spirit soul is out of this material body, the

body begins to decompose; therefore it is the spirit soul which

maintains this body. The body itself is unimportant. Arjuna was

advised to fight and not sacrifice the cause of religion for material,

bodily considerations.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.