BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:19

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:19

 

ya enam vetti hantaram

yas cainam manyate hatam

ubhau tau na vijanito

nayam hanti na hanyate

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

yah--anyone who; enam--this; vetti--knows; hantaram--the killer;

yah--anyone who; ca--also; enam--this; manyate--thinks; hatam--killed;

ubhau--both; tau--they; na--never; vijanitah--are in knowledge;

na--never; ayam--this; hanti--kills; na--nor; hanyate--is killed.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Neither he who thinks the living entity the slayer nor he who thinks

it slain is in knowledge, for the self slays not nor is slain.

 

PURPORT

 

When an embodied living entity is hurt by fatal weapons, it is to be

known that the living entity within the body is not killed. The spirit

soul is so small that it is impossible to kill him by any material

weapon, as will be evident from subsequent verses. Nor is the living

entity killable, because of his spiritual constitution. What is

killed, or is supposed to be killed, is the body only. This, however,

does not at all encourage killing of the body. The Vedic injunction is

ma himsyat sarva bhutani: never commit violence to anyone. Nor does

understanding that the living entity is not killed encourage animal

slaughter. Killing the body of anyone without authority is abominable

and is punishable by the law of the state as well as by the law of the

Lord. Arjuna, however, is being engaged in killing for the principle

of religion, and not whimsically.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.