Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter2

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20.na jaayathe mriyathe vaa kadhaachith

na ayam bhoothvaa bhavithaa vaa na bhooyaH

aaH nithyaH SaasvathaH ayam puraaNaH

na hanyathe hanyameene sareere

 

The self is never born and never dies. Having been in existence it never ceases to be. It is unborn, eternal, ever existing and ancient and it is not killed when the body gets killed.

 

Any thing that is born has to undergo six changes of state which are . jaaythe. Born, Asthi, exists, varDhathe, grows, viparinamathe, transformed, ksheeyathe, decays and naSyathi., destroyed. To say that the self has none of these changes, which is indicated by na jaayathe, na mriyahe, birth ,the beginning and the death , the end are not for the self, automatically dismisses the other four changes as well. Hence it is nithya, eternal. and SaaSvatha , ever existent. Therefore the self is not something which has come into being, bhoothvaa, having not existed before, na bhavtthaa. As such , the self is not killed, na hanyathe, when the body gets killed, hanyamaane sareere. Being eternal and ever existent it is puraaNaH , ancient..

 

 

When it could simply be termed as permanent or eternal why does Krishna employs so many epithets? In Sanskrit literature not a single word is a tautology but carries different implications A thing may be unborn but it may have an end. A classical example given for this in Vedanta is that of prior non-existence or praagabhaava. Before something ,say, a pot, is created, there was its non-existence which is known as its praagabhaava. This can be termed as unborn as it has no beginning. But it has an end when the pot comes into existence .So it is not eternal or everlasting An example of something which has a beginning but no end is what is known as posterior non-existence or dwamsa. When the pot is destroyed its dvamsa or destruction which has a beginning but no end. So it is said to be born but deathless. .Nityah is eternal while saaswata means without decay. The self which is the real `I' remains always as it is .But it is also puraana ancient.

 

Not only the self does not get killed but also the self does not kill. This is explained in the next sloka.

 

21.vedha avinaaSinam nithyam ya enam ajam avyayam

kaTham sa purushaH paarTha kam ghaathyathi hanthi kam

 

When one comes to know that this self is eternal, unborn and immutable, how and whom does he kill or cause to be killed?

 

When one has the knowledge of the real nature of the self to be eternal and immutable and indestructible he identifies himself not with the body but with he self. Neither does he identify others with their body. So even if he had to kill others in circumstances such as war he does not attach the agent-ship to himself. This is because a man of knowledge does all his actions as the instrument of the Lord who is inside his self as the inner self. He is without raga and dvesha and hence the act of killing done as a duty does not affect him.

 

This should not cause one to wonder whether the terrorists are justified because they also kill because they think that it is the command of God . But it is only mistaken identity because they identify themselves with the body only and also consider others as bodies and not the self. To cite an example in the worldly sense one might say that the soldiers who had to kill for the sake of protecting the country, do so without passion and as a duty. This is the spirit of a kshathriya though the knowledge of self may not be there.