Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter2

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18. anthvantha ime dhehaaH nithyasya ukthaaH sareeriNaH

anaaSinaH aprameyasya thasmaath yuDhyasva bhaaratha.

 

These bodies of the self, which is immortal, indestructible and incomprehensible, have an end , that is, destructible. Hence fight on Arjuna.

 

This means , whom you think as Bheeshma Dhrona etc. they are mere bodies and the self inside is not destructible. Only the bodies will end and not the self. The self which is immortal, is indestructible. Anticipating the question that, `if I am the self and not the body, why am I not aware of my self and think that I am the body,' Krishna says that the self is incomprehensible. It means that the self cannot be known by the usual means of knowledge, like perception etc. because it is beyond the comprehension of the senses and intellect. It is the seer who cannot be seen by the eyes, by whose power the eyes are able to see.

 

Hence Krishna says " you fight , Arjuna." By saying that the bodies have an end Krshna refers to the whole world which is the body of the supreme self, who is the inner self of the individual self, which is part and parcel of the supreme self and not identical as in advaita. If the individual self is also the sareera of the Lord, would it not also have an end, the advaitin may question. But according to Ramanuja philosophy, nothing is unrel but everything only changes its form and hence said to hve an end, like he pot ends wn hen it is broken but continues to exists clay and when if is broken one does not wail about it but get another. Just as the clay persists in all pots brokn or unbroken, the self o persists in all embodiments and hence it is indestructible and immortal because it is ensouled by Brahman, its inner self. Hence it is kown only by the knowledge of Brahman which the Gita teaches in all its eighteen chapters.

 

The delusion of Arjuna regarding the killing of Bheeshma and Dhrona etc. is becaue of his identification with the body, mind and intellect. If he identifies himself with his self which is controlled by the supreme self, he would not have any compunction to do his duty which he would consider as the bidding of the Lord within. This is the transformation brought about by Krishna in Arjuna by the discourse of Gita.

 

anthavanthaH- those which have an end,anthem.

 

Sareerinah- of the self inside the body. Sareeram asya asthi ithi Sareeree, the self which has a body. Thasya, sareerinaH of the self.

Nithyasaya, of the self which is immortal, nithya means ever existing

 

anaaSinah.- not destructible, na naasinah=anaaSinah

 

aprameya – immeasurable or incomprehensible. meya is measurable, here, that which could be understood.

 

..

 

19. ya enam vetthi hanthaaram yaH cha enam manyathe hatham

ubhou thou na vijaaneethaH na ayam hanthi na hanyathe

 

One who thinks that this self is the killer , hanthaaram, and one who thinks that this self is killed, hatham, both of them ,ubhou thou do not know the truth, na vijaaneethaH, that this self, ayam, neither gets killed na hanyathe, nor kills, na hanthi.

 

Continuing the idea of the previous sloka, Krishna here says that being immortal and indestructible the self can neither be killed nor kill anyone and those who think so are ignorant. What is killed and gets killed is only the body and not the self. It is said that the self cannot kill anyone because there is no action for the self and all actions pertain to the body, mind and intellect. This truth will be elaborated later in the Git.a.