ya enam vetti hantaram
yas chainam manyate hatam ubhau tau na vijanito nayam hanti na hanyate॥ 2.19 ॥ |
They are both ignorant, he who knows the soul to be capable of killing and he who takes it as killed; for verily the soul neither kills, nor is killed.
na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah:। ajo nityah sasvato ’yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire॥ 2.20 ॥ |
The soul is never born nor dies at any time. Soul has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. Soul is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. Soul is not slain when the body is slain.
vedavinasinam nityam
ya enam ajam avyayam। katham sa purushah Arjuna kam ghatayati hanti kam॥ 2.21 ॥ |
O Arjuna, how can a human being who knows that the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?
vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya
navani grhnati naro ’parani। tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany anyani samyati navani dehi॥ 2.22 ॥ |
As a human being puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
nainam chindanti shastrani
nainam dahati pavakah:। na chainam kledayanty apo na sosayati marutah:॥ 2.23 ॥ |
The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
acchedyo ’yam adahyo ’yam
akledyo ’sosya eva cha। nityah sarva-gatah sthanur achalo ’yam sanatanah:॥ 2.24 ॥ |
This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.