Verse 2.17

अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ।

विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ॥

2.17

Transliteration

avināśi tu tadviddhi yena sarvamidaṃ tatam |

vināśamavyayasyāsya na kaścitkartumarhati ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

Know that to be indestructible, by Which all this is pervaded. None can cause the destruction of That, the Imperishable.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

indestructible
but
that
know
by which
all
this
is pervaded

destruction
of the imperishable
of this
not
anyone
to do
is able

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

Krishna describes the real as that by which all this is pervaded, and calls it indestructible. Nothing can destroy what is imperishable. The verse widens the view from the individual to what spreads through everything. Some readings understand it as the supreme reality, Brahman, and others as the self (ātman) that pervades the body. Both readings serve the argument here: the weapons Arjuna holds can reach bodies, but they cannot touch the deeper reality on which the whole scene rests.