Verse 2.20
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्
नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो
न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
Transliteration
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ |
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato'yaṃ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ||
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3
Translation
It is not born, nor does It ever die; after having been, It again ceases not to be; unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient, It is not killed when the body is killed.
From the owner's sheet · +1 more
It is never born and never dies; having come to be, it will not cease to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting and ancient, it is not killed when the body is killed.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08 · +1 more
Word by word
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08
Explanation
In a longer metre, Krishna gives a sequence of negations. The self is never born and never dies; it does not come into being and then pass away. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting and ancient (purāṇa), and it is not killed when the body is killed. The verse sounds almost like a hymn, and its rhythm slows the dialogue down. It sums up the argument of the preceding lines and states the nature of the self (ātman) in the most direct form found in the chapter.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08