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Bhagwad Gita (English) | Chapter 2 | Verse 17

Chapter 2, Verse 17

Contents of the Gita Summarized

Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.

Verse

अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम्।
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित् कर्तुमर्हति।।2.17।।


avināśhi tu tadviddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam
vināśham avyayasyāsya na kaśhchit kartum arhati

Meaning of each word

avināśhi — indestructible;
tu — indeed;
tat — that;
viddhi — know;
yena — by whom;
sarvam — entire;
idam — this;
tatam — pervaded;
vināśham — destruction;
avyayasya — of the imperishable;
asya — of it;
na kaśhchit — no one;
kartum — to cause;
arhati — is able

Interpretation

This verse explains an important idea about the soul, which is the essence of who we are, and is different from our physical body. When it says that something 'pervades the entire body,' it means that this essence, or soul, is present everywhere in our body, similar to how the air fills a room. This part of us is described as 'indestructible,' which means it can't be destroyed, even though our bodies can age, get hurt, or eventually die.

To make it clearer, let’s think about consciousness, which is our awareness of feelings, thoughts, and experiences. For example, when you feel joy or pain, that feeling is brought about by the consciousness that comes from your soul. Each person experiences their own consciousness; you know your feelings, but you can’t directly feel what someone else is going through. This means that every body you see is actually a home for an individual soul, and the feelings we experience are evidence that the soul is there.

The verse also mentions that the soul is very tiny, even smaller than the tip of a hair, which means that it’s something that can’t be seen with our eyes. Different texts support this idea, saying that just like tiny particles exist all around us, there are countless souls, each one unique and playing its part in the universe. This tiny soul gives life to our bodies, similar to how a small amount of medicine can have a big effect on our health.

A vital point is that a body without consciousness is lifeless. You can see this in how when someone passes away, their body, which once had life and awareness, no longer moves or responds. This shows us that consciousness doesn’t come from the physical body; rather, it arises from the soul within it. Even the best doctors can’t bring someone back to life just by fixing the body—they can’t restore the consciousness without the soul being present.

Additionally, there are spiritual practices, like yoga, that are aimed at connecting the mind and body to the soul, helping individuals break free from the troubles of the material world. These practices help someone experience their true self, which is more than just their physical existence.

Other Verses of Chapter 2
Verse 1
Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful, his eyes brimming with tears, Madhusudana, Krsna, spoke the following words.
Verse 2
The Supreme Person [Bhagavan] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy.
Verse 3
O son of Prtha, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy.
Verse 4
Arjuna said: O killer of Madhu [Krsna], how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhisma and Drona, who are worthy of my worship?
Verse 5
It is better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my teachers. Even though they are avaricious, they are nonetheless superiors. If they are killed, our spoils will be tainted with blood.
Verse 6
Nor do we know which is better - conquering them or being conquered by them. The sons of Dhrtarastra, whom if we killed we should not care to live, are now standing before us on this battlefield.
Verse 7
Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.
Verse 8
I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to destroy it even if I win an unrivalled kingdom on the earth with sovereignty like that of the demigods in heaven.
Verse 9
Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Krsna, "Govinda, I shall not fight," and fell silent.
Verse 10
O descendant of Bharata, at that time Krsna, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.
Verse 11
The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.
Verse 12
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
Verse 13
As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.
Verse 14
O son of Kunti, the temporary appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in time, are like the changing seasons of winter and summer. They come and go because of how we sense things, so you must learn to endure them without getting upset.
Verse 15
O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.
Verse 16
Those who understand the truth see that things which do not exist cannot last. On the other hand, things that do exist will never completely disappear. This understanding comes from studying the nature of both existing and non-existing things.
Verse 18
Only the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata.
Verse 19
He who thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that he is slain, does not understand. One who is in knowledge knows that the self slays not nor is slain.
Verse 20
For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
Verse 21
O Partha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, unborn, eternal and immutable, kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?
Verse 22
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
Verse 23
The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
Verse 24
This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable, and eternally the same.
Verse 25
It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable, immutable, and unchangeable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.
Verse 26
If you believe that the soul is always being born and always dies, you still have no reason to grieve, O mighty-armed one.
Verse 27
For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.
Verse 28
All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when they are annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation?
Verse 29
Some people find the soul to be truly amazing. Some talk about it in a way that shows their wonder, while others listen to these discussions and are also amazed. However, even after hearing about the soul many times, there are still many people who just can't understand it at all.
Verse 30
O descendant of Bharat, he who dwells in the body is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any creature.
Verse 31
Considering your specific duty as a ksatriya, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting on religious principles; and so there is no need for hesitation.
Verse 32
O Partha, happy are the ksatriyas to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets.
Verse 33
If you do not fight this important battle, then you will definitely make a mistake by not doing your duty and will lose your good name as a warrior.
Verse 34
People will always speak of your infamy, and for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.
Verse 35
The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider you a coward.
Verse 36
Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?
Verse 37
O son of Kunti, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore get up and fight with determination.
Verse 38
Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat—and, by so doing, you shall never incur sin.
Verse 39
Thus far I have declared to you the analytical knowledge of sankhya philosophy. Now listen to the knowledge of yoga whereby one works without fruitive result. O son of Prtha, when you act by such intelligence, you can free yourself from the bondage of works.
Verse 40
In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.
Verse 41
Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.
Verse 42
The unwise, taking pleasure in the eulogizing words of the Vedas, utter flowery speech, saying, "There is nothing else," O Arjuna.
Verse 43
Full of desires, with heaven as their goal, (they speak words that are directed to ends) leading to new births as the result of their works, and prescribe various methods abounding in specific actions, for the attainment of pleasure and power.
Verse 44
In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination of devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.
Verse 45
The Vedas mainly deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature. Rise above these modes, O Arjuna. Be transcendental to all of them. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the Self.
Verse 46
All purposes that are served by the small pond can at once be served by the great reservoirs of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them.
Verse 47
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
Verse 48
Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.
Verse 49
O Dhananjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.
Verse 50
A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work.
Verse 51
The wise, engaged in devotional service, take refuge in the Lord, and free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world. In this way they can attain that state beyond all miseries.
Verse 52
When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard.
Verse 53
When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the Divine consciousness.
Verse 54
Arjuna said: What are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in Transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how does he walk?
Verse 55
The Blessed Lord said: O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of sense desire which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.
Verse 56
One who is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries, who is not elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.
Verse 57
He who is without attachment, who does not rejoice when he obtains good, nor lament when he obtains evil, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.
Verse 58
One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws his limbs within the shell, is to be understood as truly situated in knowledge.
Verse 59
The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.
Verse 60
The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.
Verse 61
One who restrains his senses and fixes his consciousness upon Me is known as a man of steady intelligence.
Verse 62
While thinking about the things that please our senses, a person can start to feel strongly attached to them. This attachment then leads to desire, and from that desire, anger can emerge.
Verse 63
From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool.
Verse 64
One who can control his senses by practicing the regulated principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord and thus become free from all attachment and aversion.
Verse 65
For one who is so situated in the Divine consciousness, the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such a happy state, one's intelligence soon becomes steady.
Verse 66
One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?
Verse 67
As a boat on the water is swept away by a strong wind, even one of the senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man's intelligence.
Verse 68
Therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence.
Verse 69
What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.
Verse 70
A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires - that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still - can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.
Verse 71
A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego - he alone can attain real peace.
Verse 72
That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a man is not bewildered. Being so situated, even at the hour of death, one can enter into the kingdom of God.
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