Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2 Verses 17 & 18
Verses 2.17 and 2.18 explained
Introduction
Bhagavad Gita is a conversation between Krishna and Arjun. This dialogue begins just before the war of Mahabharata is about to begin. On seeing his family in opposition, Arjun is gripped with fear and confusion and wants to run away, but Krishna convinces him to fight and tells Arjun why he today raise his weapons to kill his brothers and relatives in this war.
Bhagavad Gits teaches us how to live life!
The core message of the Bhagavad Gita is considered very powerful for it can fundamentally transform the way you live your life. Bhagavad Gita is also called a summary of Vendantic Knowledge or simply ancient Knowledge.
Bhagavad Gita is crystallized form of the Hindu thought.
Bhagavad Gita is 700 verses long, spread across 18 chapters. Here we will understand Verses 17 and 18 of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita.
Verse 2.17
अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् |
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति || 17||
avinashi tu tadviddhi yena sarvam idam tatam
vinasham avyayasyasya na kashchit kartum arhati
Translation
“That” which is subsumed in everything is indestructible. No one is capable of destroying “That” which itself can’t be spent.
Verse 2.18
अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ता: शरीरिण: |
अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत || 18||
antavanta ime deha nityasyoktah sharirinah
anashino ’prameyasya tasmad yudhyasva bharata
Translation
The ‘Deh’ (body) is destined to be destroyed with time but the Soul, which is the owner of this body, is indestructible and immeasurable.
Thus fight, Arjun, O Descendant of Bharat.
Commentary:
Krishna here is telling Arjun that “That which is present in everything” can’t be destroyed or spent.
Krishna is referring to the fact that everything in this universe is made up of pure energy. And energy can’t be destroyed. It can only change forms. At the same time energy can’t be spent, for energy always remains energy.
Here Krishna is stating the fact. A fact that has been even validated by Science.
Let’s see this from the lens of science.
Einstein proved that everything in the world is Energy. His famous equation was E=MC2 which meant that what we see as matter is indeed energy, and when matter is destroyed, it converts into energy. This is the principle of Nuclear bombs today, where atoms of Uranium are broken into smaller atoms of lower mass and the mass which is released converts into energy which causes an explosion so massive that it can destroy cities in a matter of few seconds.
Thus simply put everything around us, including us is nothing by Energy.
Science also says that energy can’t be created nor it can be destroyed. It can only change forms. Just like the atoms in a Nuclear bomb change into energy causing an explosion. Just like how wood when ignited turns into fire, which itself converts into heat and leaves behind ash. Just like Water which when boiled converts into steam, which can in turn run engines. Thus energy just changes its form and is never destroyed.
This is indeed the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Thus Krishna is simply stating the same fact only in a poetic fashion. While this might sound natural and normal to a science student, and even to a common man, but Krishna speaks to this knowledge, thousands of years before Science was even in existence.
Thus Krishna’s argument to Arjun is a logical one and modern science supports it very well.
Krishna then goes on to say that the Deh or body gets destroyed with time, but the “owner of this body” or Soul doesn’t as it can’t be destroyed and also can’t be measured.
What Krishna is implying here is that the body is matter and with time it is bound to fade away. The body is like a flower, which blooms to its full glory but withers with time. Later it is burnt or buried and it either turns into ash and smoke or decomposes into the soil. The energy which made the body changes its form and converts it into something else.
When Krishna says that the Soul which is the owner of the body, doesn’t get destroyed he means that the soul is already pure energy. And this pure energy remains pure energy. It just leaves the body, and later wears another body, just like we change clothes.
Krishna says that it is impossible to measure this soul. This is true even today as Science can measure matter but doesn’t have a way to measure the Soul.
Soul to Science is like Color to a blind
In fact, in all matters of Spirituality, Science proves futile. This is because the basic premise of Science is through measurement. Science can only study things that it can measure. That is the reason Sciences can study and go deep into the matter as it can be measured.
But matters of spirit require a person to dive deep within himself and experience. These experiences can’t be measured in conventional scientific ways, but that doesn’t mean that such experiences are not true.
Science has to evolve a lot. After all, it is only a very recent phenomenon. But Spirituality is a very old method. Man has been diving deep into his consciousness for thousands of years, and most of this had been happening in what we today call India.
That is the reason why Vendantic knowledge, better known as Hinduism runs very deep. This Vendantic knowledge is obtained by diving deep into the self and has been questioned and tested by millions of minds over thousands of years. Yet it exists. It couldn’t be refuted. It is the essence of wisdom which has survived for thousands of years, and will continue to do for thousands of years to come for it is advanced knowledge.
In fact, it is Science that has to do all the catching up!
I have translated Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit to English and shall be publishing here verse by verse. If you like what you read and would like to read Bhagavad Gita, then please subscribe to this account.
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