Bhagavad Gita · 2.11 · Transcendental Knowledge·11 of 72
श्री भगवानुवाच अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे।गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥
śhrī bhagavān uvācha aśhochyān-anvaśhochas-tvaṁ
prajñā-vādānśh cha bhāṣhase gatāsūn-agatāsūnśh-cha nānuśhochanti paṇḍitāḥ
Sanskrit recitation
You are more than this body · 2.11–2.30 · Teaching
Translation
The Blessed Lord said, "You have grieved for those who should not be grieved for; yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead."
Meaning
-- The philosophy of the Gita begins from this verse.Bhishma and Drona deserve no grief because they are eternal in their real nature and they are virtuous men who possess very good conduct. Though you speak words of wisdom, you are unwise because you grieve for those who are really eternal and who deserve no grief. They who are endowed with the knowledge of the Self are wise men. They will not grieve for the living or for the dead because they know well that the Self is immortal and that It is unborn. They also know that there is no such a thing as death, that it is a separation of the astral body from the physical, that death is nothing more than a disintegration of matter and that the five elements of which the body is composed return to their source. Arjuna had forgotten the eternal nature of the Soul and the changing nature of the body. Because of his ignorance, he began to act as if the temporary relations with kinsmen, teachers, etc., were permanent. He forgot that his relations with this world in his present life were the results of past actions. These, when exhausted, end all relationship and new ones ones crop up when one takes on another body.The result of past actions is known as karm and that portion of the karma which gave rise to the present incarnation is known as prarabdha karma.
After Swami Sivananda
You are more than this body· 2.11–2.30→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
2.11The Blessed Lord said, "You have grieved for those who should not be grieved for; yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead."
- 2.12Nor, at any time, was I not, nor thou, nor these rulers of men; nor, verily, shall we ever cease to be hereafter.
- 2.13Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so too does it pass into another body; the steadfast one does not grieve over this.
- 2.14The contact of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which causes heat and cold, pleasure and pain, has a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, O Arjuna.
- 2.15That firm man, whom surely these afflictions do not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for attaining immortality.
- 2.16The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the real; the truth about both has been seen by the knowers of the truth (or the seers of the essence).
- 2.17Know that to be indestructible, by which all this is pervaded. No one can cause the destruction of that, the Imperishable.
- 2.18These bodies of the embodied Self, which are eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable, are said to have an end. Therefore, fight, O Arjuna.
- 2.19He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks it is slain, neither of them knows. It does not slay, nor is it slain.
- 2.20It is not born, nor does it ever die; after having been, it again does not cease to be; unborn, eternal, changeless, and ancient, it is not killed when the body is killed.
- 2.21Whoever knows it to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and inexhaustible, how can that person slay, O Arjuna, or cause to be slain?
- 2.22Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so too the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
- 2.23Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it.
- 2.24This Self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, nor dried up; it is eternal, all-pervasive, stable, immovable, and ancient.
- 2.25This Self is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing this to be so, you should not grieve.
- 2.26But even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed one, thou shouldst not grieve.
- 2.27For the born, death is certain, and for the dead, birth is certain; therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable.
- 2.28Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, O Arjuna, and unmanifest again in their end. What is there to grieve about?
- 2.29One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder; yet, having heard, none understands it at all.
- 2.30This indweller in the body of everyone is ever indestructible, O Arjuna; therefore, you should not grieve for any creature.
Word-by-word→
- na
- never
- cha
- and
- tvam
- you
- agata asūn
- the living
- aśhochyān
- not worthy of grief
- bhāṣhase
- speaking
- gata āsūn
- the dead
- anuśhochanti
- lament
- anvaśhochaḥ
- are mourning
- paṇḍitāḥ
- the wise
- prajñā-vādān
- words of wisdom
- śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
- the Supreme Lord said
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