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Bhagavad Gita · 2.16 · Transcendental Knowledge·16 of 72

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतःउभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः

nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ

ubhayorapi dṛiṣhṭo ’nta stvanayos tattva-darśhibhiḥ

Sanskrit recitation

You are more than this body · 2.11–2.30 · Teaching

Translation

The 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).

Meaning

-- The changeless, homogeneous Atman or the Self always exists. It is the only solid Reality. This phenomenal world of names and forms is ever changing. Hence it is unreal. The sage or the Jivanmukta is fully aware that the Self always exists and that this world is like a mirage. Through his Jnanachakshus or the eye of intuition, he directly cognises the Self. This world vanishes for him like the snake in the rope, after it has been seen that only the rope exists. He rejects the names and forms and takes the underlying Essence in all the names and forms, viz., AstiBhatiPriya or Satchidananda or ExistenceKnowledgeBliss Absolute. Hence he is a Tattvadarshi or a knower of the Truth or the Essence.What is changing must be unreal. What is constant or permanent must be real.

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.

Word-by-word
na
no
tu
verily
api
also
tattva
of the truth
antaḥ
conclusion
sataḥ
of the eternal
vidyate
is
anayoḥ
of these
asataḥ
of the temporary
bhāvaḥ
is
ubhayoḥ
of the two
abhāvaḥ
cessation
darśhibhiḥ
by the seers
dṛiṣhṭaḥ
observed

Related verses

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