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Study a Verse
Pick any verse to see what it means and how to use it in your life.
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 2.21
वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् ।
कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ॥ २१ ॥
vedāvināśinaṁ nityaṁ
ya enam ajam avyayam
kathaṁ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha
kaṁ ghātayati hanti kam
O Pārtha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
The verse asks how someone who knows the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and unchanging can kill or cause killing.
Prabhupāda explains that violence has a proper use in administering justice, just as surgery is meant to cure.
Kṛṣṇa’s order to fight serves supreme justice. By fighting under His instruction with full knowledge, Arjuna incurs no sinful reaction.
The soul is never killed
How can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill
19 Purport) “Ma himsyat...” – Never commit violence to any living entity
Criteria to use violence –
Killing the body of anyone without authority is abominable and is punishable by the law of the state as well as the law of the Lord
Violence has proper utility under authority (2.21 Purport) – No sinful reaction
Who decides the proper utility — a man situated in complete knowledge knows how and where to apply a thing for its proper utility
Analogy:
Justice of Peace – Ref. Manu Samhita (for details study 2.21 purport)
Surgeons knife – Proper use can save one’s life (for details study 2.21 purport)
How to justify Arjuna’s use of violence
He was killing for the principle of religion, not whimsically
When Krishna orders violence, it is for Supreme justice
For administration of justice, so-called violence is permitted because anyway the soul cannot be killed
There is no death for the soul. The body can never be saved
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Key ideas: ātmā, jñāna.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does BG 2.21 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to soul & knowledge?
Spend five minutes reflecting on what in you does not change.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.