February2 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 2; Verses 2.30 (Day 33) Sankhya Yoga

 

February 2 – Chapter 2; Verse 30

Day 33 [2.30]

देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत ।

तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २-३०॥ 

dehī nityam avadhyo ’yaṁ dehe sarvasya bhārata
tasmāt sarvāṇi bhūtāni na twaṁ śhochitum arhasi (2.30) 

தே³ஹீ நித்¹யமவத்⁴யோ‌யம் தே³ஹே ஸர்வஸ்ய பா⁴ரத¹ |
த¹ஸ்மாத்¹ஸர்வாணி பூ⁴தா¹னி ந த்¹வம் ஶோசி¹து¹மர்ஹஸி ||30|| 

30. This (Self), the Indweller in the body of everyone, is always indestructible, O Arjuna! Therefore, you should not grieve for any creature. 

Commentary: The body of any creature may be destroyed but the Self cannot be killed.  Therefore, you should not grieve regarding any creature whatever, Bhisma or anybody else. 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda: This is the summing up of the philosophic argument. The body undergoes change: even the elements are not destroyed in the sense that they cease to be. Matter, too, in its ultimate analysis is indestructible, because, as has been proved by science, ‘mass is static or inert energy’. Life cannot be destroyed: energy itself is indestructible. Its apparent destruction is mere transmutation.

Body and life are themselves tools in the hands of the soul which is of the nature of pure consciousness. Body is inert. Life is blind energy. It is the soul which is the conscious director within these two. There is no power greater than this, for this consciousness is all-pervading and therefore one without a second.

“This Brahman, this creator, all these gods, these five great elements, all these small creatures, and others, the seeds of creation, the egg-born, the womb-born, the sweat-born, the sprout-born, horses, cows, men, elephants, whatever else breathes and moves or flies, or is immovable – all these are guided by consciousness and are supported by consciousness. The universe has consciousness for its guide. Consciousness is the basis or stay of all. Verily, consciousness is Brahman”, declares the Aitareya upaniṣad. That Brahman is the self of all.

In the words of sage Yājñavalkya of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka upaniṣad: “When the self alone is all this …” how can it be destroyed? “It is incomprehensible, imperishable, unattached, free and not subject to pain or destruction.” Hence, this soul is not physical or psychological – not a concept or an entity totally independent of other entities. Though incomprehensible, it is ‘realisable’. It is realised to be one in all. 

-*-