🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 2.19

Chapter 2 · सांख्ययोग · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · "The Yoga of Knowledge" · Verse 19 of 72

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🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition

2.19 He who thinks that the Spirit kills, and he who thinks of It as killed, are both ignorant. The Spirit kills not, nor is It killed.

Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society

2.19 He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks It is slain, neither of them ï1knowsï1. It slays not, nor is It slain.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school

2.19 But the ideas that you have, 'Bhisma and others are neing killed by me in war; I am surely their killer' this idea of yours is false. How? Yah, he who; vetti, thinks; of enam, this One, the embodied One under consideration; as hantaram, the killer, the agent of the act of killing; ca, and; yah, he who, the other who; manyate, thinks; of enam, this One; as hatam, the killed (who thinks) 'When the body is killed, I am myself killed; I become the object of the act of killing'; ubhau tau, both of them; owing to non-discrimination, na, do not; vijanitah, know the Self which is the subject of the consciousness of 'I'. The meaning is: On the killing of the body, he who thinks of the Self ( the content of the consciousness of 'I' ) [The Ast. omits this phrase from the precedig sentence and includes it in this place. The A.A. has this phrase in both the places.-Tr.] as 'I am the killer', and he who thinks, 'I have been killed', both of them are ignorant of the nature of the Self. For, ayam, this Self; owing to Its changelessness, na hanti, does not kill, does not become the agent of the act of killing; na hanyate, nor is It killed, i.e. It does not become the object (of the act of killing). The second verse is to show how the Self is changeless:

Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school

2.19 With regard to "This" viz., the self, whose nature has been described above, he who thinks of It as the slayer, i.e., as the cause of slaying, and he who thinks 'This' (self) as slain by some cause or other - both of them do not know. As this self is eternal for the reasons mentioned above, no possible cause of destruction can slay It and for the same reason, It cannot be slain. Though the root 'han' (to slay) has the self for its object, it signifies causing the separation of the body from the self and not destruction of the self. Scriptural texts like 'You shall not cause injury to beings' and 'The Brahmana shall not be killed'? (K. Sm. 8.2) indicate unsanctioned actions, causing separation of the body from the self. [In the above otes, slaughter in an ethical sense is referred to, while the text refers to killing or separating the self from the body in a metaphsyical sense. This is made explicit in the following verse].

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly

2.19. Whosoever views This to be the slayer and whosoever believes This to be the slain, both these do not understand : This does not slay, nor is This slain.

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · a high-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page for the 102-year-living Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī Mahātmā.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading

।।2.19।। जो मनुष्य इस अविनाशी शरीरीको मारनेवाला मानता है और जो मनुष्य इसको मरा मानता है, वे दोनों ही इसको नहीं जानते; क्योंकि यह न मारता है और न मारा जाता है।

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors

2.19 यः he who? एनम् this (Self)? वेत्ति knows? हन्तारम् slayer? यः he who? च and? एनम् this? मन्यते thinks? हतम् slain? उभौ both? तौ those? न not? विजानीतः know? न not? अयम् this? हन्ति slays? न not? हन्यते is slain.Commentary -- The Self is nondoer (Akarta) and as It is immutable? It is neither the agent nor the object of the act of slaying. He who thinks I slay or I am slain with the body or the Ahamkara (ego)? he does not really comprehend the true nature of the Self. The Self is indestructible. It exists in the three periods of time. It is Sat (Existence). When the body is destroyed? the Self is not destroyed. The body has to undergo change in any case. It is inevitable. But the Self is not at all affected by it. Verses 19? 20? 21? 23 and 24 speak of the immortality of the Self or Atman. (Cf.XVIII.17)

Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)

Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship

2.19 Ya enam etc. Whosoever veiws This i.e., the Self and the body, to be the slayer and the slain, ignorance is in him. That is why he is in bondage. The same [point the Lord] clarifies -

Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching

।।2.19।। आत्मा नित्य अविकारी होने से न मारी जाती है और न ही वह किसी को मारती है । शरीर के नाश होने से जो आत्मा को मरी मानने हैं या जो उसको मारने वाली समझते हैं वे दोनों ही आत्मा के वास्तविक स्वरूप को नहीं जानते और व्यर्थ का विवाद करते हैं। जो मरता है वह शरीर है और मैं मारने वाला हूँ यह भाव अहंकारी जीव का है। शरीर और अहंकार को प्रकाशित करने वाली चैतन्य आत्मा दोनों से भिन्न है। संक्षेप में इसका तात्पर्य यह है कि आत्मा न किसी क्रिया का कर्त्ता है और न किसी क्रिया का विषय अर्थात् उस पर किसी प्रकार की क्रिया नहीं की जा सकती।आत्मा किस प्रकार अविकारी है इसका उत्तर अगले श्लोक में दिया गया है।

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the great modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page · 1904-2005 · Corner 1 Mādhurya operational anchor · whose 6-lakṣaṇa-śaraṇāgati IS Constitutional Principle 24.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor

2.19।। व्याख्या-- 'य एनं (टिप्पणी प0 59) वेत्ति हन्तारम्'-- जो इस शरीरीको मारनेवाला मानता है; वह ठीक नहीं जानता। कारण कि शरीरीमें कर्तापन नहीं है। जैसे कोई भी कारीगर कैसा ही चतुर क्यों न हो, पर किसी औजारके बिना वह कार्य नहीं कर सकता, ऐसे ही यह शरीरी शरीरके बिना स्वयं कुछ भी नहीं कर सकता। अतः तेरहवें अध्यायमें भगवान्ने कहा है कि सब प्रकारकी क्रियाएँ प्रकृतिके द्वारा ही होती हैं--ऐसा जो अनुभव करता है, वह शरीरीके अकर्तापनका अनुभव करता है (13। 29)। तात्पर्य यह हुआ है कि शरीरमें कर्तापन नहीं है, पर यह शरीरके साथ तादात्म्य करके, सम्बन्ध जोड़कर शरीरसे होनेवाले क्रियाओंमें अपनेको कर्ता मान लेता है। अगर यह शरीरके साथ अपना सम्बन्ध न जोड़े, तो यह किसी भी क्रियाका कर्ता नहीं है। 'यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम्'-- जो इसको मरा मानता है, वह भी ठीक नहीं जानता। जैसे यह शरीरी मारनेवाला नहीं है, ऐसे ही यह मरनेवाला भी नहीं है; क्योंकि इसमें कभी कोई विकृति नहीं आती। जिसमें विकृति आती है, परिवर्तन होता है अर्थात् जो उत्पत्ति-विनाशशील होता है, वही मर सकता है। 'उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते'-- वे दोनों ही नहीं जानते अर्थात् जो इस शरीरीको मारनेवाला मानता है, वह भी ठीक नहीं जानता और जो इसको मरनेवाला मानता है वह भी ठीक नहीं जानता। यहाँ प्रश्न होता है कि जो इस शरीरीको मारनेवाला और मरनेवाला दोनों मानता है, क्या वह ठीक जानता है? इसका उत्तर है कि वह भी ठीक नहीं जानता। कारण कि यह शरीरी वास्तवमें ऐसा नहीं है। यह नाश करनेवाला भी नहीं है और नष्ट होनेवाला भी नहीं है। यह निर्विकाररूपसे नित्यनिरन्तर ज्यों-का-त्यों रहनेवाला है। अतः इस शरीरीको लेकर शोक नहीं करना चाहिये। अर्जुनके सामने युद्धका प्रसंग होनेसे ही यहाँ शरीरीको मरने-मारनेकी क्रियासे रहित बताया गया है। वास्तवमें यह सम्पूर्ण क्रियाओंसे रहित है। सम्बन्ध -- यह शरीरी मरनेवाला क्यों नहीं है इसके उत्तरमें कहते हैं

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

This is verse 19 of 72 in Chapter 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga (The Yoga of Knowledge)
Chapter theme: Krishna's first teaching · the niṣkāma-karma sūtra · BG 2.47
Ṣaṭka grouping: TVAM-Ṣaṭka (BG 1-6 · the jīva)
Chapter hub: /sankhya-yoga
⭐ Mahābhārata anchor: this verse is also MBh 6.24.19 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)

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APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 2.19. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-07-27, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/2/19

Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 2.19." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-27. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/2/19.

MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 2.19." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/2/19.

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सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)