🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 2.26

Chapter 2 · सांख्ययोग · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · "The Yoga of Knowledge" · Verse 26 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

2.26 Even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born, constantly dying, even then, O Mighty Man, thou still hast no cause to grieve.

Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society

2.26 But even if thou thinkest of It as being constantly born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed, thou shouldst not grieve.

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

2.26 This (verse), 'On the other hand,' etc., is uttered assuming that the Self is transient. Atha ca, on the other hand, if ( conveys the sense of assumption ); following ordinary experience, manyase, you think; enam, this One, the Self under discussion; is nityajatam, born continually, becomes born with the birth of each of the numerous bodies; va, or; nityam, constantly; mrtam, dies, along with the death of each of these (bodies); tatha api, even then, even if the Self be of that nature; tvam, you; maha-baho, O mighty-armed one; na arhasi, ought not; socitum, to grieve; evam, thus, since that which is subject to birth will die, and that which is subject to death will be born; these two are inevitable.

Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school

2.26 Besides, if you consider this self as identical with the body, which is constantly born and constantly dies - which is nothing other than these characteristics of the body mentioned above -, even then it does not become you to feel grief; because, birth and death are inevitable for the body, whose nature is modification.

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly

2.26. On the other hand, if you deem This as being born constantly or as dying constantly, even then, O mighty-armed one, you should not lament This.

🪷 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

।।2.26।। हे महाबाहो ! अगर तुम इस देहीको नित्य पैदा होनेवाला अथवा नित्य मरनेवाला भी मानो, तो भी तुम्हें इस प्रकार शोक नहीं करना चाहिये।

🪷 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

2.26 अथ now? च and? एनम् this (Self)? नित्यजातम् constantly born? नित्यम् constantly? वा or? मन्यसे thinkest? मृतम् dead? तथापि even then? त्वम् thou? महाबाहो mightyarmed? न not? एवम् thus? शोचितुम् to grieve? अर्हसि (thou) oughtest.Commentary Lord Krishna here? for the sake of argument? takes up the popular supposition. Granting that the Self is again and again born whenever a body comes into being? and again and again dies whenever the body dies? O mightyarmed (O Arjuna of great valour and strength)? thou shouldst not grieve thus? because birth is inevitable to want is dead and death is inevitable to what is born. This is the inexorable or unrelenting Law of Nature.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)

Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship

2.26 Atha va etc. On the other hand if you deam 'This' to be the body and to be born constantly,-because its stream does not stop-even then, there is no necessity to lament. Or, if, following the [Vainasika Buddhists' ?] doctrine of continuous decay of things, you deem This to be constantly dying, even then where is the need for lamenting ? If you, in the same manner, deem the Self to be constantly born or to be constantly dying on account of Its contacts and separations with bodies, even then it is unwarranted, on every account, on the part of the men of rational thinking, to lament. Otherwise this [division of] permanence and impermanence does not stand reasoning. For-

Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching

।।2.26।। 26 और 27 इन दो श्लोकों में भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण ने भौतिकवादी विचारकों का दृष्टिकोण केवल तर्क के लिए प्रस्तुत किया है। इस मत के अनुसार केवल प्रत्यक्ष प्रमाण ही ज्ञान का साधन है अर्थात् इन्द्रियों को जो ज्ञात है केवल वही सत्य है। इस प्रकार मानने पर उन्हें यह स्वीकार करना पड़ता है कि जीवन असंख्य जन्म और मृत्युओं की एक धारा या प्रवाह है। वस्तुयें निरन्तर उत्पन्न और नष्ट होती हैं और उनके मत के अनुसार यही जीवन है। श्रीकृष्ण कहते हैं कि यदि जन्ममृत्यु का यह निरन्तर प्रवाह ही जीवन हो तब भी हे शक्तिशाली अर्जुन तुमको शोक नहीं करना चाहिये। क्योंकि

🪷 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

।।2.26।। व्याख्या-- 'अथ चैनं ৷৷. शोचितुमर्हसि'-- भगवान् यहाँ पक्षान्तररमें 'अथ च' और 'मन्यसे' पद देकर कहते हैं कि यद्यपि सिद्धान्तकी और सच्ची बात यही है कि देही किसी भी कालमें जन्मने-मरनेवाला नहीं है (गीता 2। 20), तथापि अगर तुम सिद्धान्तसे बिलकुल विरुद्ध बात भी मान लो कि देही नित्य जन्मनेवाला और नित्य मरनेवाला है, तो भी तुम्हें शोक नहीं होना चाहिये। कारण कि जो जन्मेगा, वह मरेगा ही और जो मरेगा, वह जन्मेगा ही--इस नियमको कोई टाल नहीं सकता। अगर बीजको पृथ्वीमें बो दिया जाय, तो वह फूलकर अङ्कुर दे देता है और वही अङ्कुर क्रमशः बढ़कर वृक्षरूप हो जाता है। इसमें सूक्ष्म दृष्टिसे देखा जाय कि क्या वह बीज एक क्षण भी एकरूपसे रहा? पृथ्वीमें वह पहले अपने कठोररूपको छोड़कर कोमलरूपमें हो गया, फिर कोमल-रूपको छोड़कर अङ्कुररूपमें हो गया, इसके बाद अङ्कुरूपको छोड़कर वृक्षरूपमें हो गया और अन्तमें आयु समाप्त होनेपर वह सूख गया। इस तरह बीज एक क्षण भी एकरूपसे नहीं रहा, प्रत्युत प्रतिक्षण बदलता रहा। अगर बीज एक क्षण भी एकरूपसे रहता, तो वृक्षके सूखनेतककी क्रिया कैसे होती? उसने पहले रूपको छोड़ा--यह उसका मरना हुआ, और दूसरे रूपको धारण किया-- यह उसका जन्मना हुआ। इस तरह वह प्रतिक्षण ही जन्मता-मरता रहा। बीजकी ही तरह यह शरीर है। बहुत सूक्ष्मरूपसे वीर्यका जन्तु रजके साथ मिला। वह बढ़ते-बढ़ते बच्चेके रूपमें हो गया और फिर जन्म गया। जन्मके बाद वह बढ़ा, फिर घटा और अन्तमें मर गया। इस तरह शरीर एक क्षण भी एकरूपसे न रहकर बदलता रहा अर्थात् प्रतिक्षण जन्मता-मरता रहा। भगवान् कहते हैं कि अगर तुम शरीरकी तरह शरीरीको भी नित्य जन्मने-मरनेवाला मान लो, तो भी यह शोकका विषय नहीं हो सकता।

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

This is verse 26 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 6.24.26 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)

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📚 Cite this verse · Academic citation formats

APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 2.26. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-07-28, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/2/26

Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 2.26." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-28. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/2/26.

MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 2.26." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/2/26.

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🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷

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