Chapter 2 · Knowledge of the Self
Bhagavad Gita 2.20
It is not slain when the body is slain.
Shri Bhagavan
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्
नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो
न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin / nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ / ajo nityaḥ śāśvato’yaṁ purāṇo / na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
It is not born, and it never dies. Having been, it does not cease to be. Unborn, everlasting, enduring, ancient — it is not killed when the body is killed.
हिंदी · यह न जन्मता है, न कभी मरता है। एक बार होकर यह फिर न होने वाला नहीं। अजन्मा, नित्य, शाश्वत और पुरातन — शरीर के मारे जाने पर भी यह नहीं मारा जाता।
What it means
It is not slain when the body is slain.
The Self is never born and never dies; having been, it never ceases to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient — it is not killed when the body is killed.
This is the Trust’s own reading, written for this site. The verse above it is the text.
Where this verse stands
The Self and the changing body
Chapter 22.11–30
Krishna establishes the enduring Self and challenges grief grounded in mistaking the perishable for the whole person.
This verse belongs to the middle development of the movement.
The Self is not born and does not die
The verse belongs to Krishna’s sustained distinction between the enduring Self and bodily change. Modern reflection should not use it to deny grief; its function is metaphysical reorientation.
Read deeper · Read with 2.13, 2.22–25, 13.20–23 and 15.7.
Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust · The Gita for Life
Verses that share its vocabulary
Near it in the text’s own words.
- 2.27For whatever is born will certainly die, and whatever dies will certainly be born. You should not grieve over what cannot be avoided.
- 2.34And people will tell of your disgrace, and it will not end. For a man who has been honoured, disgrace is worse than dying.
- 2.43Full of desires, with heaven as their goal, they speak of rites that bring birth as their reward, and of the many elaborate acts that lead to pleasure and power.
- 2.51The wise, joined to this understanding, give up the fruit born of action, and freed from the bondage of birth they reach the place where there is no affliction.
- 2.72Partha, this is the state of Brahman. Having reached it, a man is not confused again. Standing in it even at the last hour, he comes to the peace of Brahman.
- 4.4Your birth was later; the birth of Vivasvan was earlier. How am I to understand that you taught this at the beginning?
Chosen by shared uncommon vocabulary, weighted so that a rare word counts for far more than a common one. A reading aid, not a claim that these verses mean the same thing.
Common questions
What does Bhagavad Gita 2.20 mean?
It is not slain when the body is slain. The Self is never born and never dies; having been, it never ceases to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient — it is not killed when the body is killed.
Who speaks Bhagavad Gita 2.20?
Shri Bhagavan. The speaker is taken from the text’s own उवाच line as transcribed, not inferred from the verse number.