Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 16
नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः।।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः।।
nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ
ubhayorapi dṛṣṭo ’nta stvanayos tattva-darśibhiḥ
also searched as "nasato vidyate bhavo nabhavo vidyate satah"
Translation
The unreal never comes into being, the real never ceases to be. The truth about these two is seen by the seers.
Vāṇi's rendering
The unreal never comes to be; the real never ceases. Those who see truth have seen both clearly.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not (joined to the next word as nā-) |
| असतःasataḥ | of the unreal, of what has no true being |
| विद्यतेvidyate | there is, is found to exist |
| भावःbhāvaḥ | coming into being, existence |
| नna | not (joined to the next word as nā-) |
| अभावःabhāvaḥ | ceasing to be, non-existence |
| विद्यतेvidyate | there is, is found |
| सतःsataḥ | of the real, of what truly is |
| उभयोःubhayoḥ | of both |
| अपिapi | indeed, as well |
| दृष्टःdṛṣṭaḥ | has been seen |
| अन्तःantaḥ | the conclusion, the settled truth of the matter |
| तुtu | but, indeed (joined after antaḥ in the recited line) |
| अनयोःanayoḥ | of these two |
| तत्त्वदर्शिभिःtattva-darśibhiḥ | by those who see things as they are |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 16 mean?
It draws one line through everything. Whatever comes and goes never fully was; whatever truly is can never stop being. Krishna is not denying that Arjuna's grief hurts. He is placing it on the side of things that pass, and placing Arjuna himself on the side of what does not.
What does nasato vidyate bhavo nabhavo vidyate satah mean?
The unreal has no coming-into-being; the real has no ceasing. Asat is not nothing — it is the shifting surface, the states that will not hold still long enough to be called existent. Sat is what remains through every one of those states, unchanged, unspent.
How can my pain be unreal when it feels so real?
Krishna never calls the pain a lie. He calls it temporary, and in his reckoning the temporary has no standing of its own. Ask instead what the pain is happening to. That has stood through every earlier grief you were certain you would not survive. It is still standing now.
Who are the tattva-darsis, the seers of truth, in this verse?
Not people who reasoned their way to a conclusion, but people who looked. Krishna offers no proof here and asks for no faith. He reports a finding: those who examined both sides carefully saw the same thing. The invitation is to look yourself, not to take their word.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna has just told Arjuna to bear what passes. Now he says why bearing works. Two categories, and only two: what is not, which never manages to exist, and what is, which never manages to stop. Everything that arrives and leaves — the fever, the grief, the war — belongs to the first. It never quite came into being; it only appeared to. And the one it happened to did not begin, so cannot end. Krishna does not ask Arjuna to believe this. He says seers have looked and seen it, both sides, clearly. Look at what in you has never once gone away.