Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 17
अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम्।
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित् कर्तुमर्हति।।
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित् कर्तुमर्हति।।
avināśi tu tadviddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam
vināśam avyayasyāsya na kaścit kartum arhati
also searched as "avinashi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idam tatam"
Translation
Know that to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. No one can cause the destruction of this immutable.
Vāṇi's rendering
That which pervades all of this cannot be destroyed. No one can undo the imperishable.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अविनाशिavināśi | indestructible; that which cannot be made to perish |
| तुtu | but; indeed — marking the contrast with what does perish |
| तत्tat | that |
| विद्धिviddhi | know it — know for certain (sandhi: tat + viddhi) |
| येनyena | by which |
| सर्वम्sarvam | all |
| इदम्idam | this — everything here, the whole visible world |
| ततम्tatam | is spread through, pervaded |
| विनाशम्vināśam | destruction, undoing |
| अव्ययस्यavyayasya | of the imperishable, of that which never wears away |
| अस्यasya | of this (sandhi: avyayasya + asya) |
| नna | not |
| कश्चित्kaścit | anyone at all |
| कर्तुम्kartum | to do, to bring about |
| अर्हतिarhati | is able, has the power |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 17 mean?
It means there is something that pervades everything here, and pervading it, stands outside its breaking. Krishna is not comforting Arjuna with an afterlife. He is pointing to what is already indestructible in him right now, and saying no power anywhere — not age, not weapons, not grief — can undo it.
What does avinashi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idam tatam mean?
Know as indestructible that by which all this is spread through. The word viddhi is an instruction, not a request — know it, directly. Whatever pervades every thing cannot be a thing among them, and so cannot share their fate. Nothing inside the world can destroy what holds the world.
How can something be indestructible when everything I see dies?
Everything you see is a part, and parts come undone. Krishna is pointing past the seen to the seer — the one aware of the dying. That has no seams to come apart at. Bodies end; the knowing in which their ending appears does not. Learn to tell which of the two you are calling yourself.
Why does Krishna say this to Arjuna before a battle?
Because Arjuna's despair is the fear of annihilating people he loves. Krishna does not soften the killing. He corrects the arithmetic of it: what can be struck down was always going to fall, and what truly is in each of them was never available to be struck. The grief remains real. Its object shifts.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna asks Arjuna to look for what cannot be removed. Not to believe in it — to know it, viddhi, the way you know a fact you have tested. The test is pervasion: whatever spreads through all of this, holding it, is not one of the things inside it, and so cannot be broken by anything inside it. Destruction works on parts. It has no purchase on what has none. You have spent your life defending something you thought was fragile. Krishna's claim is stranger and quieter: the thing in you worth defending was never in danger, and nothing you fear can reach it.