Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 20
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि
न्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो
न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे।।
न्नायं 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
also searched as "na jayate mriyate va kadacin"
Translation
It is never born; it never dies; having come into existence once, it never ceases to exist. Unborn, eternal, perpetual, and primordial, it is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
Vāṇi's rendering
It is never born, never dies. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient — it does not die when the body does.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not |
| जायतेjāyate | is born |
| म्रियतेmriyate | dies |
| वाvā | or |
| कदाचित्kadācit | at any time, ever (appears as kadācin before the following na) |
| नna | not (joined in nāyaṁ as na + ayaṁ) |
| अयम्ayaṁ | this one, the self here |
| भूत्वाbhūtvā | having come to be |
| भविताbhavitā | will come to be |
| वाvā | or |
| नna | not |
| भूयःbhūyaḥ | again, once more |
| अजःajaḥ | unborn |
| नित्यःnityaḥ | eternal |
| शाश्वतःśāśvataḥ | everlasting, unfailing (śāśvato ’yaṁ is śāśvataḥ + ayaṁ) |
| अयम्ayaṁ | this one |
| पुराणःpurāṇaḥ | ancient, there from the beginning |
| नna | not |
| हन्यतेhanyate | is killed |
| हन्यमानेhanyamāne | when it is being killed |
| शरीरेśarīre | in the body, the body being |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 20 mean?
It means the self is outside the whole story of beginning and ending. Krishna refuses every category we use for things: born, made, grown, spent, finished. What is unborn cannot be killed. So when the body falls, nothing that you actually are has been touched by the fall.
What is the meaning of na jayate mriyate va kadachin?
Never born, never dying — at no time, in no birth. The line closes off both doors at once. Krishna is not comforting Arjuna with a story about surviving death; he is saying the question of survival never applied. Ajaḥ, unborn. Whatever was never begun is not waiting to end.
Does this verse say the soul is old?
Purāṇaḥ means ancient, but not aged. Old things wear out; this does not. The word points backward past every date you could name and finds no starting point there. Ancient and unborn in one breath — that is Krishna's way of saying time has nothing to grip.
How does knowing this help when someone I love has died?
It will not remove the grief, and Krishna never claims it should. What it changes is what you believe has happened. A body ended. The one who looked out through it was never in the reach of that ending. Grieve the absence. Do not grieve an annihilation that did not occur.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Six things happen to everything you have ever seen: it comes to be, lasts, grows, changes, wanes, ends. Krishna denies all six. Not born — so it never needed to begin. Not becoming — so it cannot stop. Arjuna is about to be sent into battle, and first he is told what no weapon reaches. The body dies. The one who wore it was never in the line of fire. You have watched a face age in the mirror for years, and something has been doing the watching, unchanged the whole time. That has no age.