Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 23
नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः।।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः।।
nainaṁ cchindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayantyāpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
also searched as "nainam chindanti shastrani nainam dahati pavakah"
Translation
Weapons cannot cleave It, fire cannot burn It, waters cannot wet It, and wind cannot dry It.
Vāṇi's rendering
No blade can cut the self, no fire burn it, no water soak it, no wind dry it.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not |
| एनम्enam | this — the self within (joins with the preceding na as nainaṁ) |
| छिन्दन्तिchindanti | they cut, they cleave |
| शस्त्राणिśastrāṇi | weapons, blades |
| नna | not |
| एनम्enam | this, the self (again joined as nainaṁ) |
| दहतिdahati | burns |
| पावकःpāvakaḥ | fire — literally the purifier |
| नna | not |
| चca | and (joins the following enam as cainaṁ) |
| एनम्enam | this, the self |
| क्लेदयन्तिkledayanti | they make wet, they soak (joins the next word as kledayantyāpo) |
| आपःāpaḥ | waters |
| नna | not |
| शोषयतिśoṣayati | dries up, withers |
| मारुतःmārutaḥ | the wind |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 23 mean?
It means the self is not a thing among things. Blade, fire, water and wind can dismantle anything the world contains, and none of them finds a surface here. Krishna is answering Arjuna's terror of killing and being killed by showing him what a weapon actually touches — and what it has never once touched.
What does nainam chindanti shastrani mean?
Weapons do not cut this. Śastrāṇi is every blade ever forged, and chindanti is what blades do — divide. The line says they arrive and find nothing divisible. What can be cut was always body. The one who knows the cutting stands outside the reach of the cut.
Why does Krishna list fire, water and wind in this verse?
Because between them they destroy everything known. Steel severs, pāvakaḥ burns, āpaḥ rots and dissolves, mārutaḥ withers. Name any ending you fear and it belongs to one of those four. Krishna runs the whole list so that nothing is left out, and then tells Arjuna the self survived the list.
Does this verse mean I should not fear death?
It means fear has misidentified its object. You do fear, and Krishna does not scold that. He asks what precisely you are afraid for. The body is genuinely perishable and grief for it is honest. But the one grieving is not on the list of what can be destroyed.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Four elements are named, and each one fails. Krishna is not offering comfort here; he is running a test. Take the sharpest thing the world has — steel — and it finds nothing to divide. Fire, water, wind: the whole armoury of destruction, and the self stays untouched. Arjuna is about to raise a bow against men he loves. Krishna tells him what a weapon can and cannot reach. It reaches bodies. It never once reached anyone. Whatever in you can be cut has already been cut a hundred times — by words, by loss, by years. Look for the part that never bled.