Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 25
अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते।
तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं नानुशोचितुमर्हसि।।
तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं नानुशोचितुमर्हसि।।
avyakto ’yam acintyo ’yam avikāryo ’yam ucyate
tasmādevaṁ viditvainaṁ nānuśocitum arhasi
also searched as "avyakto 'yam acintyo 'yam avikaryo 'yam ucyate"
Translation
This (self) is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable, and unchanging. Therefore, knowing it thus, it does not befit you to grieve.
Vāṇi's rendering
Unseen, beyond thought, beyond change — such is the self. Knowing this, you have no cause to grieve.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अव्यक्तःavyaktaḥ | unmanifest; not available to the senses |
| अयम्ayam | this one — the self |
| अचिन्त्यःacintyaḥ | unthinkable; the mind cannot form it |
| अयम्ayam | this one |
| अविकार्यःavikāryaḥ | not subject to alteration |
| अयम्ayam | this one |
| उच्यतेucyate | is said to be, is called |
| तस्मात्tasmāt | therefore (joined in sandhi with evam) |
| एवम्evam | in this way, thus |
| विदित्वाviditvā | having known (joined in sandhi with enam) |
| एनम्enam | this one, the self |
| नna | not (joined in sandhi with anuśocitum) |
| अनुशोचितुम्anuśocitum | to grieve, to mourn after |
| अर्हसिarhasi | you are fit to, it befits you |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 25 mean?
It says the self cannot be seen, cannot be thought, cannot be altered — and then draws the conclusion. Since nothing about it can be damaged, grief over it rests on a mistake. Krishna is not asking Arjuna to feel less. He is showing him that the object of his sorrow was never at risk.
What does avyakto yam acintyo yam avikaryo yam ucyate mean?
Avyakta is what no sense can deliver. Acintya is what no thought can hold. Avikārya is what no change can reach. Three closed doors, and the self is behind all of them. Krishna piles the denials so that Arjuna stops looking for the self among the things that can be lost.
If the self cannot be known by thought, how can I know it at all?
Not by adding a thought, but by noticing who is having them. Thought can take the body as its object, the fear as its object, this very question as its object. It cannot turn and take the one thinking. That inability is not a failure — it is the clue.
Is Krishna telling Arjuna that grief is wrong?
He is telling him it is misdirected. Arjuna weeps for men he believes he can destroy. Krishna answers that the destroying reaches only what was already passing. Sorrow for the change of forms is honest. Sorrow that something real has been extinguished is a mistake about what is real.
Themes in this verse
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Commentary
Three denials, and not one description. Krishna does not tell Arjuna what the self is; he tells him where the instruments fail. The eye cannot bring it back — unseen. Thought reaches for it and closes on nothing — beyond thought. Time works on everything it touches, and finds nothing here to work on — beyond change. Grief needs a loss it can name, and here nothing has been lost. That is why the verse ends where it does: knowing this, you have no cause. Not that your tears are forbidden. That the thing you are weeping over was never in danger.