टीका

Commentary

With this verse, Krishna completes the logical arc of his teaching on the immortality of the soul. He poses his question as a rhetorical challenge: if you truly know — veda, not merely believe but know — the soul to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and immutable, then what exactly do you think you are doing when you raise your bow?

The four attributes of the soul given here are a concentrated summary of Vedantic metaphysics:

• Avinaashin — indestructible, incapable of being annihilated
• Nitya — eternal, existing beyond all time
• Aja — unborn, having no beginning, never having entered the world through a womb
• Avyaya — immutable, incapable of deterioration or change

Each attribute directly counters a different fear Arjuna holds. He fears destruction — the soul cannot be destroyed. He fears the end — the soul is eternal. He grieves over birth and death — the soul was never born. He worries about damage and decay — the soul cannot change or diminish.

The question katham sa purushah… hanti kam — “how can that person kill whom?” — is not an endorsement of careless violence. It is a challenge to Arjuna’s identification with the role of killer. Krishna is pointing out the category error: when you act as the instrument of dharma, you are not the true agent. The soul within the apparent enemy is indestructible; the body that falls was always going to fall. Knowing this does not make the warrior callous — it makes him free, able to act without the distorting weight of ego and false identification.

This verse stands as one of the Gita’s most precise formulations of the teaching on atman. True knowledge (jnaana) transforms not just belief but the very basis of action.