Bhagavad Gita 2.12
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 12 of 72
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः। न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम्॥
na tv evāhaṃ jātu nāsaṃ na tvaṃ neme janādhipāḥ / na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param
You have always existed. You will always exist. There was no time before you, and there will be no time without you.
Word by word (4)
- na tu eva aham jātu na āsam
- — never was there a time when I did not exist · Triple negative: 'na... na āsam' — not... did not exist. The construction is emphatic: I have always existed. This is the opening of Krishna's philosophical teaching — the eternal nature of the Atman.
- na tvam
- — nor you
- na ime janādhipāḥ
- — nor these kings / nor these rulers of men
- na ca eva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param
- — nor will any of us cease to exist after this · Past, present, future: we have always existed, we exist now, we will always exist. Three temporal dimensions covered in one verse. The Atman is beyond time.
'There was never a time when I did not exist — or you, or these kings. And there will never be a time when any of us cease to exist.'
A modern analogy
Consciousness — the awareness that says 'I am' — cannot be traced to a beginning or projected to an end. You can trace the body, the brain, the personality. But the witness behind all of these — the one that is aware of each experience — has no discoverable origin. Krishna's teaching begins with this observation: what you truly are was never born and will never die.
Take with you
- Krishna speaks in first person: 'I was not absent.' This is not abstract philosophy — it is direct self-disclosure.
- The teaching includes Arjuna ('you'), Krishna ('I'), and the kings — it applies to all selves equally.
- This is the philosophical foundation for everything that follows: if the self cannot die, grief for the 'death' of kinsmen is misplaced.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these kings; nor shall any of us ever cease to be hereafter. [1]
There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. [4]
There never was a time when I was not, nor thou, nor these princes of men; nor in the future will there not be. [6]
Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never; Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams! [7]
But verily, I was not, thou wast not, nor these chiefs of men; nor shall we all cease to be hereafter. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
Unborn. Undying. Ancient. Eternal. Not slain when the body is slain — this is what you are.
The jīva is an eternal fragment of Me — drawing the 6-sense apparatus (5 senses + mind) toward itself in Prakṛti.
From all wombs all bodies arise — but the great Brahman is the womb and Krishna the seed-giving Father.
Like wind carrying fragrance, the jīva takes its 6-sense apparatus from body to body through each birth and death.
Self-complacent, stubborn, wealth-proud — they perform name-only sacrifices, ostentatiously ignoring śāstric ordinance.
Verse 12 of 72 · back to Chapter 2