Bhagavad Gita 2.17
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 17 of 72
अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम्। विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति॥
avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṃ tatam / vināśam avyayasyāsya na kaścit kartum arhati
That which pervades everything cannot be destroyed — nothing and no one has the power to end it.
Word by word (4)
- avināśi tu tad viddhi
- — know that to be indestructible · 'Avināśi' — without destruction, indestructible. 'Viddhi' — know! A command: this is something to be known with certainty, not just believed.
- yena sarvam idam tatam
- — by which all this is pervaded · 'Tatam' — spread, pervaded, extended throughout. The Atman (or Brahman) pervades all of manifest existence the way space pervades a room. It is not located in a specific place because it is everywhere.
- vināśam avyayasya asya
- — the destruction of this inexhaustible one
- na kaścit kartum arhati
- — no one is able to bring about / no one can accomplish
'Know that to be indestructible by which all of this is pervaded. No one can bring about the destruction of this inexhaustible, all-pervading Reality.'
A modern analogy
Space cannot be cut with a sword. Water cannot burn. The container for all experience — the awareness that is present in every moment — has no location that can be targeted, no substance that can be destroyed. Krishna is saying: that is what you are.
Take with you
- The Atman 'pervades all this' — it is not a thing among other things but the ground of all things.
- Indestructibility follows from all-pervasion: there is no 'outside' from which a destructive force could come.
- 'Viddhi' — know this. A command to direct knowledge, not belief. The Gita throughout emphasizes direct knowing.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Know that to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. No one is able to cause the destruction of that which is immutable. [4]
Know that to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded; no one is able to cause the destruction of this imperishable being. [6]
That which is unknown, undying, not to be changed, permeating, inward, subtlest of all — this, and none other, is the soul that shall not die. [7]
But know that to be indestructible which pervades all this; the destruction of that which is imperishable none can bring about. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Unborn. Undying. Ancient. Eternal. Not slain when the body is slain — this is what you are.
I am the ātman, O Guḍākeśa, seated in the heart of all beings — their beginning, middle, and end.
A blind king asks what happened on the battlefield — and the Gita begins.
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
The soul does not slay, and cannot be slain — both the slayer and the slain have mistaken the soul for the body.
You've changed your clothes a thousand times — this is all that death is.
Verse 17 of 72 · back to Chapter 2