Gita 02.21 – Integrate Knowledge Of The Soul With The Purpose Of That Knowledge
vedāvināśinaṁ nityaṁ
ya enam ajam avyayam
kathaṁ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha
kaṁ ghātayati hanti kam (Bg 2.21)
Word-for-word:
veda — knows; avināśinam — indestructible; nityam — always existing; yaḥ — one who; enam — this (soul); ajam — unborn; avyayam — immutable; katham — how; saḥ — that; puruṣaḥ — person; pārtha — O Pārtha (Arjuna); kam — whom; ghātayati — causes to hurt; hanti — kills; kam — whom.
Translation:
O Pārtha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?
Explanation:
vedāvināśinaṁ nityaṁ : One who knows the soul to be indestructible,
ya enam ajam avyayam : that it is unborn and imperishable,
kathaṁ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha : how can such a person,
kaṁ ghātayati hanti kam : kill or cause anyone to kill?
Here, Kṛṣṇa implicitly responds to Arjuna’s unstated concern: “Kṛṣṇa, You are Janārdana, the maintainer of everyone. Why are You prompting me to act in ways that will lead to the destruction of so many?”
Kṛṣṇa, possessing complete knowledge of the soul, replies by saying, “How can such a person cause killing—kaṁ ghātayati hanti kam? Neither will I cause killing, nor will you kill, O Arjuna, because killing itself is impossible.”
This raises an important question—Does the acknowledgment of the soul’s eternity trivialize life? Does it imply that taking life doesn’t matter? No, that is not the point here.
The essence of the teaching is that the inevitability of the body’s destruction is a reality that cannot be denied, concealed, or wished away due to sentimentality. It is a fact and must be acknowledged. At the same time, it is also important to recognize that we are ultimately spiritual beings meant to lead life on a spiritual level. Life at the material level is temporary.
However, while living in the material world, we encounter pain that can be categorized as unavoidable, avoidable, or culpable. Avoidable pain is often culpable, meaning one bears responsibility for it—whether criminally or karmically. Unavoidable pain, on the other hand, is an inherent part of life. Aging, disease, and death are inevitable. Lamenting over such realities is futile—it neither changes nor avoids them. By lamenting over the unavoidable, we only intensify our suffering. What is bound to happen will happen, and dwelling on it—fretting, whining, or stewing—serves only to magnify our misery.
That is one aspect—death is unavoidable, so don’t lament over it. However, this does not mean we should increase suffering or bring avoidable pain upon anyone. Mā hiṁsyāt sarva-bhūtāni—do not cause violence to living beings.
The eventual destruction of the body does not justify inflicting violence, pain, or destruction without reason. The important point to be inferred from the body’s inevitable perishability is to adhere to the path of dharma. By following dharma, we can elevate our consciousness beyond bodily identification and transcend the inevitable miseries of bodily existence.
If someone misinterprets the destructibility of the body as a license to destroy it without a valid purpose, they are acting adharmically. Such adharmic violent actions will result in severe karmic consequences, and the person will have to suffer for their choices. The purpose of understanding the body’s inevitable destruction is to reinforce the necessity of following dharma.
Even if one thinks they can avoid the body’s destruction through adharmic means, that is a futile endeavor because the body’s perishability is unavoidable. Kṛṣṇa implicitly tells Arjuna: “Even if you choose not to perform your duty and refuse to kill the Kauravas, they will still die because their bodies, like all bodies, are perishable. However, by failing to perform your duty, you will entangle yourself further in the cycle of birth and death through karmic reactions.”
The key issue is not violence or non-violence—the essential focus is dharma. Dharma is the process that enables us to transcend the temporary material level and elevate ourselves to the spiritual level. This can be achieved by contemplating on the transient nature of the material world and aligning our lives with the principles of dharma. By adopting and implementing these principles, we can rise to the spiritual plane.
The purpose of reflecting on the destructibility of the body is not to justify or permit its destruction. Instead, it is to elevate our consciousness beyond bodily identification, which can be achieved through the path of dharma.
The path of dharma, as a general principle, involves doing good to others and refraining from causing harm. As stated later in verse 12.13, adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca—a devotee is a non-envious friend to all living beings and is compassionate. A devotee does not seek to hurt anyone unnecessarily.
This principle applies universally. What to speak of a devotee striving to practice para-dharma, the highest rung of dharma—even those on lower levels of dharma are not meant to cause violence.
The key point to understand is that one should adhere to dharma. If dharma necessitates violence, then such violence should be undertaken when required, with the understanding that violence and destruction are inevitable. Simply abandoning dharma will not prevent the destruction of the body. On the contrary, it will lead to entanglement in bad karma, further binding one to material existence and its associated sufferings—both karmic reactions and the inherent miseries of temporary material life.
Thus, knowledge and the purpose of knowledge are intrinsically connected. If the understanding that “I am not the body but the soul; the body is destructible, and the soul is eternal” is divorced from its purpose—namely, to elevate one’s consciousness to the spiritual level—it can lead to an abused license, where the destructibility of the body is taken as justification for destroying it. Therefore, the knowledge of the soul must remain integrated with its true purpose—spiritual elevation.
For Arjuna, it is clear that the war he is about to fight is dharmic. Although he harbors doubts about the righteousness of the war, Kṛṣṇa will clarify that this war is being fought to protect dharma and to elevate people’s consciousness. Therefore, for Arjuna, there will be no bad karma in engaging in this battle.
The extensive peace efforts prior to the Kurukshetra war in the Mahābhārata demonstrate that the warriors were not merely using the destructibility of the body and the indestructibility of the soul as a justification for war. Rather, they made every effort to avoid conflict. When all diplomatic avenues failed, and Duryodhana’s obstinacy made war unavoidable, they accepted war as a final, assertive course of action.
Kṛṣṇa is saying kaṁ ghātayati hanti kam because, in reality, what happens at the material level is unavoidable. The body is destined to be destroyed, and this cannot be avoided. Therefore, do not think of yourself as the cause of someone’s destruction or that I am asking you to be the cause of it. Rather, understand that destruction is an ingrained feature of material existence. The best we can do for ourselves and others is to live according to dharma, by which we can transcend material existence and elevate ourselves to the spiritual level of reality.
Thank you.
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