Bg. 2.24 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्ल‍ेद्योऽशोष्य एव च । नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २४ ॥

Verse text

acchedyo ’yam adāhyo ’yam akledyo ’śoṣya eva ca nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur acalo ’yaṁ sanātanaḥ

Synonyms

acchedyaḥ — unbreakable ; ayam — this soul ; adāhyaḥ — unable to be burned ; ayam — this soul ; akledyaḥ — insoluble ; aśoṣyaḥ — not able to be dried ; eva — certainly ; ca — and ; nityaḥ — everlasting ; sarva-gataḥ — all-pervading ; sthāṇuḥ — unchangeable ; acalaḥ — immovable ; ayam — this soul ; sanātanaḥ — eternally the same.

Translation

This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

24. The soul cannot be cut, cannot be burned, cannot be moistened or dried. It is eternal, traveling in all bodies, and stable. [Note: This translation and others as well is according to the explanation of the words given by Viśvanātha in his commentary. Each ācārya may have differing opinion on the meaning of particular words.]

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

24. The soul cannot at all be cut, cannot be burned, cannot be moistened or dried. It is eternal, traveling in all types of bodies, with fixed form and fixed qualities.

Purport

All these qualifications of the atomic soul definitely prove that the individual soul is eternally the atomic particle of the spirit whole, and he remains the same atom eternally, without change. The theory of monism is very difficult to apply in this case, because the individual soul is never expected to become one homogeneously. After liberation from material contamination, the atomic soul may prefer to remain as a spiritual spark in the effulgent rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the intelligent souls enter into the spiritual planets to associate with the Personality of Godhead. The word sarva-gata (“all-pervading”) is significant because there is no doubt that living entities are all over God’s creation. They live on the land, in the water, in the air, within the earth and even within fire. The belief that they are sterilized in fire is not acceptable, because it is clearly stated here that the soul cannot be burned by fire. Therefore, there is no doubt that there are living entities also in the sun planet with suitable bodies to live there. If the sun globe is uninhabited, then the word sarva-gata – “living everywhere” – becomes meaningless.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

Not being affected by any of these weapons, the ātmā is thus called respectively by the appropriate names (uncleavable, unburnable, insoluble and indessicible). The word eva (indeed) applies to all items in the list. The ātmā certainly cannot be cut, burned, moistened or dried. The ātmā is called all pervading (sarva gataḥ) because it accepts all types of bodies, such as that of man, devatā, bird and beast one after the other, according to karma. The ātmā also possesses a fixed form (sthāṇuḥ) and fixed qualities (acalaḥ). The śruti says: avināśī vā are’yam ātmānucchitti-dharmā This ātmā is indestructible, with eternal qualities. Bṛhad Āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.5.14 One cannot interpret the phrase anucchitti dharmā to mean simply “having the quality of indestructibility” since that would have the same meaning as avināśī mentioned previously in the same sentence. The meaning is “the indestructible ātmā has eternal (anuchitti) qualities (dharma).” Sanātanaḥ in the Gītā verse means “eternal.” The reason for this fault of repetition or redundancy of words (the word nitya has already been mentioned in the verse) will be explained in the next verse.