Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14, Verse 2

English Translation

Those who attain identity with Me by resorting of this Knowledge are not born even during creation, nor do they suffer pain during dissolution.

Detailed Commentary

14.2 Explanation -- **इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य** (taking refuge in this knowledge): To experience the excellent and Supreme Knowledge (Parā Jñāna), whose glory the Lord spoke of in the previous verse, is to take refuge in it. Upon experiencing this knowledge, all doubts of a person vanish, and he becomes the very essence of knowledge (Jñānasvarūpa). **मम साधर्म्यमागताः** (they attain My essential nature/similarity of nature): Taking refuge in that knowledge, humans become detached (Nirlipta) and unchangeable (Nirvikāra) like Me. Just as there is no doership (Kartṛtva) or enjoyership (Bhoktṛtva) in Me, so too there is none in them. Just as I always remain detached, so too do they experience their detached nature (Nirlipta Svabhāva). While enlightened great souls (Jñāni Mahāpuruṣa) become detached and unchangeable like the Lord, they cannot perform the functions of creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the world. Yes, through Yoga practice, some power (Sāmarthya) may come to them, but it is not like the Lord's power because it is acquired through practice. The Lord's power is eternally self-proven (Svataḥ Siddha). He is capable of doing everything – to do, not to do, and to do otherwise (Kartuṁ Akartuṁ Anyathā Kartum Samarthaḥ). The power of Yogis is limited, but the Lord's is limitless (Asīma). **सर्गेऽपि नोपजायन्ते** (they are not born even at the time of creation): The word 'api' here indicates that these enlightened great souls are not born even at the beginning of the Mahāsarga (Great Creation). At the commencement of Mahāsarga, the fourteen realms (lokas) and their presiding deities/beings are created, but they are not born; meaning, they do not have to assume a body again, being subject to karma. **प्रलये न व्यथन्ति च** (nor are they disturbed at the time of dissolution): During the Mahāpralaya (Great Dissolution), all beings are consumed by fire. The earth is submerged by the rising oceans. Commotion arises in all fourteen lokas. All beings experience sorrow and perish. However, those enlightened great souls experience no sorrow; there is no disturbance in them. The essence (Tattva) which they have attained knows no commotion or modification (Vikāra). Not being born in Mahāsarga and not being disturbed in Mahāpralaya signifies that the Jñāni Mahāpuruṣa's connection with Prakṛti and its Guṇas is completely severed. Therefore, birth, death, and sorrow, which arise from the influence of Prakṛti, do not affect the Jñāni Mahāpuruṣa. **Connection (Sambandha):** Those who have attained the Sādharmya of the Lord are not born in Mahāsarga, but the process by which beings are born in Mahāsarga is explained in the following verse.