Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 25

English Translation

It is said that This is unmanifest; This is inconceivable; This is unchangeable. Therefore, having known This thus, you ougth not to grieve.

Detailed Commentary

2.25. Explanation -- 'Ayam Avyaktah' -- Just as the body and the world are perceived in their gross form, this Atman is not visible in a gross form, because it is distinct from the gross creation (sthula srishti). 'Ayam Achintyah' -- The mind and intellect grasp things, but this Atman is not comprehensible in any way, because it is beyond the subtle creation (sukshma srishti). 'Ayam Avikaryah Uchyate' -- This Atman is said to be without any change (vikara); it undergoes no alteration. Prakriti is the cause of everything and undergoes changes, but this Atman experiences no such change, because it is distinct from the causal creation (karana srishti). Here, in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth shlokas, the transcendent nature of the Atman is depicted through negative attributes, using these eight epithets: *acchedya* (indivisible), *adāhya* (incombustible), *akledya* (insoluble), *aśoṣya* (unwitherable), *acala* (immovable), *avyakta* (unmanifest), *achintya* (inconceivable), and *avikārya* (unchangeable). Its positive characteristics (visheshata) are shown by these four epithets: *nitya* (eternal), *sarvagata* (all-pervading), *sthāṇu* (immovable/fixed), and *sanātana* (ancient/ever-abiding). In reality, its description is not possible, because it is not an object of speech (vāṇī). That by which speech and other faculties are illumined is the Atman; therefore, to experience it is its very description. 'Tasmad Evam Viditvainam Nānushocitum Arhasi' -- Therefore, know this Atman as *acchedya* (indivisible), *aśoṣya* (unwitherable), *nitya* (eternal), and *sanātana* (ever-abiding) – that is, experience it – then there will be no sorrow. Context -- Even if this Atman were to be considered subject to change (vikari) – which is contrary to the doctrine – still there would be no cause for sorrow; this point is explained in the next two shlokas.