Chapter 2 Shloka 17

अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम्।

विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित् कर्तुमर्हति।।१७।।

Having described the difference between the Real and the unreal,

Lord Krishna delves further into the eternal nature of the Atma:

Understand That alone to be indestructible,

which pervades the entire universe; no one

can cause the destruction of that immutable Essence.

Chapter 2Shloka 17

अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम्।

विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित् कर्तुमर्हति।।१७।।

Having described the difference between the Real and the unreal, Lord Krishna delves further into the eternal nature of the Atma:

Understand That alone to be indestructible, which pervades the entire universe; no one can cause the destruction of that immutable Essence.

That Atma is indestructible, eternal, never increasing or decreasing, ever complete and unexpendable. The whole world is pervaded by It.

1. All the names and forms of the universe abide in It and are imbued by It.

2. Naught exists apart from It.

3. Even after distributing Itself all over the world, It still remains whole and complete.

4. It is the support of the Universe and encompasses the gross, subtle and causal spheres.

5. Life and death are also within Its scope.

6. It is complete in every way.

Little one, the Lord is making it explicit that:

a) The individualistic ego is futile;

b) Fear of death and rebirth is pointless;

c) One should not be attached – even with the Truth;

d) The unreal is based on illusion in any case. Arjuna and the Pandavas had long since renounced the unreal.

Realise your true essence to be the Atma. Therefore pride in one’s own goodness or attachment to any qualities also has no place. These attributes are of the body and lead one away from the Atma, one’s true Self. One should become totally detached towards oneself. The body comes and goes, why get attached to it, why be apprehensive about its death?

Bhagwan Krishna is urging Arjuna to transcend the frailty enfeebling his senses and fight. Arjuna had taken fright on seeing his relations on the battle field – he did not want to fight them. By calling it a ‘Dharma Yudh’ (a war of righteousness) the Lord is implying that the Kauravas are treading the path of untruth and the Pandavas have chosen the path of Truth. A war between the two is desirable so that Truth may once again prevail.

a) Therefore followers of the Truth must wage war against the untrue;

b) Those on the path of untruth must be vanquished;

c) Those who must fight this war will have to renounce their lifelong concepts and vanquish the foe even if the latter happens to be a friend or a relative.

A Dharma Yudh is a fight between the truth loving and those who augment untruth in the world.

1. This war was first fought by the devtas or gods and the asuras or the demons.

2. A dharma yudh takes place between the sanyasi or renunciate and those desirous of worldly gain.

3. A dharma yudh is fought by those who stand to protect dharma against those who perpetrate adharma.

4. A dharma yudh involves those who love divine qualities and those who are of evil conduct.

5. A dharma yudh is fought by those who desire the welfare of all beings against those who work only for the fulfilment of selfish desires.

Even today, the war between the devtas and the asuras persists.

How can the demoniac element of society be annihilated unless the devtas or godly souls plunge into war with them? The Lord is insisting here that the devtas must not be attached to their virtuous reputation. They must take up the responsibility of the dharma yudh. The welfare of all beings lies in this, therefore this is their dharma and the proof of their devotion to the Lord. Their love and devotion towards the Truth will only be proved if they can protect the weak and oppressed from the tyranny of the evil doers. Just preaching inside a temple will not achieve anything when one does not become an alleviator of others’ sorrows.

This in fact is sanyas in practice. Lord Krishna is explaining the Essence of the Atma to Arjuna, a scion of a race which upheld nobility, greatness and dharma in thought, word and deed. Arjuna’s family, a family which always followed the right path, was full of divine qualities. They, however, had become attached to their quality of sattva(goodness). They who could not think of harming anyone, yet were used to enduring terrible atrocities themselves – they now had to learn to transcend both sat and asat and fight the war of righteousness.

The Lord is not repeating the knowledge that Arjuna already possessed – the knowledge of the Truth. With the help of that knowledge, he had conquered both tamas and rajas and now abided in sattva. The Lord now urges Arjuna towards the state of a gunatit. Arjuna had already learned to be unaffected by the qualities of others, now the Lord leads him towards transcendence of his own qualities. As long as his attachment with the attribute sattva remained, Arjuna could not have fought this war, nor proceeded towards spiritual upliftment.

For this reason the Lord explains the indestructible nature of the Atmaand says to Arjuna:

1. The Atma is immortal.

2. Both sat and asatcease to matter after a point.

3. No one can annihilate the Atma.

4. So do not be attached to either and do your duty.

5. Do not be attached to the external form (the body) and do your duty.

6. Fulfil your duty towards the attributes of the Supreme.

7. Be it your guru or your grandsire, if such a one supports the wicked, he too is an asura or demon.

8. To lie low before the demoniacal does not behove one who possesses divine qualities.

9. Protection of those who are suffering is the dharma of the sadhu.

Therefore, O greatest among men, Arjuna! Arise and fight! This is your duty and your sole dharma. In this lies your love for the Supreme.