Chapter 2 - Verse 18

It is said by the enlightened that these bodies of the Self, who is eternal, indestructible and unknowable, have an end, like those seen in dreams or produced by a juggler.—The end of such objects as the mirage consists in the cessation—as the result of investigation into their nature by proper tests of truth—of the idea of reality which has been associated with them. So also these bodies have an end.

[No tautology is involved in the use of both ’eternal’ and ‘indestructible;’ for, two kinds of eternality and of destruction are met with in our experience. The physical body, for instance, entirely disappearing when reduced to ashes, is said to have been destroyed. The physical body, while existing as such, may be transformed owing to sickness or such other causes, and it is then said to have ceased to be (something) and to have become (something else). “Eternal” and ‘indestructible’ here imply that the Self is subject to neither sort of destruction. Otherwise, the eternality of Atman, the Self, might perhaps be understood to be like that of clay or other material objects. It is the denial of this which is conveyed by the two epithets.]

The Self is unknowable,—not determinable by the senses (pratyaksha) or any other means of knowledge.

(Objection):—The Self is determined by the Agama or Revelation, and by perception, etc., prior to Revelation.

(Answer):—The objection is untenable, for the Self is self-determined (svatas-siddha). When the Self, the knower (pramātri), has been determined, then only is possible a search for proper authorities on the part of the knower with a view to obtain right knowledge. In fact, without determining the Self—‘I am I’—none seeks to determine the knowable objects. Indeed the Self is unknown (aprasiddha) to nobody. And the Scripture (Sāstra) which is the final * authority obtains its authoritativeness regarding the Self, as serving only to eliminate the adhyāropana or superimposition (on the Self) of the attributes † alien to Him, but not as revealing what has been altogether unknown. The sruti also describes the Self thus:—

i. e., the last. The Sruti teaches that the Self is the only real thing and that all others are illusory and non-existent. No pramana or authority can survive the realisation of this truth taught by the sruti.—(A)

Such as humanity and agency.

“That which is the Immediate, the Unremote, the Brahman, which is the Self, which is within all.” (Bri. Up. ii. 4. I.).

Because the Self is thus eternal (nitya) and immutable (avikriya), therefore, do thou fight,—do not abstain from fighting.

Here the duty of fighting is not enjoined. Arjuna had already been engaged in fighting. But overpowered by grief and delusion he abstained from fighting. It is only the removal of obstructive causes (pratibandha, viz., grief and delusion) that is here attempted by the Lord. Wherefore in the words ‘do thou fight’ the Lord issues here no new command (vidhi); He only refers to what is commonly known already.*

That is to say, the Lord does not here mean that fighting is absolutely necessary. He has simply shewn that Arjuna had no reason to desist from the fighting in which he had engaged of himself.

The Self is unconcerned in action.

The Lord now quotes two Vedic verses to confirm the view that the Gītā-śāstra is intended to remove the cause of samsara, such as grief and delusion, but not to enjoin works.

It is only a false notion of yours, says the Lord, that you think thus: “Bhīṣma and others will be killed by me in the battle; I will be their slayer.”—How? —