Wherefore,
अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २४ ॥
acchedyo’yamadāhyo’yamakledyo’śoṣya eva ca .
nityaḥ sarvagataḥ sthāṇuracalo’yaṃ sanātanaḥ .. 24 ..
Read the commentary
Because the mutually destructive objects—namely, swords and the like—cannot destroy the Self, therefore He is everlasting. Because everlasting, He is all-pervading. Because all-pervading, He is stable like a pillar. Because stable, the Self is firm. Wherefore He is eternal, not produced out of any cause, not new.
No charge of tautology can be brought against the verses (ii. 21-24) on the ground that in (ii. 20) the eternality and the immutability of the Self have been taught and that what has been said regarding the Self in these verses (ii. 21-24) adds nothing to what was taught in that one verse,—something being repeated verbatim, and something more being repeated in idea. Since the Self is a thing very difficult to understand, the Lord Vāsudeva again and again introduces the subject and describes the same thing in other words, so that in some way or other the truth may be grasped by the intellect of the mortals (samsārins) and thus the cessation of their samsāra may be brought about.