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Chapter 2, Verse 16

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः। उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः।।

nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ, ubhayor api dṛṣṭo 'ntas tv anayos tattva-darśibhiḥ

Word by word

na asataḥ vidyate bhāvaḥ
of the unreal there is no being
na abhāvaḥ vidyate sataḥ
of the real there is no non-being
ubhayoḥ api
of both, indeed
dṛṣṭaḥ antaḥ
the conclusion/truth is seen
tu anayoḥ
of these two
tattva-darśibhiḥ
by the seers of truth

Commentary

There is no bhava -- no being, no existence -- of the unreal (asat) such as heat and cold as well as their causes. Heat, cold, etc., and the causes thereof, which are no doubt perceived through the organs of perception, are not absolutely real (vastu-sat); for they are effects or changes (vikara), and every change is temporary. For instance, no objective form, such as an earthen pot, presented to consciousness by the eye, proves to be real, because it is not perceived apart from clay. Thus every effect is unreal, because it is not perceived as distinct from its cause. Neither does the real -- the Self (Atman) -- ever cease to exist; for our consciousness of the Self never fails. This conclusion -- that the real is ever existent and the unreal is never existent -- regarding the two, the Self and the non-Self, is always present before the minds of those who attend only to truth, to the real nature of the Brahman, the Absolute, the All, 'That.' Thou hadst therefore better follow the view of such truth-seers, shake off grief and delusion, and, being assured that all phenomena (vikaras) are really non-existent and are, like the mirage, mere false appearances, do thou calmly bear heat and cold and other pairs of opposites.

Source: Alladi Mahadeva Sastri, The Bhagavad-Gita with the Commentary of Sri Shankaracharya (1897), public domain

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Sanskrit (in order)

  1. na asataḥ vidyate bhāvaḥ
  2. na abhāvaḥ vidyate sataḥ
  3. ubhayoḥ api
  4. dṛṣṭaḥ antaḥ
  5. tu anayoḥ
  6. tattva-darśibhiḥ

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