न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि- न्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः। अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ / ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
Unborn. Undying. Ancient. Eternal. Not slain when the body is slain — this is what you are.
Word by word (5)
- na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit
- — never is it born, never does it die, at any time · Four negations in two clauses. Not born; not dying. Not born at any time; not dying at any time. The absoluteness of the language is intentional.
- na ayam bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
- — having once been, it will not cease to be again
- ajaḥ
- — unborn · 'Aja' — without birth. One of the Atman's most important epithets. That which was never born cannot die.
- nityaḥ śāśvataḥ ayam purāṇaḥ
- — eternal, ancient, primeval · 'Purāṇa' — ancient, primeval, from before the beginning. The Atman is older than time because it is the ground in which time appears.
- na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
- — it is not slain when the body is slain · The definitive statement. The body is destroyed; the Atman is not. The body 'hanyamāne' (in process of being slain) does not reach what is 'na hanyate' (not-slain, beyond slaying).
'It is never born and never dies at any time. It did not come into being, does not come into being, will not come into being. Unborn, eternal, ever-existing, primeval — it is not slain when the body is slain.'
A modern analogy
The closest modern parallel: consciousness itself — not the content of consciousness (thoughts, feelings, experiences) but the awareness in which all content appears. Has awareness ever been born? Has it ever died? Or does it simply appear to be modified by what arises within it, while remaining itself unchanged? The Gita says: that awareness — the Atman — is what you are.
Take with you
- Five attributes: not born (ajāyata), not dying (mriyate), unborn (ajaḥ), eternal (nityaḥ), not killed when the body is killed.
- 'Purāṇaḥ' — ancient, primeval. Older than the universe. The Atman is not something that arose; it is the ground in which everything arises.
- The last line — 'na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre' — is the direct answer to Arjuna's fear of killing: the body can be killed; what Bhishma and Drona truly are cannot.
Verse 20 is one of the most quoted verses in all of Sanskrit literature. It appears virtually identically in the Katha Upanishad (1.2.18-19), where the god of death (Yama) teaches it to the boy Nachiketa. By citing this teaching, the Gita places itself explicitly in the Upanishadic tradition of knowledge about the self. The five negative statements are precise: 1. 'na jāyate' — not born (birth is not applicable) 2. 'na mriyate' — not dying (death is not applicable) 3. 'na bhūtvā bhavitā na bhūyaḥ' — having been, will not be... again (no re-creation after a gap) 4. 'ajaḥ, nityaḥ, śāśvataḥ, purāṇaḥ' — unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient 5. 'na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre' — not killed when the body is killed Each negation removes one apparent limitation. What remains after all limitations are removed is the Atman: pure, unconditioned awareness.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: this verse describes the Atman as 'ajātyādi-viśeṣaṇa-rahita' — free from the characteristics of birth and so on. These are not properties the Atman has; they are properties it lacks. The Atman's nature is not described by what it is but by what it is not. In the Advaitic tradition, this is characteristic of ultimate reality: neti, neti — not this, not this. V20 is the most complete neti, neti applied to the self.
Bhakti lens
Ramanuja: the Atman here described is the individual soul (jīvātman), distinct from Brahman/Paramātman (God) but sharing these qualities. The individual soul is eternal, unborn, imperishable — and its highest destiny is to recognize its relationship to the supreme soul and to love it with all its capacity. V20's teaching is the foundation for that love: what I am — truly — is eternal and indestructible. Therefore I can give myself completely to the eternal one without fear of loss.
Karma-Yoga lens
V20 is the metaphysical ground for fearless action. The karma-yogi needs to act without clinging to outcomes — but this requires the certainty that the actor (ātman) is not at risk. Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin (never is it born, never does it die) removes the deepest fear: the fear of the self's annihilation. When the karma-yogi knows the ātman is aja (unborn), nitya (eternal), purāṇa (ancient), and śāśvata (unchanging), the calculation of action changes completely. You cannot 'lose' the self through action; you cannot 'gain' the self through inaction. Free from both fear and ambition at the level of ātman, the karma-yogi can act with full energy and zero grasping — the precise combination that produces karma yoga's liberation.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
It is not born, nor does it die; having once been, it will not cease to be again. Unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval — it is not slain when the body is slain. [1]
It is never born, nor does it die at any time. It has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain. [4]
It is not born nor does it die; it is not something which, having been, will not be again. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and ancient. It is not slain when the body is slain. [6]
Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never; Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams! Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever; Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems! [7]
It is not born, and it does not die; it has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and ancient. It is not killed when the body is killed. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The soul does not slay, and cannot be slain — both the slayer and the slain have mistaken the soul for the body.
Every physical force is named and negated — none of them can reach what you truly are.
The jīva is an eternal fragment of Me — drawing the 6-sense apparatus (5 senses + mind) toward itself in Prakṛti.
You've changed your clothes a thousand times — this is all that death is.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Sattva, rajas, tamas — three guṇas born of Prakṛti — bind the indestructible ātman in every body.