Sanskrit · Devanagari
य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम्। उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ॥
Sanskrit · IAST
ya enaṃ vetti hantāraṃ yaścainaṃ manyate hatam ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṃ hanti na hanyate
English witness
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882He who thinks it to be the killer and he who thinks it to be killed, both know nothing. It kills not, is not killed.
This verse-level alignment is machine-assisted and awaits two independent human checks. Confidence signal: 37%.
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29 translations and commentaries are aligned to this verse. Choose up to three; the root verse and Telang witness stay above them.
Śaṅkarācārya
।।2.19।। य एनं प्रकृतं देहिनं वेत्ति विजानाति हन्तारं हननक्रियायाः कर्तारं यश्च एनम् अन्यो मन्यते हतं देहहननेन हतः अहम् इति हननक्रियायाः कर्मभूतम् तौ उभौ न विजानीतः न ज्ञातवन्तौ अविवेकेन आत्मानम्। हन्ता अहम् हतः अस्मि अहम् इति देहहननेन आत्मानमहंप्रत्ययविषयं यौ विजानीतः तौ आत्मस्वरूपानभिज्ञौ इत्यर्थः। यस्मात् न अयम् आत्मा हन्ति न हननक्रियायाः कर्ता भवति न च हन्यते न च कर्म भवतीत्यर्थः अविक्रियत्वात्।।कथमविक्रय आत्मेति द्वितीयो मन्त्रः
c00fec968ca4…Rāmānuja
2.19 With regard to "This" viz., the self, whose nature has been described above, he who thinks of It as the slayer, i.e., as the cause of slaying, and he who thinks 'This' (self) as slain by some cause or other - both of them do not know. As this self is eternal for the reasons mentioned above, no possible cause of destruction can slay It and for the same reason, It cannot be slain. Though the root 'han' (to slay) has the self for its object, it signifies causing the separation of the body from the self and not destruction of the self. Scriptural texts like 'You shall not cause injury to beings' and 'The Brahmana shall not be killed'? (K. Sm. 8.2) indicate unsanctioned actions, causing separation of the body from the self. [In the above otes, slaughter in an ethical sense is referred to, while the text refers to killing or separating the self from the body in a metaphsyical sense. This is made explicit in the following verse].
3b4b20a80a11…Swami Sivananda
2.19 यः he who? एनम् this (Self)? वेत्ति knows? हन्तारम् slayer? यः he who? च and? एनम् this? मन्यते thinks? हतम् slain? उभौ both? तौ those? न not? विजानीतः know? न not? अयम् this? हन्ति slays? न not? हन्यते is slain.Commentary -- The Self is nondoer (Akarta) and as It is immutable? It is neither the agent nor the object of the act of slaying. He who thinks I slay or I am slain with the body or the Ahamkara (ego)? he does not really comprehend the true nature of the Self. The Self is indestructible. It exists in the three periods of time. It is Sat (Existence). When the body is destroyed? the Self is not destroyed. The body has to undergo change in any case. It is inevitable. But the Self is not at all affected by it. Verses 19? 20? 21? 23 and 24 speak of the immortality of the Self or Atman. (Cf.XVIII.17)
0f9890f66092…These supplied texts come from the pinned VedicScriptures dataset under GPL-3.0 and await independent alignment review.