BG 02.19 ya enam vetti hantaram... cited

Expressions researched:
"Neither he who thinks the living entity the slayer nor he who thinks it slain is in knowledge" |"nayam hanti na hanyate" |"the self slays not nor is slain" |"ubhau tau na vijanito" |"ya enam vetti hantaram" |"yas cainam manyate hatam"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "2.19" or "Neither he who thinks the living entity the slayer nor he who thinks it slain is in knowledge" or "nayam hanti na hanyate" or "the self slays not nor is slain" or "ubhau tau na vijanito" or "ya enam vetti hantaram" or "yas cainam manyate hatam"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 2.19, Translation and Purport:

Neither he who thinks the living entity the slayer nor he who thinks it slain is in knowledge, for the self slays not nor is slain.

When an embodied living entity is hurt by fatal weapons, it is to be known that the living entity within the body is not killed. The spirit soul is so small that it is impossible to kill him by any material weapon, as will be evident from subsequent verses. Nor is the living entity killable, because of his spiritual constitution. What is killed, or is supposed to be killed, is the body only. This, however, does not at all encourage killing of the body. The Vedic injunction is mā hiṁsyāt sarvā bhūtāni: (BG 9.4) never commit violence to anyone. Nor does understanding that the living entity is not killed encourage animal slaughter. Killing the body of anyone without authority is abominable and is punishable by the law of the state as well as by the law of the Lord. Arjuna, however, is being engaged in killing for the principle of religion, and not whimsically.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:

So Kṛṣṇa advises that tasmād yudhyasva. Tasmād yudhyasva bhārata. "Don't think that your grandfather, or the other party, relatives, they'll be destroyed by fighting. It is not the fact, that, by destruction of the body, the soul is destroyed." Real purpose is... Bhagavad-gītā. That we should understand that the soul is always existing, even... Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).

ya enaṁ vetti hantāraṁ

yaś cainaṁ manyate hatam

ubhau tau na vijānīto

nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate

(BG 2.19)

There is another example. Kṛṣṇa says... Because the soul is immortal, eternal, so if somebody kills somebody, the body is destroyed, but the soul is not destroyed. So if one thinks that "I have killed him, he's finished," he's also foolish. And one who thinks that "If I have died in the fight, then I will be finished." No. Ubhau tau na vijānītaḥ. Both of them are ignorant. Ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate. The living soul is never killed, neither he can kill others.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:

A kṣatriya who is fighting for the real cause, as sanctioned by the dharma-śāstras, when both ways he's profited. If he becomes victorious, he's profited, but if he's killed in the battle, he's also profited. Both ways.

ya enaṁ vetti hantāraṁ

yaś cainaṁ manyate hatam

ubhau tau na vijānīto

nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate

(BG 2.19)

Then the next verse He clearly explains:

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin

nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ

ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo

na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

(BG 2.20)

This soul... "Do not think that soul is born." No. As God is ever-existing, the soul is ever-existing. It is not... There is no question of birth. And when there is no question of birth, there is no question of death. Because we experience, anything, anybody, who has taken birth, he dies. Nobody will live here. So if the soul has no birth, there is no question of death. And as Kṛṣṇa, God, God is eternal, advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ Purāṇa (Bs. 5.33).

Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:

Pradyumna: "He who thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that he is slain does not understand. One who is in knowledge knows that the self slays not nor is slain."

Prabhupāda:

ya enaṁ vetti hantāraṁ

yaś cainaṁ manyate hatam

ubhau tau na vijānīto

nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate

(BG 2.19)

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin

nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ

ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo

na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

(BG 2.20)

"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."

So, in different ways, Kṛṣṇa is trying to convince us how the soul is immortal. Different ways. Ya enaṁ vetti hantāram (BG 2.19). When there is fight, so if one is killed or... So Kṛṣṇa says that if one thinks that "This man has killed this man," so, or "This man can kill this man," this kind of knowledge is not perfect. Nobody kills nobody. Then the butchers, they may say that "Then why do you complain that we are killing?" They're killing the body, but you cannot kill when there is injunction "Thou shall not kill." That means you cannot kill the body even without sanction.

Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:

You cannot kill. Although the soul is not killed, the body is killed, still you cannot kill the body without sanction. That is sinful. For example, that a man is living in some apartment. So some way or other you drive him away from that, illegally, you drive him away. So the man will go out and will take shelter somewhere. That's a fact. But because you have driven him away from his bona fide position, you are criminal. You cannot say, "Although I have driven away, he'll get some place." No. That's all right, but you have no power to drive him away. He was in his legal position to live in that apartment, and because you have forcibly driven him away you are criminal, you should be punished.

So this argument the butchers or the animal killers or any kind of killer, they cannot put argument. That "Here, Bhagavad-gītā says that soul is never killed, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), even after destroying the body. So why you are complaining that we are killing?" So this is the argument, that you cannot even kill the body. That is not allowed. That is sinful. Ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate. So nobody kills anybody, neither anybody is killed by others. This is one thing. Again, in a different way, Kṛṣṇa says, na jāyate: the living entity never takes birth. The birth is of the body or the death is of the body. Living entity, the spiritual spark, then that being Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, as Kṛṣṇa does not take birth, does not die... Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. You'll find in the Fourth Chapter.

Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968:

Viṣṇujana: "Only the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction (BG 2.18). He who thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that the entity is slain does not understand. One who is in knowledge knows that the self slays not nor is slain (BG 2.19)."

Prabhupāda: Then next?

Viṣṇujana: 20: "For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain (BG 2.20)."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because eternal, therefore how it can be slain? So soul is never slain. The body is slain. Then?