📿 Shloka Collection

Antavanta Ime Dehah

Gita 2.18 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 — Sankhya Yoga
अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ताः शरीरिणः ।
अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत ॥
Antavanta ime deha nityasyoktah sharirinah
Anashino'prameyasya tasmad yudhyasva Bharata
अन्तवन्तः
perishable, having an end
इमे देहाः
these bodies
नित्यस्य
of the eternal
शरीरिणः
of the embodied soul
अनाशिनः
indestructible
अप्रमेयस्य
immeasurable
तस्मात्
therefore
युध्यस्व
fight
भारत
O descendant of Bharata (Arjuna)

Now Krishna draws the practical conclusion from everything he has taught so far. These bodies are perishable — they will end. But the soul that dwells in them is eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable. Therefore, O Bharata — fight.

The word 'aprameya' deserves attention. It means immeasurable — beyond the reach of any instrument or method of measurement. The soul cannot be weighed on a scale, seen under a lens, or bounded by any number. It is not merely very large or very old. It is beyond the category of measurement entirely.

The command 'yudhyasva' — fight — arrives not as a bare order but as a logical consequence. If the soul cannot be killed, then Arjuna's central fear — that he will destroy his loved ones — is based on a misunderstanding. Krishna is not telling Arjuna to ignore his feelings. He is telling him that the premise behind those feelings is wrong.

According to the Bhagavad Gita, this is the first time in the teaching that Krishna directly connects the philosophical argument to the practical situation. The soul is eternal, therefore fight. Shlokas 2.12 through 2.17 built the case; 2.18 delivers the verdict.

The word 'yudhyasva' (fight) here is not limited to the Kurukshetra battlefield. It represents any duty that a person shrinks from because of attachment to the physical and the temporary.

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