📿 Shloka Collection

Achchhedyo'yam Adahyo'yam

Gita 2.24 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 — Sankhya Yoga
अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥
Achchhedyo'yam adahyo'yam akledyo'shoshya eva cha
Nityah sarvagatah sthanur achalo'yam sanatanah
अच्छेद्यः
uncuttable
अदाह्यः
unburnable
अक्लेद्यः
cannot be made wet
अशोष्यः
cannot be dried
नित्यः
eternal
सर्वगतः
all-pervading
स्थाणुः
firm, immovable
अचलः
unmoving
सनातनः
ancient, everlasting

Having told Arjuna what cannot happen to the soul — it cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried — Krishna now names what the soul is. Eternal. All-pervading. Firm. Unmoving. Sanatana — a word that carries the weight of 'existing since before the beginning of time.' Nine attributes, each one ruling out a different kind of change or destruction.

Two words stand out. 'Sarvagata' — all-pervading, present everywhere — means the soul is not locked inside one body the way a bird is locked in a cage. It exists everywhere, at all times. And 'sthanu' — immovable, like a pillar rooted deep in the earth — means it does not waver, does not shift, does not respond to external force.

This shloka is the summary verse. Everything Krishna has said about the soul from 2.12 onward is compressed here into a single line. Uncuttable, unburnable, unwettable, undryable, eternal, all-pervading, firm, unmoving, and everlasting. There is nothing left to add. The case is closed.

According to the Bhagavad Gita, this shloka serves as a consolidation of 2.23. Where 2.23 stated what the elements cannot do to the soul (cut, burn, wet, dry), 2.24 restates those immunities and adds the soul's positive qualities: eternity, omnipresence, firmness, and immovability.

The word 'sanatana' — ancient, everlasting — is the same word that appears in 'sanatana dharma.' Its use here connects the soul's nature to the deepest current of Indian philosophical tradition.

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