If you think that I am killing Bhishma and the others in this battlefield and I am the killer, that thought is illusory. How?

Verse 19: The one who knows himself as the killer of the Self, and the one who knows himself as the one, being killed, both do not know that the Self is neither the one who kills or the one who is killed.

The one who thinks of themselves as the body and hence considers the being with three gunas as the killed – the one who does the act of killing. The one who considers himself as destroyed and that the one who is killed. They both do not know due to lack of discrimination about the true I. I am the killer. I am killed. In this manner owing to the death or destruction of the body the one who thinks I am the killer. I am killed. In this manner owing to the death or destruction of the body, the one who thinks I am killed, the two do not realise the true nature of the Self. How come? This Self does not kill or cause the action of killing. The Self doesn’t kill and does not become an action. How is this Atma actionless?

The next mantra states: Verse 20: Na Jayate Mriyate: This Self is not born.. It does not die at any point of time. The Self does not become something, having been something again. It is unborn. It is eternal. It is permanent. It is ancient. It does not die even if the body is killed. Najayate – It is not born. The quality of birth, the modification from one form to another is not seen in the Self. It does not die. The letter Va here stands for the meaning of and. By saying Na Mriyate, the modification at the end called destruction is being negated. The word Kadachit negates all modifications. At any time it is not born. At any time it does not die. In this manner, therefore this Self, having been something and experiencing existence, then becoming non-existent, reaching the state of non-existence, and again from that state it does not die. In the world it is commonly said that once having been born and does not continue to exist is referred to as dead. By the usage of the words va and Na it is indicated that this Self having not been created before does not have existence in the present like the body and hence it is not born again. The one who, not being created before does not have existence in the present like the body and hence it is not born again. The one who was not there earlier and then exists alone is said to be born. The Atma does not have such a prior existence and a special existence of birth. Hence it is unborn. Therefore, it is unborn. As it does not die or cease to exist, it is eternal too. Just as the modifications of beginning and end are negated, all modifications are negated. Get to negate any other the use of change in between such as youth or old age, its own name as Atma to be used to negate the modifications in between. Even though it is not said in so many words, by the use of Shashwat or always existing, the modifications of youth and all other changes have been negated, With the word Shashwata, the modifications which are the nature of decay have been negated. Shashwata is eternal existence. Being without any parts it does not get destroyed of its essential nature. There is no destruction from the point of view of qualities as it is free of all qualities. Modification, even from the contrary point of view of destruction, that is growth is negated by the word Purana or ancient. The one indeed by the gathering of parts is formed, such a thing grows and is called new. Since this Atma has no parts even though it is ancient, it is new and hence it is Purana, and it does not grow. This is the meaning.

In the same way, the Self does not change even on the killing of the body which refers to modification. By the word for killing, we must perceive repetition. The Self does not change at any point of time.

Since this is the understanding, therefore the previous sloka which says, they two don’t know is by the mantra which says they two don’t know is to be understood with the present one. By the mantra which says the one who thinks this Atma is the killer, become the doer and the action. clearly understanding this cause for the absence of modification in the verse Na Jayate has to be understood together. The thought concludes here.

  – Brahmacharini Sharanya Chaitanya, Chennai.