Sanskrit
वेदाऽविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् । कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ॥
vedāvināśinaṃ nityaṃ ya enam ajam avyayam kathaṃ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha kaṃ ghātayati hanti kam
Translation
Who knoweth him indestructible, perpetual, unborn, undiminishing, how can that man slay, O Pârtha, or cause to be slain?
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A direct rhetorical consequence of the argument just completed in verse 20: if the self cannot be born or die, then “slaying” and “being slain” are categories that simply don’t apply to it. The question format matters — Krishna isn’t asserting a new claim so much as pointing out that Arjuna’s whole framing of the battle as an act of killing rests on a premise (verse 19’s confusion) he’s just spent several verses dismantling. Note the two verbs: hanti, slays, and ghātayati, causes to slay. Arjuna’s fear covers both — that he will kill, and that as the one who looses the arrow he is the cause of killing. The verse answers both at once.
Study deeper
Word by word
- vedāvināśinaṃवेदाविनाशिनं
- [one who] knows [this] as indestructible (veda + avināśinam)
- nityaṃनित्यं
- eternal
- ya enam ajam avyayamय एनं अजं अव्ययं
- who [knows] this as unborn, imperishable (yaḥ + enam + ajam + avyayam)
- kathaṃकथं
- how?
- sa puruṣaḥस पुरुषः
- that person (saḥ + puruṣaḥ)
- pārthaपार्थ
- O Pārtha
- kaṃ ghātayatiकं घातयति
- whom does he cause to be slain? (kam + ghātayati)
- hanti kamहन्ति कं
- whom does he slay? (hanti + kam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna phrases this as a question, not a statement — “how can that man slay?” — leaving Arjuna to supply the answer himself rather than handing it to him pre-packaged. After several verses of flat assertion, the shift to a question that answers itself is a different kind of teaching move: it invites Arjuna to arrive at the conclusion under his own power, not just receive it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you're trying to convince yourself of something, try phrasing it as a question you answer yourself rather than a flat statement you're told to accept — conclusions you arrive at under your own power tend to stick harder than ones handed to you.
Professional
- When coaching someone toward a conclusion you already see clearly, try asking the question that leads there instead of stating the answer outright — letting them complete the logic themselves usually produces more durable buy-in than a direct assertion would.
Family & Social
- When you want someone close to you to see something you already see clearly, try asking the question that leads there rather than stating your conclusion outright — what they work out themselves tends to land more deeply than what they're simply told.
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