Sanskrit
देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत । तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥
dehī nityam avadhyo'yaṃ dehe sarvasya bhārata tasmāt sarvāṇi bhūtāni na tvaṃ śocitum arhasi
Translation
This dweller in the body of everyone is ever invulnerable, O Bhârata; therefore thou shouldst not grieve for any creature.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The closing line of the whole immortality argument that began at verse 12: what’s been shown about “the self” in the abstract is now stated for every embodied being without exception — “the dweller in the body of everyone.” It’s the last word before Krishna pivots, at verse 31, to a completely different kind of argument: not what the self is, but what Arjuna’s own duty as a warrior requires. Sarvasya dehe — in the body of each and all — universalises the claim just before dropping it: the point was never Arjuna’s own soul in isolation, but a fact that holds for Bhīṣma and Droṇa and every soldier on the field equally.
Study deeper
Word by word
- dehīदेही
- the embodied self
- nityamनित्यं
- ever
- avadhyo'yaṃअवध्योऽयं
- this is unslayable (avadhyaḥ + ayam)
- dehe sarvasyaदेहे सर्वस्य
- in the body of everyone (dehe + sarvasya)
- bhārataभारत
- O descendant of Bharata
- tasmātतस्मात्
- therefore
- sarvāṇi bhūtāniसर्वाणि भूतानि
- for all beings (sarvāṇi + bhūtāni)
- na tvaṃ śocitum arhasiन त्वं शोचितुं अर्हसि
- you ought not to grieve (na + tvam + śocitum + arhasi)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Notice the scope widens exactly once more before the argument changes tracks entirely — “any creature,” not just the men Arjuna is about to fight. Krishna generalizes the claim as far as it will go, and it’s that completeness, not exhaustion of the topic, that lets him drop metaphysics at verse 31 and pick up an entirely different kind of argument: not what the self is, but what Arjuna’s role requires.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you've made a point as general as it can honestly go, let it rest there rather than repeating it — the discipline is knowing when an argument has covered its full scope, so you can move to what actually needs deciding next.
Professional
- When a technical justification has been generalized to its full extent, stop re-litigating the principle and shift the conversation to the specific decision it's meant to unblock — repeating a completed argument just delays the actual decision.
Family & Social
- Once you and someone else have agreed on a general principle in a disagreement, resist re-arguing it from new angles — move on to the specific, practical question the principle was supposed to settle.
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