Shloka

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः |
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ||२-२३||

Transliteration

nainaṃ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṃ dahati pāvakaḥ .
na cainaṃ kledayantyāpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ ||2-23||

Translations

Dr.S.Sankaranarayan

2.23. Weapons do not cut This; fire does not burn This; water does not (make) This wet; and the wind does not make This dry.

Shri Purohit Swami

2.23 Weapons cleave It not, fire burns It not, water drenches It not, and wind dries It not.

Sri Abhinav Gupta

2.23 See Comment under 2.25

Sri Ramanuja

2.23 - 2.24 Weapons, fire, water and air are incapable of cleaving, burning, wetting and drying the self; for, the nature of the self is to pervade all elements; It is present everywhere; for, It is subtler than all the elements; It is not capable of being pervaded by them; and cleaving, burning, wetting and drying are actions which can take place only by pervading a substance. Therefore the self is eternal. It is stable, immovable and primeval. The meaning is that It is unchanging, unshakable and ancient.

Sri Shankaracharya

2.23 Why does It verily remain unchanged? This is being answered in, ‘Weapons do not cut It,’ etc. Sastrani, weapons; na, do not; chindanti, cut; enam, It, the embodied one under discussion. It being partless, weapons like sword etc. do not cut off Its limbs. So also, even pavakah, fire; na dahati enam, does not burn, does not reduce It to ashes. Ca, and similarly; apah, water; na enam kledayanti, does not moisten It. For water has the power of disintegrating a substance that has parts, by the process of moistening it. That is not possible in the case of the partless Self. Similarly, air destroys an oil substance by drying up the oil. Even marutah, air; na sosayati, does not dry; (enam, It,) one’s own Self. [Ast. reads ’enam tu atmanam, but this Self’, in place of enam svatmanam.-Tr.]

Swami Adidevananda

2.23 Weapons do not cleave It (the self), fire does not burn It, waters do not wet It, and wind does not dry It.

Swami Gambirananda

2.23 Weapons do not cut It, fire does not burn It, water does not moisten It, and air does not dry It.

Swami Sivananda

2.23 Weapons cut It not, fire burns It not, water wets It not, wind dries It not.

Commentaries

Swami Sivananda

2.23 न not? एनम् this (Self)? छिन्दन्ति cut? शस्त्राणि weapons? न not? एनम् this? दहति burns? पावकः fire? न not?,च and? एनम् this? क्लेदयन्ति wet? आपः waters? न not? शोषयति dries? मारुतः wind.Commentary The Self is indivisible. It has no parts. It is extremely subtle. It is infinite. Therefore? sword cannot cut It fire cannot burn It water cannot wet It wind cannot dry It.