Shloka
अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च |
नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ||२-२४||Transliteration
acchedyo.ayamadāhyo.ayamakledyo.aśoṣya eva ca .
nityaḥ sarvagataḥ sthāṇuracalo.ayaṃ sanātanaḥ ||2-24||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
2.24. This is not to be cut; This is not to be burnt; (This is) not to be made wet and not to be dried too; This is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immobile and eternal.
Shri Purohit Swami
2.24 It is impenetrable; It can be neither drowned nor scorched nor dried. It is Eternal, All-pervading, Unchanging, Immovable and Most Ancient.
Sri Abhinav Gupta
2.24 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
2.24 Since this is so, therefore ayam, It; acchedyah, cannot be cut. Since the other elements which are the causes of destruction of one ano ther are not capable of destroying this Self, therefore It is nityah, eternal. Being eternal, It is sarva-gatah, omnipresent. Being omnipresent, It is sthanuh, stationary, i.e. fixed like a stump. Being fixed, ayam, this Self; is acalah, unmoving. Therefore It is sanatanah, changeless, i.e. It is not produced from any cause, as a new thing.
It is not to be argued that ’these verses are repetive since eternality and changelessness of the Self have been stated in a single verse itself, “Never is this One born, and never does It die,” etc. (20). Whatever has been said there (in verse 19) about the Self does not go beyond the meaning of this verse. Something is repeated with those very words, and something ideologically.’ Since the object, viz the Self, is inscrutable, therefore Lord Vasudeva raises the topic again and again, and explains that very object in other words so that, somehow, the unmanifest Self may come within the comprehension of the intellect of the transmigrating persons and bring about a cessation of their cycles of births and deaths.
Swami Adidevananda
2.24 It cannot be cleft; It cannot be burnt; It cannot be wetted and It cannot be dried, It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable and primeval.
Swami Gambirananda
2.24 It cannot be cut, It cannot be burnt, cannot be moistened, and surely cannot be dried up. It is eternal, omnipresent, stationary, unmoving and changeless.
Swami Sivananda
2.24 This Self cannot be cut, burnt, wetted, nor dried up. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable and ancient.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
2.24 अच्छेद्यः cannot be cut? अयम् this (Self)? अदाह्यः cannot be burnt? अयम् this? अक्लेद्यः cannot be wetted? अशोष्यः cannot be died? एव also? च and? नित्यः eternal? सर्वगतः allpervading? स्थाणुः stable? अचलः immovable? अयम् this? सनातनः ancient.Commentary The Self is very subtle. It is beyond the reach of speech and mind. It is very difficult to understand this subtle Self. So Lord Krishna explains the nature of the immortal Self in a variety of ways with various illustrations and examples? so that It can be grasped by the people.Sword cannot cut this Self. It is eternal. Because It is eternal? It is allpervading. Because It is allpervading? It is stable like a stature. Because It is stable? It is immovable. It is everlasting. Therefore? It is not produced out of any cause. It is not new. It is ancient.