Verse 16 of Chapter 2 is one of the most significant verses of the Bhagavad Gita — which condenses the essence of Advaita Vedanta, the way of knowledge, into a single profound truth. Let’s carefully unpack this in layers:
नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः ।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्त स्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ॥ २-१६॥
nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ
ubhayorapi dṛṣṭo’ntas tvanayostattvadarśibhiḥ 2–16
“The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the Real; the truth about both these has been seen by the Knowers of the Truth (or the Seers of the Essence) .”
The sum and substance of Gita has been conveyed in the first half of the verse — “Unreal never is and the Real never not”.
Analysis of Reality and Unreality
Real is never not — If the real is never absent, then it must be unchanging — change implies decay and death. The real, therefore, is never born nor does it die.
Unreal never is — Conversely, the unreal is characterised by change, having both a beginning and an end.
What is our state or understanding? We are only focussed on the Unreal — the body, mind, ego, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, emotions, which are all changing with a beginning and an end. Yet, there is an observer within who witnesses these changes without being affected. We intuitively know that we exist beyond body and mind, and this existence requires no external proof. That is the witness.
Having always been aware of this, we ignorantly identify ourselves with all those that change, decay and dies. That which “Is”, is the existence itself or in other words consciousness. The moment we identify with this existence or consciousness, everything else will be seen as passing, with a beginning and an end which keeps happening as long as the body/mind exists. We then realise that we are not these changing entities; rather, we are that one consciousness, eternally shining and free.
For one who understands this truth and lives it every moment, there can be neither attraction to nor repulsion from the objects of the world. Such a person abides in freedom and peace.
