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Chapter 2. Contents of the Gita Summarized TEXT 16 nasato vidyate bhavo
SYNONYMS  na--never;
asatah--of
the nonexistent; vidyate--there is; bhavah--endurance;
na--never;
abhavah--changing quality; vidyate--there is; satah--of
the eternal; ubhayoh--of the two; api--verily;
drstah--observed;
antah--conclusion; tu--but; anayoh--of them; tattva--truth;
darsibhih--by the seers.
TRANSLATION Those who
are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is
no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have
concluded by studying the nature of both.
PURPORT There is no
endurance of the changing body. That the body is changing every moment
by the actions and reactions of the different cells is admitted by modern
medical science; and thus growth and old age are taking place in the body.
But the spirit soul exists permanently, remaining the same despite all
changes of the body and the mind. That is the difference between matter
and spirit. By nature, the body is ever changing, and the soul is eternal.
This conclusion is established by all classes of seers of the truth, both
impersonalist and personalist. In the Visnu Purana it is stated
that Visnu and His abodes all have self-illuminated spiritual existence.
"Jyotimsi
visnur bhuvanani visnuh". The words existent and
nonexistent
refer only to spirit and matter. That is the version of all seers of truth.
This is
the beginning of the instruction by the Lord to the living entities who
are bewildered by the influence of ignorance. Removal of ignorance involves
the reestablishment of the eternal relationship between the worshiper and
the worshipable and the consequent understanding of the difference between
the part and parcel living entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
One can understand the nature of the Supreme by thorough study of oneself,
the difference between oneself and the Supreme being understood as the
relationship between the part and the whole. In the Vedanta-sutras,
as well as in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Supreme has been accepted
as the origin of all emanations. Such emanations are experienced by superior
and inferior natural sequences. The living entities belong to the superior
nature, as it will be revealed in the Seventh Chapter. Although there is
no difference between the energy and the energetic, the energetic is accepted
as the Supreme, and energy or nature is accepted as the subordinate. The
living entities, therefore, are always subordinate to the Supreme Lord,
as in the case of the master and the servant, or the teacher and the taught.
Such clear knowledge is impossible to understand under the spell of ignorance,
and to drive away such ignorance the Lord teaches the Bhagavad-gita
for the enlightenment of all living entities for all time.
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