Bhagavad Gita 2.29आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्यः।आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः श्रृणोति श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित् ॥
āśhcharya-vat paśhyati kaśhchid enan āśhcharya-vad vadati tathaiva chānyaḥ
āśhcharya-vach chainam anyaḥ śhṛiṇoti śhrutvāpyenaṁ veda na chaiva kaśhchit
Sanskrit recitation
You are more than this body · 2.11–2.30 · Teaching
Translation
One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder; yet, having heard, none understands it at all.
Hindi translation
कोई इस शरीरीको आश्चर्यकी तरह देखता है और वैसे ही अन्य कोई इसका आश्चर्यकी तरह वर्णन करता है तथा अन्य कोई इसको आश्चर्यकी तरह सुनता है; और इसको सुनकर भी कोई नहीं जानता। अर्थात यह शरीरी दुर्विज्ञेय है।
Meaning
The verse may also be interpreted in this manner. He that sees, hears and speaks of the Self is a wonderful man. Such a man is very rare. He is one among many thousands. Thus the Self is very hard to understand.
After Swami Sivananda
You are more than this body· 2.11–2.30→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 2.11The Blessed Lord said, "You have grieved for those who should not be grieved for; yet, you…
- 2.12Nor, at any time, was I not, nor thou, nor these rulers of men; nor, verily, shall we ever…
- 2.13Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so…
- 2.14The contact of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which causes heat and cold,…
- 2.15That firm man, whom surely these afflictions do not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure…
- 2.16The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the real; the truth about both has been…
- 2.17Know that to be indestructible, by which all this is pervaded. No one can cause the…
- 2.18These bodies of the embodied Self, which are eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable,…
- 2.19He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks it is slain, neither of them…
- 2.20It is not born, nor does it ever die; after having been, it again does not cease to be;…
- 2.21Whoever knows it to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and inexhaustible, how can that…
- 2.22Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so too the embodied Self…
- 2.23Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it.
- 2.24This Self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, nor dried up; it is eternal, all-pervasive,…
- 2.25This Self is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing…
- 2.26But even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born and constantly dying, even then,…
- 2.27For the born, death is certain, and for the dead, birth is certain; therefore, you should…
- 2.28Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, O Arjuna, and…
2.29One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of…
- 2.30This indweller in the body of everyone is ever indestructible, O Arjuna; therefore, you…
Word-by-word→
- na
- not
- api
- even
- cha
- and
- eva
- even
- enam
- this soul
- veda
- understand
- tathā
- thus
- vadati
- speak of
- anyaḥ
- others
- kaśhchit
- some
- paśhyati
- see
- śhrutvā
- having heard
- śhṛiṇoti
- hear
- āśhcharya-vat
- similarly amazing
Read this when you feel
Related verses
- 2.53When your intellect, which is perplexed by the Vedic texts you have read, stands immovable…
- 4.40The ignorant, the faithless, and the doubting self go to destruction; there is neither…
- 5.16But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self, like the sun,…
- 14.23He who, seated like one unconcerned, is not moved by the dualities, and who, knowing that…