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BG 02.23 nainam chindanti sastrani... cited

Expressions researched:
"The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon" |"na cainam kledayanty apo" |"na sosayati marutah" |"nainam chindanti sastrani" |"nainam dahati pavakah" |"nor burned by fire" |"nor moistened by water" |"nor withered by the wind"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "2.23" or "The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon" or " na cainam kledayanty apo" or "na sosayati marutah" or "nainam chindanti sastrani" or "nainam dahati pavakah" or "nor burned by fire" or "nor moistened by water" or "nor withered by the wind"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 2.23, Translation and Purport:

The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.

All kinds of weapons—swords, flame weapons, rain weapons, tornado weapons, etc.—are unable to kill the spirit soul. It appears that there were many kinds of weapons made of earth, water, air, ether, etc., in addition to the modern weapons of fire. Even the nuclear weapons of the modern age are classified as fire weapons, but formerly there were other weapons made of all different types of material elements. Firearms were counteracted by water weapons, which are now unknown to modern science. Nor do modern scientists have knowledge of tornado weapons. Nonetheless, the soul can never be cut into pieces, nor annihilated by any number of weapons, regardless of scientific devices.

The Māyāvādī cannot explain how the individual soul came into existence simply by ignorance and consequently became covered by the illusory energy. Nor was it ever possible to cut the individual souls from the original Supreme Soul; rather, the individual souls are eternally separated parts of the Supreme Soul. Because they are atomic individual souls eternally (sanātana), they are prone to be covered by the illusory energy, and thus they become separated from the association of the Supreme Lord, just as the sparks of a fire, although one in quality with the fire, are prone to be extinguished when out of the fire. In the Varāha Purāṇa, the living entities are described as separated parts and parcels of the Supreme. They are eternally so, according to the Bhagavad-gītā also. So, even after being liberated from illusion, the living entity remains a separate identity, as is evident from the teachings of the Lord to Arjuna. Arjuna became liberated by the knowledge received from Kṛṣṇa, but he never became one with Kṛṣṇa.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.13.57, Purport:

The phrase atan-nirasana refers to the discarding of that which is irrelevant. (Atat means "that which is not a fact.") Brahman is sometimes described as asthūlam anaṇv ahrasvam adīrgham, "that which is not large and not small, not short and not long." (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 5.8.8) Neti neti: "It is not this, it is not that." But what is it? In describing a pencil, one may say, "It is not this; it is not that," but this does not tell us what it is. This is called definition by negation. In Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa also explains the soul by giving negative definitions. Na jāyate mriyate vā: "It is not born, nor does it die. You can hardly understand more than this." But what is it? It is eternal. Ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: "It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain." (BG 2.20) In the beginning the soul is difficult to understand, and therefore Kṛṣṇa has given negative definitions:

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ

"The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can it be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind." (BG 2.23) Kṛṣṇa says, "It is not burned by fire." Therefore, one has to imagine what it is that is not burned by fire. This is a negative definition.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968:

Viṣṇujana: 23: "The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water nor withered by the wind (BG 2.23)." Purport.

Prabhupāda: This is the distinction of the soul being spirit. You take anything of this material world, they can be burned. It is the question of temperature only. Even iron is being burned, any metal, any hard thing, stone is being burned, everything is being burned. But here it is said that soul cannot be burned. So does it mean that it is stronger than iron and stone? But it is very fragmental, minute, atomic portion. But it cannot be burned.

Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972:

Prabhupāda:

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
(BG 2.23)

So definition by negation. Directly we cannot appreciate what is that spiritual fragment, particle, which is within this body. Because the length and breadth of that spirit soul is impossible to be measured by our material instruments, although the scientists say that we can measure it. Anyway, even it is possible, first of all, you have to see where the soul is situated. Then you can attempt to measure it. First of all, you cannot see even. Because it is very, very small, one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Now, because we cannot see, by our experimental knowledge we cannot appreciate; therefore Kṛṣṇa is describing the existence of the self soul in a negative way: "It is not this." Sometimes when we cannot understand, the explanation is given: "It is not this." If I cannot express what it is, then we can express in a negative way that "It is not this." So what is that "not this"? The "not this" is that "It is not material." The spirit soul is not material. But we have got experience of material things. Then how to understand that it is the negative? That is explained in the next verse, that nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. You cannot cut, the spirit soul by any weapon, knife, sword, or thistle. (pistol?) It is not possible. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. The Māyāvāda philosophy says that "I am Brahman. Due to my illusion, I feel I am separated. Otherwise I am one." But Kṛṣṇa says that mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). So does it mean that the, from the whole spirit, this fragment has been separated by cutting into piece? No. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. It cannot be cut into pieces. Then? Then the answer is that the spirit soul fragment is eternal. Not that by māyā it has become separated. No. How it can be? Because it cannot be cut into pieces.

Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972:

So here, this beginning of spiritual understanding, that spirit, the Supreme Spirit, cannot be cut into pieces. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Now try to understand. We are thinking, the modern scientists, they are thinking that there cannot be any life in the sun globe. No. There is life. We get information from Vedic literature that there is life. There are also human beings like us. But they're made of fire. That's all. Because we have got teeny experience that "How in the fire a living entity can live?" To answer this problem, Kṛṣṇa says that nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. (aside:) Why you are sitting there? You come here. Nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. The spirit soul cannot be burned. If it would have been burned, then according to our Hindu system, we burn the body, then the soul is burned. Actually, the atheists think like that, that when the body's burned, everything is finished. Big, big professor, they think like that. But here, Kṛṣṇa says, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ: "It is not burned." Otherwise, how it exists? Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

Pradyumna: "The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind."

Prabhupāda:

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
(BG 2.23)

So here is another puzzle for the rascal scientists—because they are contemplating that except within this earth, in other planets, there is no life. Because the atmosphere is different, they cannot live there. Now, take for example the sun planet, fiery planet. So naturally, we shall imagine that no living entity can live there: it is fiery planet. But Kṛṣṇa says that nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. The fire does not burn it.

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

So here it is said, Arjuna might be thinking that "Kṛṣṇa says this body is different from the soul. The soul is within. So now suppose when I place my sword on the body of my grandfather or my kinsmen, the body will cut, and, in the meantime, the soul is within the body. It may be cut because the soul is there. By accidentally, he may be cut." Therefore Kṛṣṇa says very distinctly; nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi, that "Soul cannot be cut. Any weapon. It cannot be pierced by your arrows, it cannot be cut into pieces by your sword, or if you use firearms it will not burn." Nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. This is the position of soul. Immutable, indestructible. Another... This is the negative description of the soul. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. Is there anything in this material world which cannot be cut into pieces? Have you got any experience? Take wood, stone, iron, or anything. It can be cut into pieces. Therefore, the..., when Kṛṣṇa says nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi, that means it is nothing like anything material elements. It is different. It is different. Any material elements.

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Another study from this verse is that the Māyāvāda philosophy, they say that spirit is one. The Supreme Spirit, impersonal. When the spirit is embodied, it becomes individual. This is their philosophy. Otherwise, they give the example... Just like there is water on the sea. It is also sustained on the earth. A big mass of water. And on that water, you can put one boat or ship full of water. And on that boat, you put another, a cup of water, and in the cup of water, you put another pot, a small cup or small utensil or even the skin of a grain, that will also contain. So their philosophy is that the water is one, but according to the pot or container, it becomes small and big. This is their philosophy. And when the container is broken, then the whole water becomes one. This is their philosophy. Now this nonsense philosophy is refuted in this verse. How? Now because spirit, either you take whole spirit or part spirit, nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. You cannot divide it by cutting into pieces. That is not possible. S

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

So this Māyāvādī theory cannot stand here if we accept the Bhagavad-gītā's statement. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. It is not divided by some means. No. It is already divided. It is already divided. Neither the small piece of soul or the big piece of soul you can divide.

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ

Air... There are earth, water, fire, air. So none of these material things can act on the soul. It is not that because air dries up everything, anything... Big, big ocean is dried up by evaporation. Big, big river, big, big lakes are evaporated, but soul cannot be evaporated. Nainaṁ śoṣayati mārutaḥ. This is the distinction. The air can evaporate a big ocean. Gradually, it is being done. As the days will go on, the sea water will be evaporated, and at the end there will be no water. These are the statements.

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

"This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same."

So this is another way, negative way. In the previous verse Kṛṣṇa says: nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. And now, negatively or passively, it is said that acchedyo 'yam. In every way, Kṛṣṇa is suggesting the immortality of the soul. There are five elements: earth, water, fire, air. So none of these elements can act on the soul.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1973:

Spirit is not matter. That is also described. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. It is not that, that as we have got experience, that we can cut into pieces one material thing. Spirit cannot be cut into pieces. The part and parcel of the spirit, it is not that at a certain time we have become cut or separated from the Supreme. No. We are individual soul eternally, sanātana. Sanātana. That is our position.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.7.30-31 -- Vrndavana, September 26, 1976:

So the modern scientists, they do not know what is real problem. They are thinking advancement. Another point is here, that trīl lokān pradahan mahat and dahyamānāḥ prajāḥ sarvāḥ. Prajā. Prajā means living entities. Prajāyate: one who takes his birth. So in the three worlds... Three worlds means these upper, middle, and lower planetary systems in this universe. Trīl loka. Trīl lokān. So everywhere there is prajā, there is living entities. Otherwise, how it is said trīl lokān? It is a foolish theory that there is no life in other planets. A rascal theory. It has no meaning. Trīl lokān. We have got many evidences. I do not know why these rascal scientists say that there is no life in other planet. Why? The other planet is also made of the pañca-bhūta, pṛthvī-ap-tejas-vāyu-ākāśa. They are not different. Maybe something is very prominent. Just like in the sun globe, the fire is prominent. Fire is also one of the five elements: pṛthvī-ap-tejas. That does not mean there is no life. There must be. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṇa talked with the sun-god, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1)? And the living entity, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. The living entity is not burned by the fire. It is not dried up, it is not moistened. This is stated. So why there will be no life in the sun globe? There must be. Because nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, fire cannot burn the living being. So there are germs in the fire also, agni-pa(?).

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Mayapura, October 10, 1974:

Suppose if your cloth is burned... In my childhood, when I was three, four years old, I was saved. My all cloth burned, and there is a scar. You have seen. I would have died that day, but fortunately I was saved. The cloth was burning. That, what is that called, matches color? So I was trying to burn, and it caught my cloth. So the cloth burned, but I did not burn. Similarly, this body also burns, but the soul... Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi na dahati pāvakaḥ. The soul is never cut into pieces by any weapon, neither it is burned by the fire, soul. That is eternity. Anything material, it will burn, it will be cut into pieces, it can be dried up, it can be moistened. Because we cannot see the soul, so Kṛṣṇa has explained in a negative definition what is the characteristic of the soul. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, na śoṣayati mārutaḥ (BG 2.23). Like that.

Lecture on SB 5.5.30 -- Vrndavana, November 17, 1976:

If one is completely free from the bodily conception of life, as it is shown practically by Ṛṣabhadeva—people are spiting (spitting on him), calling him by ill names, and sometimes passing urine—he doesn't care. This is the example. Āpani ācari prabhu jīveri śikhāya. By imitation, it is not possible. We'll learn more and more about His body, how it was completely spiritual. Na jāyate na mriyate va. In other place the spiritual body is nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. The... No weapon can cut it, no fire can burn it. These descriptions are there.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: The absolute cannot be divided into parts. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi, in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the material thing, if you want to cut into pieces, that is (indistinct), but a spiritual being, avyaya, inexhaustible, there is no possibility of dividing the spirit into pieces. The Māyāvāda theory is that the absolute is all-pervading. Then when the question of His form, that is their poor fund of knowledge. The absolute, keeping His form as He is, He can expand Himself. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad-avyakta mūrtinā (BG 9.4), "I am spread all over the creation, avyakta, My impersonal form."

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Śyāmasundara: So Henri Bergson, his philosophy is called vitalism. He believes that there is a life force which is separate from the laws of physics and chemistry. Darwin thought that the life force was made up of physics and chemistry, but he said no, the life force is separate from Darwin's mechanical laws, and that science will never be able to adequately explain what is life, the source of life.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. It is soul. He's learning of soul. But he is unable to capture the..., positively. But the soul is not controlled by the physical laws. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. What does He say?

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
It is in the Second Chapter.

Devotee:

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
(BG 2.23)

Prabhupāda: What is the translation?

Pradyumna: "The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind."

Prabhupāda: What is the purport?

Conversations and Morning Walks

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Hari-śauri: This is 2.20. "For the soul there is never birth nor death, nor having once been does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." (purport) "The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind. This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried."

Prabhupāda: This is nonphysical. This is not physical. Physical, what is that physical thing which cannot be burned, which cannot be cut, which cannot be soaked? There is no such thing to the physical exterior. Is there anything?

Room Conversation With Scientists -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Rūpānuga: There is no pure water. Can there be pure water, completely pure water? If we analyze, we will find pure water?

Prabhupāda: Nothing can be pure.

Rūpānuga: Not in this material world. They say that they distill it, but just like they say fire is pure, but fire is not pure. There are living entities living in the fire. They have gross, grossly defined...

Prabhupāda: The sterilization has no meaning. The living entity will stay. Otherwise, how it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ? Find out.

Hari-śauri: You were saying yesterday that in all state of matter there is always some living condition to be found. Even in a body that is supposed to be dead, there is life coming from it.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation With Scientists -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Life and matter, is, we already explained very clearly. There is no symptom of matter in life. Everything is detailed. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. Negative way. "It is not this."

Interview and Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Sadāpūta: There was one thing I was wondering a little bit. Is the possibility of..., is it possible of making some experiments which would tend to indicate that life is not material? And this might be appealing to some of the people with scientific education, because they are used to such things, experiments.

Prabhupāda: No, experiment is there. Just like in... Hindus, we burn the body into ashes. How the soul is transmigrating? This is scientific experiment. The Bhagavad-gītā says nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Everyone is seeing the body is burned into ashes, but still, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). He's going to another body. How it is going? So the soul is not burned.

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: Shouldn't there be a balance between physical existence and spiritual existence? Like between body and spirit?

Prabhupāda: Yes. First of all, you must have spiritual understanding, then spiritual study. If you have no spiritual understanding, then why spiritual study? All these scientists, they are trying to understand the spirit soul by material, on material platform. Therefore they are being misled. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā, to distinguish between matter and spirit it is negatively described: nainaṁ chindanti śāstrāṇi. Find out. The spirit soul is there which cannot be cut into pieces by any instrument.

Hari-śauri: Nainaṁ chindanti śāstrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ (BG 2.23).

Prabhupāda: Ah, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Pāvakaḥ means fire. It is never burned into the fire. It is never cut into pieces with instrument or any weapon. So if you study these two points, anything you take, it can be cut into pieces, within our physical experience. And anything within our physical experience, it can be burned. Even the iron, so hot, it can be burned and liquified by proper temperature. Even stone, it can be burned, it can be liquified. The glass, glass is nothing but liquidified stone, everyone knows it. Purīfied by chemicals, that's all. Then?

Hari-śauri: Na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo.

Prabhupāda: Anything physical, it can be moistened. You keep in the water, it will be soft. Na kledayanty? Āpo?

Hari-śauri: Na śoṣayati mārutaḥ.

Prabhupāda: And evaporation. Even the ocean can be evaporated by the air. So we have got this experience of the five or eight elements. They are physical because they are subjected to be cut into pieces, to be burned into fire, to be moistened, to be evaporated. But it is, soul is not affected. Then we have to think of—what is that. Therefore these scientists, they are puzzled. When the soul goes out of the body, they cannot imagine what thing is missing that the body is dead. Because they have physical ideas. But it is not physical. So everything is described. We have to study thoroughly and apply our brain. The brain must be sharp and finer tissues. Then spiritual understanding will be there. With dull brain, physical brain, we cannot understand.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Hari-śauri: Their argument is that because there's no atmosphere then there's no vegetation.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is... That is another bogus. The atmosphere is the same everywhere. Little more. Just like... (break)... say in the sun planet there is living entity, there is fire. So what do you mean by atmosphere if even in fire there is life? Dahati pāvakaḥ. Bhagavad-gītā. Nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Pāvakaḥ means fire. Does not burn the soul. So where there is fire only, he develops fiery body. Not that by the fire it is finished. Nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Where there is gas, air, nainam... Find out this verse. Acchedyo' yam adāhyo' yam.

Hari-śauri: Gītā?

Prabhupāda: Bhagavad-gītā, yes. You do not read even. You should have reference immediately.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Parivrājakācārya: Even here on the earth, even ice in the South Pole of the earth, they find much life inside the ice.

Prabhupāda: Just see. Here inside the ice there are life.

Parivrājakācārya: They are very surprised. They said how is this happening.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Life is everywhere. This bogus theory there is no life, the atmosphere is different, it is bogus, simply bogus. Because spirit soul is never affected by any material atmosphere. That is the distinction between matter and spirit. It has nothing to do with this material atmosphere. They don't have knowledge, they are baffled. And those who have no knowledge, they are accepting.

Hari-śauri:

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
(BG 2.23)

"The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind."

Prabhupāda: So where is question of atmosphere influence? Suppose there is rock and sand and always hot weather. That does not mean there cannot be any life. The life is never affected by all these things. Make propaganda about this knowledge. People will understand that Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not joking; it is something serious. That boy was saying that these scientist, they know me. What is this boy's name, this boy said about the so-called astronomer, scientist? Who was this boy?

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: You have to see from the book. Seeing from the book is real seeing. What you can see with these blunt eyes? I have seen in these navigators. They see in the different plans and books, and they direct their ship or airplane accordingly. How can he see where we are going?

Hari-śauri: Just like they land an airplane.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They have got all plans and direction, and altitude, latitude, which direction is going on(?) in front of the pilot. So everything is there. In what position the plane is there, how high it is and how low it will be, where it is, everything. On that direction they can fly. Otherwise, what they can see with the eyes? At most ten miles, and it is running at six hundred miles? What ten miles will do them? So śāstra-cakṣuṣā. Authoritative literature should be the eyes, not these blunt eyes. What is the value of these eyes? Here is authority: nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. You should go to the school, colleges, and from Bhagavad-gītā give them rascal knowledge. The whole world is in darkness, and these rascals are guiding them. You have tasted the baḍā? Nim baḍā?

Room Conversation with U.N. Doctor -- September 29, 1976, Vrndavana:

Doctor: How to find the...? How to get to the ātman, the inner body?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the first instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, that first of all, try to understand what is the person. So because we have no eyes to see, indirectly dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāram... (BG 2.13). Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). So many things. Nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. So many indirect way because we cannot directly perceive.

Doctor: Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ (BG 2.23).

Prabhupāda: What is called? Definition by negation. Nainaṁ chindanti—negation. So that you can have some idea.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Before 1828 in the history of chemistry, there was these scientists. They thought that something, what happens in the body, in the living body, is different than chemistry in the physics. That is called vital theory.

Prabhupāda: No, Bhagavad-gītā says, nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ (BG 2.23). So what is there within the physical world that is not burned by fire? Where is that thing? But these rascals have no knowledge. It is clearly said indirectly. This is called negative definition: "It is not this." And because he has no brain to understand, so therefore Kṛṣṇa is explaining in the negative way that "You cannot cut by any weapon; you cannot burn it; it is never dried up." Because any physical thing, it can be cut, it can be dried up, it can be burned, it is just opposite.

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No. So they're coming around. When we say life is nonphysical and nonchemical, this is very touchy word which they don't like to hear in the beginning.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says, "nonphysical." Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, nainaṁ śoṣayati āpaḥ (BG 2.23). Everything, five elements, material... It has nothing to do with these five elements, clearly said in the Bhagavad-gītā. It is beyond this. Here whatever you find is kṣitir āpaḥ tejaḥ marud vyomā: earth, water, air, fire. That's all. But beyond that, it is not physical. And at last, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Everything is there. So I was confident in the statement of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore I strongly stressed, "This is all wrong." I believed completely in the words of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. I never experimented. But I know what Kṛṣṇa says is completely right.

Evening Darsana -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Jalaja. First jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. Not only one variety, but nine lakhs of varieties they come out from the water.

Acyutānanda: But where do they come? They're in the water, latent in the water.

Prabhupāda: They're alive. Sarva-ga. Therefore we say that "Why not in the fire?" If there is life in water, why not in the fire? You cannot see. You have no eyes. There is life, and Kṛṣṇa says, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Fire does not burn the living being, so why they will be not in fire? And Kṛṣṇa said, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham. He entered the sun planet.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1977, Mayapura:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He said in about twenty years...

Prabhupāda: Again time, time-taking. (laughter)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...the matter is completely to be decided. He said, "Either religion wins or we win." He said, "It will be decided pretty soon." I think it is already decided, because we promised about ten years ago that those chemicals, if we make those, then we'll have life in a test tube. But actually we have all those chemicals made. So I said, "We have the know-hows. We have the equipments. We have all the chemicals. But still we can't do it." So that means it's...

Prabhupāda: It is failure. You cannot do.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, in principle he agreed that science plays...

Prabhupāda: And Bhagavad-gītā clearly said, it is different thing completely. It is not matter. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. Where is that thing which cannot be cut into pieces? Bring that, any scientist. Bring that thing which cannot be cut by scientific method. Bring that thing which cannot be burned. That is stated. Find out the verse. You cannot neglect the statement of Kṛṣṇa.

Hṛdayānanda:

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
(BG 2.23)

"The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire nor moistened by water nor withered by the wind."

Prabhupāda: So where is that thing? Bring. Hm?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is also our conclusion, that... Especially it is very useful in India to refer to Bhagavad-gītā. I bring up Bhagavad-gītā. I said, "If this can be done, then Bhagavad-gītā will be wrong."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Prove that.

Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So you cannot deny, "There is no God." That is not possible. The earth is the mother. They say "mother country," "mother earth." And everything is coming out from the earth. Beginning from the aquatic animals, grass, they are coming from material elements, either from water or from earth. That we can see. And they are coming from fire also, but we cannot see. But they are. It is common sense. If life can come from water, fire... Fire is also one of the elements, five elements. So from fire also... Therefore it is said, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. Because it is coming from fire, therefore fire cannot harm the living entity. So mother is there, children are there. Where is the father? This is the logic. And the father is coming personally, "Yes, I am father." Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4).

Room Conversation with Scientists, Svarupa Damodara, and Dr. Sharma -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: These conditioned souls, very stringently bound up hands and legs by the laws of nature, they are trying to lead the human society. This rascaldom must be stopped. You do not know. Say you do not know. That's all. Why you mislead others? Giving them false knowledge. If you do not know even the distinction between the living entity and the material elements... You are trying to prove the living entity is also combination of these material elements, chemicals. Such a rascal you are. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedam (BG 7.5). It is very important thing. You do not know anything about it. Kṛṣṇa again says, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. Negative definition. Still, you are so rascal, you do not understand, and you are misleading innocent persons. So combine together as many as possible and go and challenge.

Page Title:BG 02.23 nainam chindanti sastrani... cited
Compiler:MadhuGopaldas
Created:22 of Feb, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=14, Con=15, Let=0
No. of Quotes:31