Verse 2.12

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.12:

न त्व् एवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयम् अतः परम् ॥ १२ ॥

na tv evāhaṃ jātu nāsaṃ na tvaṃ neme janādhipāḥ |
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param || 12 ||

na–never; tu eva–most certainly; aham–I; jātu–at any time; na āsam–did not exist; na–nor; tvam–you; na–nor; ime–these; jana-adhipāḥ–kings; na–nor; ca–also; eva–certainly; na bhaviṣyāmaḥ–shall not exist; sarve vayam–all of us; ataḥ param–hereafter.

There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings, nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Kṛṣṇa asks the question, “O My friend Arjuna, when one grieves over the death of a dear person, what is the object of his love? Is it the body or the soul?

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.50) it is said:

sarveṣām api bhūtānāṃ nṛpa svātmaiva vallabhaḥ

O King, for all living entities, the ātmā, or self, is certainly the most dear.

According to this statement of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, it is the ātmā that is the only object of love. Although there is a difference between Īśvara and the jīva, both types of ātmā are eternal and free from death. This is so even though there is a difference between the Supreme Soul and the individual soul. Therefore, it is not the soul that is the object of grief. For this reason only, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is speaking this verse beginning with na tv evāham. “It is not true that I, Paramātmā, the Supreme Self, did not exist in the past. Certainly I existed. In the same way, you, the individual ātma, also existed in the past, as did the ātma of all these kings.” The possibility of the soul not existing prior to its existence in his present body is refuted by this statement. “Similarly, it is also not true that you, these kings and I will not continue to exist in the future. We will all continue to exist.” Thus, it has been proven that the soul is indestructible.

In this regard, the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.13) states:

nityo nityānāṃ cetanaś cetanānām
eko bahūnāṃ yo vidadhāti kāmān

There is one Supreme Eternal amongst all eternals, one Supreme Consciousness among all conscious beings. Although He is one, He fulfils the desires of all.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

The soul’s contact with the gross body is called birth, and separation from it is called death. When the soul is situated in the gross body, a person has loving dealings with others. But ignorant persons, who consider the gross body to be the self, do not realize that the real self is not material, and thus when a soul disappears from a body, they become absorbed in grief.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Parīkṣit Mahārāja asked Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, “O brāhmaṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa was not born to the parents of the other cowherd boys. How was it possible for those parents to have such unparalleled love for Him, a love they did not even have for their own children?” In response to this, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, “O King, for all living entities, one’s own self is the most dear. Although objects that are separate from one’s self, such as a son, wealth or a house, are dear to one’s self, they are not as dear as the self itself. The affection one has for them is secondary to the affection one has for one’s own self. In other words, there is a difference between ‘I’ and ‘mine’. The amount of affection a person has for the objects he possesses is not the same as the affection that he has for his own self.”

Those who consider the body to be the self do not feel that anything related to the body, such as a house, a wife or a son, is as dear to them as their own body. And even though a person’s body is the object of his affection, it is not as dear to him as the self, because when the body becomes old, the desire for survival still remains strong. This is due to one’s excessive attachment to one’s self. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the very Self of the self, and for that reason He is every soul’s most dear object. The world, which is related to Kṛṣṇa, is also dear, but not the most dear. Kṛṣṇa is the object of the word ‘I’, because He is the Soul of all souls. And anything related to Kṛṣṇa, such as the universe, is the object of the word ‘mine’. That is why Kṛṣṇa is so dear to the cowherd boys.

The dialogue between Yājñavalkya and Maitreyī in Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (2.4.5) verifies the above statements. Therein it is said:

sa hovāca na vā are patyuḥ kāmāya priyo bhavaty ātmanas tu kāmāya patiḥ priyo bhavati na
vā are sarvasya kāmāya sarvaṃ priyaṃ bhavaty ātmanas tu kāmāya sarvaṃ priyaṃ bhavati

[The great sage Yājñavalkya is saying to Maitreyī:] No living entity loves another for the other’s satisfaction. Only for one’s own satisfaction does the husband love his wife, the wife love her husband, the father love his son and the son love his father. A person is dear, not for someone else's satisfaction, but for the happiness and satisfaction of one’s own self.