Chapter 13, Verse 13
ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते | अनादिमत्परं ब्रह्म न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते ||१३-१३||
jñeyaṃ yattatpravakṣyāmi yajjñātvāmṛtamaśnute . anādi matparaṃ brahma na sattannāsaducyate ||13-13||
Meaning
13.13 I will declare that which has to be known, knowing which one attains to immortality, the beginningless supreme Brahman, called neither being nor non-being.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Having defined knowledge, Krishna now turns to the jneya — the supreme reality that knowledge is meant to reveal. He makes a stunning promise: knowing this, one tastes immortality (amritam ashnute). This is not endless duration in time but freedom from the whole cycle of birth and death, the deathless peace of the Self.
He calls it the beginningless supreme Brahman, and then offers a profound paradox: it is said to be 'neither being nor non-being' (na sat tat na asat). Brahman cannot be captured as an ordinary existing thing among other things, for it is not an object; yet it is not mere nothingness either, for it is the very ground of all that is. Language, fashioned to describe objects, falters before the source of all objects. This apophatic hint trains the mind to release its grasping concepts and approach the ineffable with humility and wonder rather than with definitions.
💡 Key Takeaway
The ultimate reality cannot be boxed into our usual categories — knowing it directly is what liberates.
Related Verses
सर्वतः पाणिपादं तत्सर्वतोऽक्षिशिरोमुखम् | सर्वतः श्रुतिमल्लोके सर्वमावृत्य तिष्ठति ||१३-१४||
sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṃ tatsarvato.akṣiśiromukham . sarvataḥ śrutimalloke sarvamāvṛtya tiṣṭhati ||13-14||
13.14 With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the worlds enveloping all.
सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम् | असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च ||१३-१५||
sarvendriyaguṇābhāsaṃ sarvendriyavivarjitam . asaktaṃ sarvabhṛccaiva nirguṇaṃ guṇabhoktṛ ca ||13-15||
13.15 Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the senses; unattached, yet supporting all; devoid of alities, yet their experiencer.
बहिरन्तश्च भूतानामचरं चरमेव च | सूक्ष्मत्वात्तदविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत् ||१३-१६||
bahirantaśca bhūtānāmacaraṃ carameva ca . sūkṣmatvāttadavijñeyaṃ dūrasthaṃ cāntike ca tat ||13-16||
13.16 Without and within (all) beings the unmoving and also the moving; because of Its subtlety, unknowable; and near and far away is That.