The ultimate truth is beyond ordinary categories.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते |अनादिमत्परं ब्रह्म न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते ||१३-१३||
jñeyaṃ yattatpravakṣyāmi yajjñātvāmṛtamaśnute . anādi matparaṃ brahma na sattannāsaducyate ||13-13||
Use this verse for deep Brahman contemplation.
Meaning
I will explain that which is to be known, by knowing which one attains immortality: the beginningless supreme Brahman, which is said to be neither being nor non-being.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Krishna begins describing the ultimate reality to be known.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
After explaining knowledge as character, Krishna now explains the object of knowledge: Brahman. It is beginningless, supreme, and beyond simple categories of existence and non-existence.
Read the traditional 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.
In daily life
Approach Brahman with humility, not rigid definitions.
A thinker may need silence when concepts cannot capture the deepest reality.
Try this today
Sit silently for one minute without defining the Absolute.
I honor the supreme truth beyond concepts.Reflect
Where do my concepts fail before truth?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘न सत् तत् न असत् उच्यते’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on immortality, in other chapters
- Verse 14.27The deathless Absolute, eternal righteousness, and perfect bliss all rest in the Divine — so to love God is to reach the ground of all freedom.
- Verse 12.3The formless Absolute is imperishable and all-pervading, worshipped by those who seek the Divine beyond all form.
- Verse 2.72The path described in Chapter 2 leads to a state from which there is no falling back — steady, clear, and ultimately free.
- Verse 5.19Steady your mind in equanimity and you conquer birth and death here and now — for an even mind already rests in Brahman.
Swipe left for 13.14 · The Divine pervades all beings.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 13.13
Who says Bhagavad Gita 13.13, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 13.13, in Chapter 13, Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga (Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 13.13 mean?
I will explain that which is to be known, by knowing which one attains immortality: the beginningless supreme Brahman, which is said to be neither being nor non-being. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 13.13 for daily life?
Approach Brahman with humility, not rigid definitions. A thinker may need silence when concepts cannot capture the deepest reality.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 13.13 mean?
ज्ञेयम् यत् तत् प्रवक्ष्यामि — I shall declare that which is to be known; यत् ज्ञात्वा अमृतम् अश्नुते — knowing which one attains immortality; अनादिमत् परम् ब्रह्म — the beginningless supreme Brahman; न सत् तत् न असत् उच्यते — called neither being nor non-being.
Where does verse 13.13 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 13 of 35 in Chapter 13, Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga. The next verse is 13.14.