Repeat truth until it becomes steadiness.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥२-२४॥
acchedyo'yam adāhyo'yam akledyo'śoṣya eva ca | nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur acalo'yaṃ sanātanaḥ ||2-24||
Use this verse as a grounding mantra.
Meaning
The self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable, and everlasting.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Krishna repeats the soul’s indestructibility to make Arjuna’s mind steady.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Repetition matters when fear is strong. Krishna gives Arjuna multiple words for the same truth: eternal, stable, immovable, ancient. In a crisis, the mind needs to hear truth again and again until it becomes inner conviction.
Read the traditional commentary
This verse consolidates and extends the declarations of verse 23, adding positive attributes to the negative declarations. Not only is the soul immune to every destructive force, but it possesses a series of magnificent positive qualities: 'nitya' (eternal), 'sarva-gata' (all-pervading, present everywhere), 'sthāṇu' (perfectly stable, like a pillar), 'acala' (immovable), and 'sanātana' (primeval, from before time).
The attribute 'sarva-gata' — all-pervading — is philosophically significant. The soul is not confined to the body in the way a person is confined to a room. It pervades all space.
This raises profound questions about individual identity and cosmic consciousness that the Gita and the broader Vedantic tradition explore at length. At minimum, it suggests that the separateness we experience between 'my soul' and 'your soul' may be a function of bodily identification rather than ultimate reality.
'Sthāṇu' and 'acala' — fixed and immovable — describe the soul as the one constant in the flux of experience. Everything in the manifest world moves, changes, rises, and falls. The soul alone is the unchanging witness.
Spiritual practice, from this perspective, is the progressive discovery of this unchanging ground within oneself — not a remote theological abstraction but the most intimate fact of one's experience. When all else is in motion, this stillness remains. And recognizing it, even briefly, is the beginning of liberation.
In daily life
Use sacred reminders to train the mind during fear.
Before a stressful day, repeating one grounding verse can set emotional stability.
Try this today
Choose one affirmation from this verse and repeat it 11 times.
I am steady in the eternal truth of the self.Reflect
Which truth do I need to hear repeatedly?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘sanātanaḥ’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on ego, in other chapters
- Verse 15.5Inner freedom from pride, craving, and the swing of pleasure and pain leads to the imperishable state.
- Verse 7.5Beyond inert matter lives a conscious power that upholds the world — recognise that living presence in yourself and in all beings.
- Verse 3.27Much of your stress comes from the ego's claim 'I am the doer' — see that nature works through you and release the burden of false authorship.
- Verse 9.12When striving is rooted in ego and cut off from a deeper purpose, even our cleverest efforts tend to come to nothing.
Swipe left for 2.25 · Expand understanding to transform grief.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 2.24
Who says Bhagavad Gita 2.24, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 2.24, in Chapter 2, Sankhya Yoga (Sankhya Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 2.24 mean?
The self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable, and everlasting. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 2.24 for daily life?
Use sacred reminders to train the mind during fear. Before a stressful day, repeating one grounding verse can set emotional stability.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 2.24 mean?
acchedyaḥ — uncleavable, cannot be cut; ayam — this (soul); adāhyaḥ — cannot be burned; akledyaḥ — cannot be moistened; aśoṣyaḥ — cannot be dried.
Where does verse 2.24 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 24 of 72 in Chapter 2, Sankhya Yoga. The next verse is 2.25.