य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम् ।उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ॥
ya enaṃ vetti hantāraṃ yaś cainaṃ manyate hatam |ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṃ hanti na hanyate ||
- यः · yaḥ
- who
- एनम् · enam
- this (self)
- वेत्ति · vetti
- knows, thinks
- हन्तारम् · hantāram
- as the slayer
- यः · yaḥ
- who
- च · ca
- and
- एनम् · enam
- this (self)
- मन्यते · manyate
- thinks
- हतम् · hatam
- as slain
- उभौ · ubhau
- both
- तौ · tau
- they
- न · na
- not
- विजानीतः · vijānītaḥ
- understand
- न · na
- neither
- अयम् · ayam
- this (self)
- हन्ति · hanti
- slays
- न · na
- nor
- हन्यते · hanyate
- is slain
“Whoever knows this self as the slayer, and whoever thinks it slain — both do not understand. It neither slays nor is slain.”
— Original plain-language translation
Killer and killed are both absolved at the level of the self — a vertiginous claim, and the Gita's hardest. It must be read with 2.20–2.30, not alone: the point is not that murder is unreal, but that the self is not the murderer and not the murdered.
— Reader's notes (original)