Chapter II · Śloka 12
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः |
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ||
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ||
na tv evāhaṃ jātu nāsaṃ na tvaṃ neme janādhipāḥ |
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param ||
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param ||
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
Krishna establishes the bedrock of his metaphysics: the self has never not existed and will never not exist. This is not a claim about rebirth but about the timeless nature of consciousness — the ātman that cannot be located in birth or death.