Chapter II · Śloka 21
वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् |
कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ||
कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ||
vedāvināśinaṃ nityaṃ ya enam ajam avyayam |
kathaṃ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha kaṃ ghātayati hanti kam ||
kathaṃ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha kaṃ ghātayati hanti kam ||
O Pārtha, the person who knows this self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and immutable — how and whom can that person cause to be killed, or kill?
Krishna turns the logic back on Arjuna as a rhetorical question: knowing what the self truly is, the very concept of causing death dissolves. This is not an excuse for indifference but a radical recalibration of what killing and dying actually mean.