Bhagavad Gita · Sankhya YogaChapter 2, Shloka 12 (2.12)
Original Sanskrit · श्रीभगवान्
न त्वेवाहं जातु नाऽऽसं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम्
॥ 2.12 ॥
na tvevāhaṃ jātu nā''saṃ na tvaṃ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayamataḥ param
Translation
"Never was there a time when I did not exist, or you, or these kings; nor will there ever be a time hereafter when we shall all cease to be."
Interpretation
Three times, one existence. Krishna speaks of the three times: the past ("I/you/these were not — it is not so"), and the future ("we shall not be — it is not so"). Shankaracharya: triṣv api kāleṣu nityā ātma-svarūpeṇa — as the self, all are eternal in all three times. Just as pots are made and broken but space remains eternal — so bodies come and go, but not the self.
"Aham, tvam, ime, vayam" — I, you, these, all of us. Krishna includes himself too. This does two things: (1) Arjuna feels that this principle is just as true for Krishna; (2) and it raises the biggest philosophical debate — does the plural "all of us" point to separate, individual selves?
Why this shloka matters in context. Arjuna's sorrow was: "these people will die." Krishna's first answer: "what these people really are never dies." The root cause of grief — destruction — is itself shown to be false.
AI-assisted draft translation — under review.