15.16 Two beings in the world Krishna speaks
द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च
क्षरः सर्वाणि भूतानि कूटस्थोऽक्षर उच्यते
dvāv imau puruṣhau loke kṣharaśh chākṣhara eva cha
kṣharaḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭa-stho ’kṣhara uchyate
There are two beings in this world: the perishable and the imperishable. All creatures are the perishable; the unchanging is called the imperishable.
Explanation
Two kinds of being, named and separated.
- the perishable — kṣara — which is all creatures
- the imperishable — akṣara — the unchanging
This is the distinction chapter 8 spent twenty verses building toward and chapter 13 will restate as field and knower. Here it takes a line, because it is only the setup for the verse after it.
Word by word
- dvau
- two
- imau
- these
- puruṣhau
- beings
- loke
- in creation
- kṣharaḥ
- the perishable
- cha
- and
- akṣharaḥ
- the imperishable
- eva
- even
- cha
- and
- kṣharaḥ
- the perishable
- sarvāṇi
- all
- bhūtāni
- beings
- kūṭa-sthaḥ
- the liberated
- akṣharaḥ
- the imperishable
- uchyate
- is said
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