2.29 No one truly knows it Krishna speaks
आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्यः
आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः श्रृणोति श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित्
āśhcharya-vat paśhyati kaśhchid enan
āśhcharya-vad vadati tathaiva chānyaḥ
āśhcharya-vach chainam anyaḥ śhṛiṇoti
śhrutvāpyenaṁ veda na chaiva kaśhchit
One person sees it as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder — and even having heard, no one truly knows it.
Explanation
And even having heard, no one truly knows it.
An unusual admission in the middle of a teaching: one sees it as a wonder, one speaks of it, one hears of it — and still nobody knows.
It is the same withdrawal 7.26 makes. The chapter arguing hardest for a conclusion also says the conclusion is not really available.
Going further
Word by word
- āśhcharya-vat
- as amazing
- paśhyati
- see
- kaśhchit
- someone
- enam
- this soul
- āśhcharya-vat
- as amazing
- vadati
- speak of
- tathā
- thus
- eva
- indeed
- cha
- and
- anyaḥ
- other
- āśhcharya-vat
- similarly amazing
- cha
- also
- enam
- this soul
- anyaḥ
- others
- śhṛiṇoti
- hear
- śhrutvā
- having heard
- api
- even
- enam
- this soul
- veda
- understand
- na
- not
- cha
- and
- eva
- even
- kaśhchit
- some
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An unusual admission in the middle of a teaching: some see it as a wonder, some speak of it as a wonder, some hear of it as a wonder — and having heard, none truly knows it.
Krishna has just spent nine verses explaining the imperishable, and now says the explanation does not amount to knowing. That honesty is worth more than the doctrine around it.