The intricate meaning of the famous verse, nityo nityānām
There is a very famous passage of the Upaniṣads, the verse nityo nityānām, which appears both in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.13) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.13). It has an extremely rich meaning
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There is a very famous passage of the Upaniṣads, the verse nityo nityānām, which appears both in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.13) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.13). This is an extremely popular verse of the Upanisads in all academic and philosophical circles:
nityo nityānām cetanaś cetanānām
eko bahūnām yo vidadhāti kāmān
tam ātma-stham ye ’nupaśyanti dhīrās
teṣām śāntiḥ śāśvatī netareṣām
This is also a verse that Prabhupāda would quote frequently. The meaning, however, is much more intricate than it may appear at first, revealing the nature of the soul, the nature of the Lord, the relationship between the two, and the importance of transcendental knowledge.
What does it mean?
The verse starts with the word “nityo,” describing an eternal being who is the creator of everything. Everything we can see around us in this material world is temporary, with a beginning and an end. However, this temporary manifestation originates from this eternal being. The word “nityo” describes a single, masculine subject. It can be translated as “the eternal one.” This eternal is a person and not just an object. But who is He?
The next word, nityānām, reveals that this eternal one is not alone. He exists together with many other eternals. Nityānām is in the genitive plural. There is one supreme eternal, who is the principal, and many other subordinate eternals. These subordinate eternals are us, the jīvas, who share the same eternal nature as the Supreme Lord but are subordinate to Him.
The next word, cetanaś, is in the nominative singular. It indicates that this supreme eternal is conscious (cit). He is conscious and full of knowledge. The word cetanānām (in the genitive plural) indicates that all the other eternals, the jīvas, share this same conscious nature with the supreme eternal.
The word “kāmān” in the second line indicates that all these jīvas possess many desires. However, they alone are not capable of acting on these desires. Eko bahūnām yo vidadhāti: the one supreme eternal provides for all the subordinate eternals. In this way, Kṛṣṇa is defined as the possessor of all the potencies and opulences, the maintainer of everyone, and the support of everything. Everyone else is dependent on Him.
Because we have material desires, the Lord supplies us with material bodies so we can try to satisfy these desires. These bodies are, however, different from us in nature, just like a car is different from the human being driving it. A person can drive a car, but can’t become a car. A person enters the car and becomes the driver of the car, and when his driving activities are concluded, he may leave the car and continue with his life. Similarly, the soul assumes a material body and uses this body to perform activities, as the controller of the body, but it is incorrect to identify the soul with the body, just as it is incorrect to call a man driving a Mercedes “Mr. Mercedes” or a lady driving a blue car “Mrs. Blue.”
The soul is, however, not alone inside the body. Tam ātma-stham: this supreme eternal (tam) enters the body together with the soul. He is present everywhere as Paramātmā, and all souls are eternally connected with Him, inside or outside the body. Both the soul and the Lord are present inside the heart, just like two birds residing in a tree, but they are not the same. The soul is absorbed in enjoying the fruits of the tree, some perceived as sweet and others as bitter, while the Lord simply observes, as a neutral witness. He sanctions and enables the activities of the soul, yet He is not responsible for the results.
As long as we are absorbed in the body and the material activities connected with it, we remain in anxiety, hankering for material things we are attracted to and desperately trying to hold onto whatever we have, trying to find some kind of stable situation amid the transience of this world. However, when we become sober and wise, we can perceive the Lord inside our hearts and become again connected with our original, spiritual nature; we attain eternal peace (anupaśyanti dhīrās, teṣām śāntiḥ). This eternal peace is, however, not available to others who fail to do so (na itareṣām).
This verse is connected with Bhagavad-gītā 2.12, which explains this eternal nature of the soul as different from the body:
na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ
na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
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.”
Kṛṣṇa starts by explaining to Arjuna that the soul is eternal: there is no beginning for the soul, and consequently, there is no end. The soul is simply eternal, ever-existing, just like the Lord. This idea is conveyed in a very beautiful form. He starts by declaring, na tv evāham jātu nāsam.
The words “na tv evā” form a peculiar construction. In some verses of the Vedas, ideas are intentionally emphasized or repeated so as to not leave any doubt. One similar example is the verse “harer nāma harer nāma, harer nāmaiva kevalam, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā”, where the words “harer nāma” and “nāsty eva” are repeated to emphasize that there is indeed no other way to achieve perfection in the age we live in apart from chanting the holy names. The word “na” means not, or never. The word “tu” ordinarily means “however”, but in this case is used to emphasize the idea, while “eva” means “certainly” or “indeed”. In this way, “na tv evā” could be translated as “never, indeed never, certainly never”, excluding any possibility of doubt.
What is this idea that is negated so strongly? Aham jātu nāsam: For Me, Kṛṣṇa (aham), there was never (jātu) a time of nonexistence (na āsam). In other words, there was never a time when Kṛṣṇa did not exist. The second line, na tvam neme janādhipāḥ, extends the same idea to Arjuna (tvam) and all the kings and soldiers assembled on the battlefield (janādhipāḥ). Just as Kṛṣṇa has no beginning, being eternally existent, all of them are equally eternal and ever-existent.
There is no creation for any of them, and consequently, there will be no end. The words “na ca eva” in the third line again strongly negate an idea. It means, literally, “not, never, certainly not”. What is this second idea that is also so strongly negated? Na bhaviṣyāmaḥ, sarve vayam ataḥ param: There will never be a time when we will cease to exist.
As we can see, this verse follows the same logic as the verse nityo nityānām cetanaś cetanānām. Different from material things, which have a beginning, pass through many changes, and eventually come to an end, the soul is eternal, having no beginning or end, and passing through no transformation.
The body is temporary: it has a beginning and an end. Between these two stages, there are many other stages, like boyhood, adulthood, old age, etc., and all these stages are transitory and temporary. The eternal inside the body, however, the soul, does not change, remaining always the same. Because the soul has no beginning and undergoes no change, there is also no death for the soul. We are thus eternal beings temporarily living in temporary bodies.
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