Chapter 2 Shloka 24

अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च।

नित्य: सर्वगत: स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातन:।।२४।।

Again the Lord speaks about the Atma:

The Atma is incapable of being cut,

burnt, moistened or dried.

It is eternal, all pervading,

stable, immovable and ancient.

Chapter 2 Shloka 24

अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च।

नित्य: सर्वगत: स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातन:।।२४।।

Again the Lord speaks about the Atma:

The Atma is incapable of being cut, burnt, moistened or dried. It is eternal, all pervading, stable, immovable and ancient.

The Lord emphasises the attributes of the Atma:

1. Achhedya (अच्छेद्य)

    It is incapable of being cut; it cannot be broken, it cannot cease to be, it cannot meet with failure, it cannot meet with an end.

2. Adaahya (अदाह्य)

    It cannot be burnt, it is non-combustible; it cannot be incited; it gives no pain or remorse, it cannot enrage.

3. Akledya (अक्लेद्य)

    It does not get wet; it is not susceptible to pain, sorrow or trouble.

4. Ashoshya (अशोष्य)

    It cannot be dried; it does not wither or fade.

In saying all this, the Lord is merely stressing that the Atma is incapable of undergoing any change whatsoever. It remains ever unaffected by water, fire, air, ether or the earth. The qualities of these five basic elements cannot alter it. It is eternal and omnipresent yet immovable; it is stable and ancient.

The attributes of the body are diametrically opposed to these.

1. The body is neither ancient, nor immovable.

2. It is neither omnipresent nor eternal.

3. Its age is only a fraction in eternity.

4. It is constituted of the five elements.

5. It is eternally affected by the five elements.

It is as if the Lord is saying, “Arjuna! You are not this body, but the Atma – then why be attached to the body? Align yourself with your eternal essence. You are a part of the omnipresent Truth. Why do you bind yourself to this perishable cadaver?”

Moha

Little one, as long as you view the world from the point of view of relationship to your personal body, you will never be able to see the Reality. Moha is identification with your own body. Attachment to the body, or considering yourself to be only the body, is caused by moha.

1. This is the birth of ignorance.

2. Moha blinds even those who possess sight.

3. Because of it, an individual cannot comprehend his basic essence.

4. It drives the individual to seek establishment of the body above all else.

5. Moha causes the decline of dharma.

6. Moha diverts a person from his duty.

7. Moha is primarily with one’s own body and then with the relations and associates of that body.

8. It is the cause of a person’s inability to take a just decision.

9. It sows the seed of individuality.

10. Due to moha, a person develops demonic traits such as greed and lust.

11. It creates frustration, remorse and anguish.

12. In fact, it is the root cause of the mental knots or complexes that arise in the mind.

13. Because of moha, the mind becomes impure.

So little one! The root cause of all such mental aberrations is identification with the body or forgetfulness of one’s true essence.

Therefore, Bhagwan is repeatedly talking to Arjuna about the Atma and thereby trying to help him transcend his identification with the body. When one has transcended the body, the mind becomes:

a) completely peaceful;

b) devoid of mental aberrations;

c) free of anguish;

d) free of doubts;

e) devoid of sorrow.

Moha was Arjuna’s disease, which the Lord Himself is curing. Little one, this is the illness by which all beings are afflicted and the cure to this disease lies in understanding all that the Lord has just explained to Arjuna.