Bhagavad Gita — Sankhya Yoga, Shloka 12
Sankhya Yoga
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः । न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ २.१२ ॥
na tv evāhaṃ jātu nāsaṃ na tvaṃ neme janādhipāḥ | na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param || 2.12 ||
Never indeed was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of men; and never shall we all cease to exist hereafter.
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these kings; nor shall any of us cease to exist in the future.
‘It is not the case that I did not exist at any time, nor you, nor these rulers of people; nor is it the case that all of us shall not exist hereafter.’
This is a strong continuity claim. Some traditions read it as personal immortality; many academic interpretations treat it as asserting the persistence of the self (ātman) across temporal change, without specifying later doctrinal details such as reincarnation in this verse alone.
FAQs
It aims to reduce existential panic by placing the crisis within a larger continuity, offering a cognitive frame that can stabilize emotion.
Krishna asserts the non-cessation of the self across past and future, a foundational claim for later discussions of embodiment, rebirth, and liberation.
Following the critique of misplaced grief (2.11), this verse supplies the first explicit metaphysical premise supporting equanimity.
Even without adopting metaphysical commitments, readers may take it as an invitation to view identity as more than momentary roles, enabling calmer ethical deliberation.