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Chapter 8 · Attaining the Supreme · 28 verses

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Liberation & destinyChapter 8 · Attaining the Supreme
8.198.21

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 8.20

Mortality, cosmic cycles and eternal destination

परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातन: ।

य: स सर्वेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न विनश्यति ॥ २० ॥

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo

’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ

yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu

naśyatsu na vinaśyati

Translation

Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

Kṛṣṇa’s Eternal Spiritual Nature

  1. 1Beyond manifest and unmanifest matter is another unmanifest nature. It is supreme, eternal, and never destroyed.
  2. 2Prabhupāda explains that this is Kṛṣṇa’s superior spiritual energy, beyond all material changes.
  3. 3Material nature appears and is destroyed during Brahmā’s days and nights, but spiritual nature remains unchanged.

Where we are

In the story

Chapter 8, Attaining the Supreme: mortality, cosmic cycles and eternal destination.

What it teaches

Theme summary

The soul's true destination is eternal.

2

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: mokṣa, dhāma.

3

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 8.20 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to liberation & destiny?

Practice

Reflect on what you want to remember at life's end.

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Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 8.16Mortality, cosmic cycles and eternal destinationBG 8.17Mortality, cosmic cycles and eternal destination

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

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Back to step 3The key ideasNext · Step 5 of 7 · 5 minLive the teachingsBring it into your day with a practice and a question, straight from Prabhupāda's purports.