[Advaita-l] Adhyaropa - Apavāda in the Bh.Gita 2nd chapter

[V Subrahmanian]

Here is the verse in the 2nd chapter for which the Bhashya commences in the
Bh.Gita:

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ १२ ॥

 Certainly, it is not a fact that I did not exist at any time; nor you, nor
these rulers of men. And surely it is not that we shall all cease to exist
after this.

Shankara comments here: 'The use of plural here by Bhagavan is on the basis
of bodily plurality and not on the Atmic plurality.

This is an extremely significant Vedantic doctrinal point to which Shankara
is drawing our attention: the Atman is only one across all bodies.

Krishna proves this in the subsequent instructions:

अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि *येन सर्वमिदं ततम्* ।
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ॥ १७ ॥ 2.17

But know That to be indestructible by which* all this is pervaded*. None
can bring about the destruction of this Immutable.

अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
नित्यः* सर्वगतः* स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २४ ॥ 2.24

It cannot be cut, it cannot be burnt, cannot be moistened, and surely
cannot be dried up. *It is eternal, omnipresent*, stationary, unmoving and
changeless.

Krishna teaches that though the bodies perish, the Atman never does. The
Atman is all-pervading. This all-pervading feature of the Atman negates
(apavāda) the plural used in verse 2.12. There, the plural based on the
bodies was justified but the truth is that the Atman is one alone. Since
there can't be multiple all-pervading Atmans, the Vedantic doctrinal point
Shankara highlighted in 2.12 is upheld by Bhagavan, who states twice that
the Atman is all-pervading.

The adhyāropa of many beings existing (based on the many bodies) is
negated, apavāda, by clarifying that one all-pervading Atman alone exists.

We see Veda Vyasa doing this in many other places across his works. Here is
a very glaring example:

**Krishna says to his father Vasudeva:**

अहं यूयमसावार्य इमे च द्वारकौकसः
सर्वेऽप्येवं यदुश्रेष्ठ विमृग्याः सचराचरम् २३

We must examine the notions of 'myself, you, these people, the people of
Dwaraka - the entire animate and inanimate world'


*आत्मा ह्येकः स्वयंज्योतिर्नित्योऽन्यो निर्गुणो गुणैःआत्मसृष्टैस्तत्कृतेषु
भूतेषु बहुधेयते २४*
खं वायुर्ज्योतिरापो भूस्तत्कृतेषु यथाशयम्
आविस्तिरोऽल्पभूर्येको नानात्वं यात्यसावपि २५

*The Self is one, self-luminous. Eternal. Different from non-Self. Without
attributes*. This is the declaration of Brahma eva satyam. It appears as
many due to imagined qualities. Just as the five elements manifest in their
effects like pots etc., and disappear during dissolution, Brahman, through
imagined qualities, experiences the worldly states like birth and death in
bodies which are its effects. This is mere appearance.

Vasudeva became freed from the* delusion of the multiplicity* of Atman:

श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणम्/स्कन्धः १०/उत्तरार्धः/अध्यायः ८५

https://sa.wikisource.org/s/j55

श्रीशुक उवाच

एवं भगवता राजन्वसुदेव उदाहृतः

श्रुत्वा विनष्टनानाधीस्तूष्णीं प्रीतमना अभूत् २६

Thus, O King Parikshit, having been instructed/taught by the son Krishna,
the father Vasudeva, hearing this, abandoned the notion of diversity and
became peaceful.
Read more on this here from the Bhagavatam and Vishnu Puranam:
https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2025/06/29/nanatva-manyness-is-bhrama-bhagavatam/

The Bhagavatam says that Bhishma at the time of giving up his body became
freed from bheda-moha.

Thus the Adhyāropa-apavāda nyāya is demonstrated in the 2nd chapter of the
Bh.Gita. Another such instance in the Gita itself is in the 13th chapter,
verses 13 and 14, where Shankara cites that maxim in the Bhashyam.

Read about this maxim, which is akin to the Shākha chandra and Sthula
Arundhati nyayas here:

https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aa-listed-in-books-of-maxims-cc.pdf


Om Tat Sat