Does Gita 2.11 refer to the life-air or to the soul?
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Question, how does the Bhagavad Gita 2.11 refer to a soul as such it basically says that Gatasun Gatasunstha Nanasocanti Panditaha so Prabhupada says that it refers to the soul but simply says that the life air has gone life air has not gone, so how does it refer to the soul, if you see this is the first verse that Krishna is speaking Ashocana Nanasocastam Pragyavadam so you are lamenting for that which is not worthy of lamentation why speaking learned words and what is the what is it that learned don't lament about Gatasun Agatasunstha so Gata means to go, Agata is not to go Asun refers to the life air so when the life air has gone or the life air has not gone Gatasun Agatasunstha Nanasocanti Panditaha the Pandit, the wise people do not lament for that loss for the presence or absence of the life air now this is actually a prelude to the description of the soul there is no direct description of the soul now in the Chandogya Upanishad it is mentioned that when the soul leaves the body along with the soul it is not just the subtle body that goes but the prana also with goes and that's why we have several places in the Bhagavatam for example Krishna kills Putana at that time it is said that he sucks her life air and when life air is sucked out at that time the soul also goes out with it so it is said that the soul is situated, if you consider life airs, prana, paana, jnana, samana, udana these five are like five vectors going in five different directions the soul is situated in the point where the resultant is zero it is balanced and when this life air comes out the soul goes with that so Krishna is definitely not stating the soul over here directly but it is an inference which is drawn from the point that when the life air goes along with that the source of life, the soul will also be going and Krishna explicitly talks about the soul actually in two verses later in 2.30, in 2.12 also there is no direct reference to the soul but there is a more clear reference to something eternal so the main gist of this verse is that the wise do not lament for the presence or absence of life now what does this mean it simply points to eternal dimension one of Shri Prabhupada's characteristics in his purports is that he gives us advanced concepts also in his early purports and that way his idea is that if people read even one or two purports they should get the gist of the message in all purports that's a strategy which he uses to make sure that people do not miss the essence because they do not go through the book till they reach the essence and in this verse the gatasun agatasun it simply means that life air is gone, life air is not gone but it's understood if one knows the Upanishadic context that life air goes with the soul and life air is present that means soul is present so in that sense what Krishna essentially points out is that there is something beyond the body which is important and its presence is it now when we say gata is gone or is there we often use this to point out he has gone he has gone means where has he gone so who has gone and where has that person gone that means there is something existing which is gone so the verse indirectly points to the existence of something beyond the body which is the source of the body which is the source of life in the body and that what that specific thing is that is pointed out in later verses so the verse indirectly points to the soul thank you.