Lord Krishna
Divine TeacherThe Supreme Lord, the charioteer and divine guide of Arjuna. Krishna delivers the eternal wisdom of the Gita, revealing the nature of the soul, duty, and the path to liberation.
Speaking: Chapter 8, Verse 20
Verse 20
Hard VerseThe Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman
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.
Context & Meaning
Beyond the unmanifest that periodically manifests — beyond even the primordial creative potential — there is another reality: eternal, transcendental, untouched by creation and dissolution. When the entire cosmos is annihilated, this remains. This is the Supreme abode, and it is what Krishna is pointing toward.
Scholar Commentaries
1 commentary · Public domainAdi Shankaracharya
AdvaitaThere are two avyaktas: the lower one is māyā — the unmanifest causal energy that periodically generates the cosmos. The higher one is Brahman itself — eternal, unchanging, beyond causation entirely. Only the latter is truly imperishable.