य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम् ।उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ॥
ya enaṃ vetti hantāraṃ yaścainaṃ manyate hatam |ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṃ hanti na hanyate ||
One who thinks of this self as a killer, and one who thinks of it as killed—both of them fail to understand. This self neither kills nor is killed.
Explanation
Krishna is continuing his teaching to Arjuna, who is reluctant to fight because he fears killing his kin. Here he says that the self (ātman), the conscious inner being, is not what is actually slain or what does the slaying, so seeing oneself as a killer or a victim is a misunderstanding. Traditions differ on how the self relates to the Supreme: Advaita reads it as ultimately non-different from Brahman, while Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita see it as distinct or dependent. All of them agree here that the self is untouched by the act of killing.