If the killer thinks he kills, or if the killed thinks he is killed — both do not understand. This (Ātman) neither kills nor is killed.

This verse, also present in the Bhagavad Gītā (2.19), reveals a disconcerting truth that transcends conventional morality. It is not a justification for violence but a metaphysical teaching about the nature of the Self.

Hantā — the killer, the agent of action. Hata — the killed, the one who receives the action. The verse states that both are in error if they think that the act of killing or dying affects the Ātman.

Ubhau tau na vijānītaḥ — both do not know, both lack true discernment (vijñāna). Their error is not moral but ontological: they confuse the body with the Self.

Nāyaṃ hanti na hanyate — This neither kills nor is killed. The Ātman, being pure consciousness without modification, cannot be the agent or object of any action. Killing and being killed are modifications of the body-mind, not of the Ātman.

The teaching does not promote ethical indifference. In the Upanishadic context, the purpose is liberating: to dissolve identification with the body that generates fear and attachment. One who understands that their real Self is beyond death lives without the fundamental terror that conditions ordinary existence.

In yoga, this understanding is reflected in the practice of sākṣī-bhāva — cultivating the attitude of witness. The practitioner observes the actions of body-mind as events that do not touch their essential nature. This is not psychological dissociation but direct recognition of what has always been true.