Whoever knows this to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and immutable, how can that person, oh Pārtha, kill whom or cause whom to be killed?

The rhetorical question inverts the argument. If the ātman cannot be killed (avināśin, aja, avyaya), then “killing” is conceptually impossible for one who knows this. Kathaṃ (how?) — a question of logical impossibility.

Puruṣaḥ (person, animating principle) — the one who knows. The verb ghātayati (causes to kill, brings about death) covers ordering killing, not just executing. Hanti (kills) covers direct action.

The double kam (whom/whom) emphasizes the impossibility: neither agent nor object exist from the perspective of truth. This does not deny the appearance of violence but its ultimate reality.