2-19

य एनम् वेत्ति हन्तारम् यश्चैनम् मन्यते हतम् ।
उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायम् हन्ति न हन्यते ॥ १९ ॥

ya enam vetti hantAram yazcainam manyate hatam |
ubhau tau na vijAnIto nAyam hanti na hanyate || 19 ||

यः [yaH] The one who वेत्ति [vetti] knows एनम् [enam] this Self हन्तारम् [hantAram] as something which can kill, यश्च [yazca] and the one who मन्यते [manyate] assumes that हतम् [hatam] it is killed- उभौ तौ [ubhau tau] both of them न विजानीतः [na vijAnItaH] don’t know नायम् हन्ति [nAyam hanti] that the Self does not kill, न हन्यते [na hanyate] nor can it be killed.

People who believe that the Self (whose qualities are described above) can kill, or in any way be a cause for killing, as well as those who believe that it can be killed due to any cause, do not know.

Due to the facts mentioned before, also due to the fact that the Self is indestructible, it cannot be a cause for killing. The Self cannot be killed either, due to the same facts.

The verb ‘kill’ has the Self as the object. It refers to the act of separating the Self from the body. The fact expressed is that the Self cannot be killed. In that case, what about the scriptures that say ‘One must not cause harm to animals’, ‘A student of the scriptures must not be killed’? These statements forbid certain actions, referring to ‘killing’ in the sense of separating the body from the Self.