Since sword and the rest, which destroy one another, cannot manage to destroy this Self, it is eternal. Being eternal, it is all-pervading; being all-pervading, it is firm, like a fixed post; being firm, it is unmoving. Therefore it is everlasting, age-old, not produced afresh from any cause. No charge of repetition should be brought against these verses. Although the Self's eternality and changelessness were stated in a single verse, 'it is not born or dies' and the rest, whatever is said of the Self does not go beyond the sense of that verse, though some of it is repeated in word and some in sense. Because the reality of the Self is hard to grasp, the Blessed Lord Vāsudeva, raising the topic again and again, sets out that same reality in different words, hoping that somehow the unmanifest reality might come within the range of the understanding of those in transmigration and so lead to its cessation. Further.

This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.

Ramanuja's commentary treats verses 2.23 through 2.24 as a single passage; it is given in full at verse 2.23.

What is well known in the world, when it is not contradicted, is to be accepted here too. Even the tale of Ahalya's adultery and the like, though it would be the doing of a fault, declares the Lord's very excellence by saying 'on you no great stain rested', for such a deed bears the fruit of many hells. Another scripture says, 'on him no taint at all is reckoned' (Kaushitaki Upanishad 3.1), and the Gita itself says, 'he who, undeluded, knows Me thus as the supreme Person' (15.19). The Naradiya declares: 'truth, truth, again truth, sworn by ten million oaths, the powers Shri, Shesha, Brahma and Shankara are not equal in glory even to one portion of a portion, divided ten million times and again endlessly and yet again endlessly, of Vishnu's glory'. To assert the excellence of another, or oneness with the Lord, would contradict the supremacy of the Mahabharata established by other texts, such as 'so too, among all scriptures the Mahabharata is the highest, for who other than the lotus-eyed One could be its maker?' (Vishnu Purana 3.4.5). For there it is said, 'there is none equal to Narayana, none has been or will be; by this true word I accomplish every aim', and 'Brahma is born of His grace and Rudra of His wrath; there is none equal to you'; in such places, even on the occasion of a common question, scripture declares the great excellence of Vishnu. Elsewhere, whatever little is said in praise of others is said only on a special occasion, for praise of that kind belongs even to Agni and the rest in the Veda, as in 'you, O Agni, are Indra, the bull of the good', 'you are Vishnu, the wide-strider, to be revered' (Rigveda 2.5.17.3), 'Indra is higher than all' (Rigveda 8.4.1.1); and to read praise of others as supremacy would contradict those very texts. So too the Skanda, in its Shaiva section, says: 'as great as the distance between the tiger and the lion in the forest, between Meru and the Vindhya, between the disk of the sun and that worshipped by the gods, so great is the distance between Rudra and the great Indra; as the distance between the lion and the elephant, between the sun and the moon in the sky, between the Ganges and the daughter of the Sun, so great is the distance between Brahma and the Lord of the mountain; as the distance between a drop of the deluge-water and the flood, between a tuft of grass and Hiranyagarbha, between a spark and the world-destroying fire, so great is the distance between Vishnu and Hiranyagarbha; and since the great Vishnu is infinite, that distance is itself without end. The example is given only to hint at His glory. None equal to Him or greater than He has ever existed at any time; by this true word I enter into Him alone'. In that same text Markandeya says to Shiva, 'sunk in the ocean of transmigration, you will now attain release', and so on. And the Padma, in its Shaiva section, in the story of Markandeya, withholding it from Shiva, declares that release comes from Vishnu alone: 'I, my child, am the giver of enjoyment, but the giver of release is Janardana'. Such praise of others also conflicts with texts that treat them as equals or as Brahman. The Veda is to be construed so as not to conflict with the Itihasas and the rest, by the rule 'if one would know it'. Where there is no settled decision, the doubt may arise that a passage means Indra and the like; but even there the intended sense is established, because the names are distinctive. Hence the supreme excellence of the Lord alone is the great purport of all the scriptures. Even so, what is true is stated only because scripture is authoritative of itself, there being no contradiction. It is not right to deny what is established by a means of knowledge merely because it is not seen elsewhere, for things differ in their dharmas. If self-evident authority is not granted, one would have to establish the faultlessness even of what some false authority declares, and that is an absurd over-extension. That the scriptures have the Lord for their object, depending on nothing else, is established: 'the Vedas have Narayana for their goal' (Bhagavata 2.5.15), 'all the Vedas proclaim that state' (Katha Upanishad 1.2.15), 'the Vedas have Vasudeva for their goal' (Bhagavata 1.2.28). This is not contradictory, because of the Lord's own ordinance, and it is established in beginningless time, as in 'substance, action and time' (Bhagavata 2.10.12); their efficacy follows by the reasoning given before. So this is established. And His supremacy is fitting precisely because His power depends on nothing else and is beyond thought. Therefore the One is not made of maya. His 'unmovingness' is to be taken as the expressions 'without thrill, without bliss, without pain, without pleasure, without cognition, non-existent' are taken, as denials only of the worldly forms; for action is seen in Him, 'austerity is My very heart, O Brahman, learning is My body and action My form' (Bhagavata 6.4.46). Hence not everything is made of maya, and He is addressed by the very word 'bhaga', which denotes lordship and the rest; in 'you, O bhaga' (Rigveda 5.4.8.5) and the like, since these are His own nature, being made of maya is not fitting. So say the texts: 'I was the power of knowledge, of the infinitely powerful One' (Bhagavata 3.9.24), 'in Me, the infinite, of infinite qualities, of infinite forms by reason of those qualities' (Bhagavata 6.4.48), 'His supreme power is heard of as manifold, natural, a power of knowledge, strength and action' (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.8).