ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते । अनादिमत्परं ब्रह्म न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते ॥
jñeyaṃ yattatpravakṣyāmi yajjñātvāmṛtamaśnute | anādimatparaṃ brahma na sattannāsaducyate ||
Translation
I shall now declare the knowable — knowing which, one attains immortality. The supreme Brahman, without beginning, is said to be neither being nor non-being.
Interpretation
The pivot of the chapter: having described the field and the qualities of knowledge, Krishna now describes the jneya — the ultimate object of knowledge. This is Brahman, the supreme. Three defining negations: anadi (without beginning — not caused by anything prior), and most paradoxically: na sat (not being — Brahman is not an existent thing like ordinary entities) and na asat (not non-being — it is not simply absence or nothingness). Brahman is beyond the categories of existence and non-existence that structure our thinking about reality. This is the via negativa, the negative theology that points toward the ineffable.