Gita verses on grief and loss

The second chapter begins with Krishna answering Arjuna's grief. These verses are often read when someone dies: that the self is not born and does not die (2.20), that the body is worn like clothing (2.22), that childhood, youth and old age are already changes within one life (2.13), and that death is certain for all who are born (2.27). They do not tell anyone to stop mourning; they offer a way to hold the loss.

The verses

Bhagavad Gita 2.13

देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino'sminyathā dehe kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā / tathā dehāntaraprāptirdhīrastatra na muhyati

Meaning: As the embodied one passes in this body through childhood, youth and old age, so it passes into another body. The steady person is not confused by this.

Krishna uses a fact everyone has seen: the child you were and the person you are now share nothing in the body, and yet you feel you are the same "I". Read the full explanation

Bhagavad Gita 2.20

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācinnāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ / ajo nityaḥ śāśvato'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

Meaning: The self is never born and never dies; having been, it does not cease to be. It is unborn, constant, eternal and ancient; it is not killed when the body is killed.

This is the centre of the teaching of the second chapter. Read the full explanation

Bhagavad Gita 2.22

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही

vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro'parāṇi / tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇānyanyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī

Meaning: As a person puts on new clothes, giving up the old and worn ones, so the embodied self takes on new bodies, giving up the old and worn ones.

The image of the garment is the best known in the Gita. Read the full explanation

Bhagavad Gita 2.27

जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च
तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyurdhruvaṃ janma mṛtasya ca / tasmādaparihārye'rthe na tvaṃ śocitumarhasi

Meaning: For one who is born, death is certain, and for one who has died, birth is certain. Therefore you should not grieve over what cannot be avoided.

Here Krishna offers an argument from the cycle itself. Read the full explanation

Meanings and explanations are our own wording, not an authorised translation. Readers of the Gita follow different traditions and teachers; please ask yours about what you read here.