Timeless Wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita

2.11 The Blessed Lord said Thou hast grieved for those that should not be grieved for, yet thou speakest words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.

श्रीभगवानुवाच | अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे | गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ||२-११||

2.12 Nor at any time indeed was I not, nor thou, nor these rulers of men, nor verily shall we ever cease to be hereafter.

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः | न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ||२-१२||

2.13 Just as in this body the embodied (soul) passes into childhood, youth and old age, so also does it pass into another body; the firm man does not grieve thereat.

देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा | तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ||२-१३||

2.14 The contacts of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which cause heat and cold, pleasure and pain, have a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, O Arjuna.

मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः | आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ||२-१४||

2.15 That firm man whom, surely, these afflict not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for attaining immortality.

यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ | समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ||२-१५||

2.16 The unreal hath no being; there is non-being of the real; the truth about both has been seen by the knowers of the Truth (or the seers of the Essence).

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः | उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ||२-१६||

2.17 Know that to be indestructible, by Which all this is pervaded. None can cause the destruction of That, the Imperishable.

अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् | विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ||२-१७||

2.18 These bodies of the embodied Self, Which is eternal, indestructible and immeasurable, are said to have an end. Therefore fight, O Arjuna.

अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ताः शरीरिणः | अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत ||२-१८||

2.19 He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks It is slain, neither of them ï1knowsï1. It slays not, nor is It slain.

य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम् | उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ||२-१९||

2.20 It is not born, nor does It ever die; after having been, It again ceases not to be; unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient, It is not killed when the body is killed.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन् नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः | अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ||२-२०||