Chapter 2 Verse 13

 Verse 13

 

देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा |

तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति || 13||

Transliteration

DehinosminyathA dehe kaumAraM yauvanaM jarA.

tathA dehAntaraprAptirdhIRastatra na muhyati..13..

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Word-by-word meaning:

देहिनः – one who dwells in the body; अस्मिन् – in this; यथा – as; देहे- in the body; कौमारं – childhood; यौवनं – youth; जरा – old-age; तथा- thus; देहान्तर – another body; प्राप्तिः – attainment; धीरः – the wise;तत्र​ -  there; न -  do not; मुह्यति- grieve;

Meaning:

Just as this body undergoes the stages of – Childhood, Youth and Old-age, so is this attainment of another body (by the soul). The wise people do not grieve over this.

Significance:

After proving the ‘Eternal’ nature of the Soul in the previous verse, Lord Krishna here says that the change of bodies will not affect the Soul in any way. The individual remains the same when he is in childhood, in youth and in old age – which are the different and unavoidable changes of our body. Same way the soul remains the same when it changes from one body to another. A person who is not enlightened with the knowledge of the nature of soul worries for birth and death. That is why the knowledge of the soul is said to be the foundation of Indian Philosophy.