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Bhagavad Gita 2.20

The self is never born and never dies, and it is not killed when the body is killed.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि
न्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो
न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥

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

Translation

"It is never born and never dies. It did not come to be at some moment, and it will not pass away again. Birthless, steady, perpetual and ancient, it is not slain when the body is slain."

Hindi

"यह कभी जन्म नहीं लेता और कभी मरता नहीं। ऐसा नहीं कि यह कभी हुआ हो और फिर न रहेगा। अजन्मा, स्थिर, शाश्वत और पुरातन यह शरीर के मारे जाने पर भी नहीं मारा जाता।"

Commentary

This is the classic verse on the deathless self. Commentators note that it denies, one by one, the six changes that every living thing undergoes in the traditional list: birth, existence, growth, alteration, decay and death. The image of a clothing change comes next in 2.22, after the knowledge of the self is stressed in 2.21.

Key concepts