न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः।न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

• 2.11The Blessed Lord said, "You have grieved for those who should not be grieved for; yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead."

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

• 2.13Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so too does it pass into another body; the steadfast one does not grieve over this.
• 2.14The contact of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which causes heat and cold, pleasure and pain, has a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, O Arjuna.
• 2.15That firm man, whom surely these afflictions do not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for attaining immortality.
• 2.16The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the real; the truth about both has been seen by the knowers of the truth (or the seers of the essence).
• 2.17Know that to be indestructible, by which all this is pervaded. No one can cause the destruction of that, the Imperishable.
• 2.18These bodies of the embodied Self, which are eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable, are said to have an end. Therefore, fight, O Arjuna.
• 2.19He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks it is slain, neither of them knows. It does not slay, nor is it slain.
• 2.20It is not born, nor does it ever die; after having been, it again does not cease to be; unborn, eternal, changeless, and ancient, it is not killed when the body is killed.
• 2.21Whoever knows it to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and inexhaustible, how can that person slay, O Arjuna, or cause to be slain?
• 2.22Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so too the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
• 2.23Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it.
• 2.24This Self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, nor dried up; it is eternal, all-pervasive, stable, immovable, and ancient.
• 2.25This Self is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing this to be so, you should not grieve.
• 2.26But even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed one, thou shouldst not grieve.
• 2.27For the born, death is certain, and for the dead, birth is certain; therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable.
• 2.28Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, O Arjuna, and unmanifest again in their end. What is there to grieve about?
• 2.29One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder; yet, having heard, none understands it at all.
• 2.30This indweller in the body of everyone is ever indestructible, O Arjuna; therefore, you should not grieve for any creature.

na

never

tu

however

cha

also

eva

indeed

ime

these

aham

I

tvam

you

jātu

at any time

param

after

āsam

exist

ataḥ

from now

sarve vayam

all of us

jana-adhipāḥ

kings

na bhaviṣhyāmaḥ

shall not exist