The Bhagavad- Gita is considered by eastern and western scholars alike to be among the greatest spiritual books the world has ever known. In a very clear and wonderful way the Supreme Lord Krishna describes the science of self-realization and the exact process by which a human being can establish their eternal relationship with God.
The Gita is set in a narrative framework of a dialogue between Pandav prince Arjun and his guide and charioteer Krishna. At the start of the Dharma Yuddha or the righteous war between Pandavas and Kauravas, over the accession to the throne of Hastinapur, Arjun is filled with moral dilemma and despair about the violence and death the war will cause. He wonders if he should renounce and seeks Krishna’s counsel, whose answers and discourse constitute the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna counsels Arjun to “fulfill his Kshatriya (warrior) duty to uphold the Dharma” through “selfless action”. The Krishna–Arjun dialogues cover a broad range of spiritual topics, touching upon ethical dilemmas and philosophical issues that go far beyond the war Arjun faces.
The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis of Hindu ideas about dharma, theistic bhakti, and the yogic ideals of moksha.
SOUL IS IMMORTAL AND OUR BODY IS PERISHABLE. OUR SOUL NEVER DIES, Krishna told Arjun while imparting his second, most important teaching as Parth was immobile with pain of losing his close ones ,once the war begins, according to Falguni, whenever a arrow will put someone to sleep forever embracing death, he will be losing a kin bound to him by blood, irrespective of which side that poor soul has chosen to fight for.
na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavata va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato ‘yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire
“For the soul, there is never birth or death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying, and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain” [Bhagavad Gita 2.20].
dehino ‘smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati
[Bhagavad Gita 2.13]
Translation: “As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.”
How plainly, how easily explained that kaumaram yauvanam jara. There are three stages, kaumaram. Up to fifteenth year, it is called kaumara. And then from sixteenth year, it begins youthful life up to fortieth year. Then after forty, one becomes jara, old man. Primarily old man and later on say, forty to fifty, primarily old man, and after fifty, he is old man. Therefore it is advised pancas ordhvam vanam vrajet. Pancas means fifty. Urdhvam, fifty-one. And rest of the days, maybe one hundred years, but that is not possible nowadays. Maybe seventy, eighty, utmost. Somebody lives ninety, ninety-five. Hundred years, although the limit, nowadays nobody lives. So those who are dhiras, gentlemen, sober-headed, cool-headed, they can understand that “I have changed my body. When I was a boy, up to fifteenth year, I remember how I was playing, how I was jumping. Then I became young man. How I was enjoying my life with friends and families. Now I am old man.” “I am” means my body. Dehinah. Dehi and dehinah. Dehi means the proprietor of the body, owner of the body, and deha means the body.
In the previous verse Krishna said that “All of us — you, me, and all these soldiers and kings who are present here — we existed in the past, we are existing now, and we shall continue to exist in the future.” This was the statement. But people without the right knowledge would say that “How I was existing? I was born only in such and such year. Before that, I did not exist. At the present time I am existing. That’s all right. But as soon as I will die, I will not exist. So how Krishna says that I was… Both…… All of us, we were existing, we are still existing, and we shall continue to exist?” Is that contradictory? No, that is not contradictory. It is fact. We existed, maybe in different body. And we shall continue to exist in different body. Dehantara-praptir. This is to be understood.
The example is given, dehantara. Just like I was boy. Then I became young man. So the body changed. And now I have become old man. The body changed. But I am existing, dehi, the proprietor of the body. So where is the difficulty to understand? Dehinah. Dehinah means “of the proprietor.” The body is changing. I can understand that my body has changed. So in next life the body may change. “May” not. It will change. But I may not remember. That is another thing. Just like in my last life, what was my body, I do not remember. So forgetfulness is our nature. Because I forget something, that does not mean that things did not take place. No. In my childhood I did so many things. I do not remember. But my father (and) mother, who have seen my childhood, they remember. So forgetting does not mean that things did not take place. Similarly, death means I have forgotten what was I was in the past life. That is called death. Otherwise I, as spirit soul, I have no death. Suppose I change my dress. In my boyhood I was in a different dress. In my youth hood I was in a different dress. In my old age, or as a sannyasi. I am in a different dress. So dress may change. That does not mean the owner of the dress is dead or gone.
