Childhood, youth, old age, and what stays

Where we are

Sañjaya is still telling the blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra what happens. In the previous reading Arjuna said “I will not fight”, and Krishna began to teach: none of us ever began, and none of us will end. Here Krishna offers two everyday pictures, a body growing older and weather passing, then the principle beneath both.

The verses

1. 2.13

   The one who lives in this body passes through childhood, youth and old age. In the same way it passes on to another body. A steady person is not thrown into confusion by that.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 2.13

   देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।
   तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥ १३ ॥

   Hear it

   dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā
   tathā dehāntaraprāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati

   Say it

   day-hi-no 'smin yuh-thaa day-hay kow-maa-rum yow-vuh-num juh-raa
   tuh-thaa day-haan-tuh-ruh-praap-tir dhee-rus tuh-truh nuh moo-hyuh-ti

   Word by word

   dehinaḥ

   of the embodied one (the self that lives in a body)

   asmin dehe

   in this body

   yathā

   just as

   kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā

   childhood, youth, old age

   tathā

   so too

   deha-antara-prāptiḥ

   the passing on to another body

   dhīraḥ

   the steady, wise person

   tatra na muhyati

   is not bewildered by this

2. 2.14

   Son of Kuntī, it is the senses meeting the world that bring cold and heat, pleasure and pain. These sensations arrive and leave again; none of them lasts. So bear them patiently, Arjuna.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 2.14

   मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
   आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ १४ ॥

   Hear it

   mātrāsparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhadāḥ
   āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṃs titikṣasva bhārata

   Say it

   maa-traa-spur-shaas too kown-tay-yuh shee-to-shnuh-soo-khuh-doo-khuh-daah
   aa-guh-maa-paa-yi-no 'ni-tyaas taams ti-tik-shuh-svuh bhaa-ruh-tuh

   Word by word

   mātrā-sparśāḥ

   contacts of the senses with their objects

   tu

   but, indeed

   kaunteya

   O son of Kuntī

   śīta-uṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ

   which give cold and heat, pleasure and pain

   āgama-apāyinaḥ

   coming and going

   anityāḥ

   not lasting

   tān titikṣasva

   bear them patiently, endure them

   bhārata

   O descendant of Bharata

3. 2.15

   Finest of men, the steady person whom these sensations do not shake, who stays even in pain and in pleasure, is the one who becomes fit for the deathless state.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 2.15

   यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
   समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥ १५ ॥

   Hear it

   yaṃ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṃ puruṣarṣabha
   samaduḥkhasukhaṃ dhīraṃ so 'mṛtatvāya kalpate

   Say it

   yum hi nuh vyuh-thuh-yun-ty ay-tay poo-roo-shum poo-roo-shur-shuh-bhuh
   suh-muh-doo-khuh-soo-khum dhee-rum so 'mri-tuh-tvaa-yuh kul-puh-tay

   Word by word

   yam hi

   the one whom, indeed

   na vyathayanti ete

   these do not shake or torment

   puruṣam

   the person

   puruṣa-ṛṣabha

   O bull among men (finest of people)

   sama-duḥkha-sukham

   the same in pain and in pleasure

   dhīram

   steady, wise

   saḥ

   that one

   amṛtatvāya kalpate

   becomes fit for immortality

4. 2.16

   What is unreal has no true existence, and what is real never stops existing. People who see things as they really are have understood the truth about both.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 2.16

   नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः ।
   उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ॥ १६ ॥

   Hear it

   nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ
   ubhayor api dṛṣṭo 'ntas tv anayos tattvadarśibhiḥ

   Say it

   naa-suh-to vid-yuh-tay bhaa-vo naa-bhaa-vo vid-yuh-tay suh-tuh-h
   oo-bhuh-yor uh-pi drish-to 'ntus tvuh-nuh-yos tut-tvuh-dur-shi-bhi-h

   Word by word

   na asataḥ vidyate bhāvaḥ

   the unreal has no being

   na abhāvaḥ vidyate sataḥ

   the real never ceases to be

   ubhayoḥ api

   of both of these

   dṛṣṭaḥ antaḥ

   the final truth has been seen

   tu anayoḥ

   indeed, of these two

   tattva-darśibhiḥ

   by those who see things as they are

Context and commentary

Dehin, “the one who has a body”, sets up the whole chapter: you have a body; you are not only the body. Mātrā-sparśa means the senses touching their objects, and titikṣasva asks for patient endurance, not denial. The epithets matter: Kaunteya recalls Arjuna's mother Kuntī, and puruṣarṣabha, “finest of men”, his strength. Interpretation: 2.16 is read in different ways. For Śaṅkara the real (sat) is one changeless awareness, and all change is ultimately unreal. Rāmānuja reads sat as the eternal self and asat as the perishable body, both real but of different kinds. Madhva also takes asat as the impermanent, not the non-existent. Gandhi read it ethically: only truth endures.