Old clothes, new clothes

Where we are

Krishna is still answering Arjuna's grief. In the previous reading he named the self that lives in every body: unborn, undying, neither killing nor killed. Here he presses the point with the Gita's best-known image of death, changing worn-out clothes, and then names what can never touch the self.

The verses

1. 2.21

   Arjuna, once someone knows the self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn and unchanging, how could that person kill anyone, or have anyone killed?

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 2.21

   वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् ।
   कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ॥ २१ ॥

   Hear it

   vedāvināśinaṃ nityaṃ ya enam ajam avyayam
   kathaṃ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha kaṃ ghātayati hanti kam

   Say it

   vay-daa-vi-naa-shi-num ni-tyum yuh ay-num uh-jum uh-vyuh-yum
   kuh-thum suh poo-roo-shuh-h paar-thuh kum ghaa-tuh-yuh-ti hun-ti kum

   Word by word

   veda

   knows

   avināśinam nityam

   indestructible, eternal

   yaḥ enam

   whoever (knows) this (self)

   ajam avyayam

   unborn, unchanging

   katham

   how

   saḥ puruṣaḥ

   that person

   pārtha

   son of Pṛthā (Arjuna)

   kam ghātayati

   whom does he cause to be killed

   hanti kam

   whom does he kill

2. 2.22

   A person takes off clothes that have worn out and puts on new ones. In the same way, the self that lives in a body lets go of a worn-out body and moves on into a new one.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 2.22

   वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
   नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।
   तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-
   न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥ २२ ॥

   Hear it

   vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya / navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi
   tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny / anyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī

   Say it

   vaa-saam-si jeer-naa-ni yuh-thaa vi-haa-yuh
   nuh-vaa-ni grih-naa-ti nuh-ro 'puh-raa-ni
   tuh-thaa shuh-ree-raa-ni vi-haa-yuh jeer-naa
   nyun-yaa-ni sum-yaa-ti nuh-vaa-ni day-hee

   Word by word

   vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni

   worn-out clothes

   yathā vihāya

   just as, having cast off

   navāni gṛhṇāti

   takes up new ones

   naraḥ aparāṇi

   a person, other (clothes)

   tathā

   in the same way

   śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāni

   having cast off worn-out bodies

   anyāni saṃyāti navāni

   goes on to other, new ones

   dehī

   the embodied one, the self in the body

3. 2.23

   Blades cannot cut the self, and fire cannot burn it. Water cannot soak it, and wind cannot dry it out.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 2.23

   नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः ।
   न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥ २३ ॥

   Hear it

   nainaṃ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṃ dahati pāvakaḥ
   na cainaṃ kledayanty āpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ

   Say it

   nai-num chin-dun-ti shus-traa-ni nai-num duh-huh-ti paa-vuh-kuh-h
   nuh chai-num klay-duh-yun-tyaa-po nuh sho-shuh-yuh-ti maa-roo-tuh-h

   Word by word

   na enam chindanti

   do not cut this (self)

   śastrāṇi

   weapons, blades

   na enam dahati pāvakaḥ

   fire does not burn it

   na ca enam kledayanti āpaḥ

   and water does not wet or soak it

   na śoṣayati mārutaḥ

   the wind does not dry it out

4. 2.24

   It cannot be cut, burned, soaked or dried out. It is eternal, present everywhere, steady and unmoving, and it has always been.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 2.24

   अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
   नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २४ ॥

   Hear it

   acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam akledyo 'śoṣya eva ca
   nityaḥ sarvagataḥ sthāṇur acalo 'yaṃ sanātanaḥ

   Say it

   uch-chay-dyo 'yum uh-daa-hyo 'yum uh-klay-dyo 'sho-shyuh ay-vuh chuh
   ni-tyuh-h sur-vuh-guh-tuh-h sthaa-noo-ruh-chuh-lo 'yum suh-naa-tuh-nuh-h

   Word by word

   acchedyaḥ ayam

   this one cannot be cut

   adāhyaḥ ayam

   this one cannot be burned

   akledyaḥ

   cannot be soaked

   aśoṣyaḥ eva ca

   and cannot be dried out, indeed

   nityaḥ

   eternal

   sarvagataḥ

   present everywhere

   sthāṇuḥ

   firm, steady as a pillar

   acalaḥ ayam

   this one is unmoving

   sanātanaḥ

   everlasting, primeval

Context and commentary

Verse 2.22, in the longer triṣṭubh metre like 2.20, is among the Gita's most quoted lines. The image is everyday on purpose: nobody mourns a worn-out shirt, because the wearer goes on. Verse 2.23 names blade, fire, water and wind, and 2.24 turns them into adjectives: uncuttable, unburnable, unsoakable, undryable. Sthāṇu means a pillar or rooted stump. Interpretation: Śaṅkara reads 2.21 as saying the knower no longer sees himself as the doer at all; Rāmānuja and Madhva read 2.22 as rebirth of distinct, eternal selves. Gandhi took "present everywhere" as a call to see the same self in everyone. Krishna's argument from duty comes later, from 2.31.