Sacred verse

Bhagavad Gita 2.13BG 2.13 · Chapter 2, Verse 13

Sankhya Yoga · Verse 13

A core teaching · expansive in mood · a little context helps

“What changes form is not what you truly are.”

Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, human-reviewed. Reviewed June 2026. Methodology →

The verse

देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥

Just as the embodied one passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so too it passes into another body. The wise are not deluded by this.

— Krishna

Bhagavad Gita · 2.13

Hindi · हिन्दी

देहधारीके इस मनुष्यशरीरमें जैसे बालकपन, जवानी और वृद्धावस्था होती है, ऐसे ही देहान्तरकी प्राप्ति होती है । उस विषयमें धीर मनुष्य मोहित नहीं होता ॥

Themes:dehantara atman birth-and-death impermanence sankhya

Word by word

The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.

देहिनःthe embodied oneअस्मिन्in thisयथाjust asदेहेin the bodyकौमारम्childhoodयौवनम्youthजराold ageतथाsoदेहान्तरप्राप्तिःattaining another bodyधीरःthe wiseतत्रthereनnotमुह्यतिis deluded

Read literallythe embodied one · in this · just as · in the body · childhood · youth · old age · so · attaining another body · the wise · there · not · is deluded

Understanding the verse

It shifts attention from the body’s changing stages to the steady awareness that outlives them.

Built onAtman12dehadehantara

In plain words

What this verse means

The body changes through stages, and the one living in it moves on to another body. A steady person does not get confused by this.

On the battlefield

Context & commentary

On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna is frozen by grief. Krishna first reminds him that no one was truly born or lost, then gives a human example: the body moves from childhood to youth to old age, and the embodied one moves on as well.

In your life