न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणोन हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणोन हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
Hindi · हिन्दी
यह शरीरी न कभी जन्मता है और न मरता है तथा यह उत्पन्न होकर फिर होनेवाला नहीं है । यह जन्मरहित, नित्यनिरन्तर रहनेवाला, शाश्वत और पुराण अनादि है । शरीरके मारे जानेपर भी यह नहीं मारा जाता ॥
English
It is never born and never dies. It did not come into being, and it will not cease. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient, it is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
What this verse means
The true self is never born and never dies. It does not begin with the body, and it is not destroyed when the body ends.
Context & commentary
On Kurukshetra, Arjuna is frozen by grief at the thought of killing relatives. Krishna deepens the teaching: the true self does not enter birth or death. The body can be struck; what lives within it cannot be ended.
Why this verse still matters
You sit beside a hospital bed or a graveside and feel everything collapsing. This verse asks you to see that the person you love, and the deepest part of yourself, are not limited to the body alone.
The takeaway
Fear softens when you stop treating your deepest identity as fragile.
Word-by-word translation
न जायते (is not born) / म्रियते (dies) वा (or) कदाचित् (at any time) / नायम् (this one not) / भूत्वा (having become) / भविता (will become) वा (or) न भूयः (not again) / अजः (unborn) / नित्यः (eternal) / शाश्वतः (everlasting) / अयम् (this) / पुराणः (ancient) / न हन्यते (is not slain) / हन्यमाने (being slain) शरीरे (in the body)
This verse is part of Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2: Sankhya Yoga — The Yoga of Knowledge, which contains 72 verses.
Explore related themes: atman (12 verses), krishna teaching (11 verses)