A metaphor · expansive in mood · a little context helps
“What you are does not end when one body is left behind.”
As a person discards worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, the embodied being discards worn-out bodies and enters new ones.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallyclothes · worn-out · as · having discarded · new · takes · a person · other · so · bodies · having discarded · worn-out · other · goes to · new · the embodied one
The true self passes from one body to another the way a person changes clothes.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Sankhya Yoga" (The Yoga of Knowledge).
Verse 22 sits in Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita — Sankhya Yoga, "The Yoga of Knowledge". The chapter has 72 verses in total.
Standing beside a hospital bed, you watch a loved one weaken and feel helpless. This image does not erase grief, but it reminds you that change touches the body, not the deepest reality.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from identifying with the body to seeing the body as a temporary covering.
What this verse means
The true self passes from one body to another the way a person changes clothes.
Context & commentary
On Kurukshetra, Arjuna is frozen by grief and fear. Krishna has just said the true self is unborn and indestructible. Now he gives a simple image: bodies are like clothes, and the embodied one moves on.
Why this verse still matters
Standing beside a hospital bed, you watch a loved one weaken and feel helpless. This image does not erase grief, but it reminds you that change touches the body, not the deepest reality.
“A fear of bodily loss softens when you see change as a transition, not an ending.”