Bhagavad Gita BG 2.13
Chapter 2, Verse 13 — Meaning, Translation & Explanation
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा । तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥ १३ ॥
dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati
Meaning
Just as the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from childhood to youth to old age, similarly at death the soul passes into another body. The wise person is not deluded by this.
Understanding
One of the Gita's most beautiful analogies. We accept without distress that the same person who was once a child becomes a youth and then grows old — the body changes while the identity (the soul) remains the same. Death is simply a more dramatic version of this same process: the soul moves into another body. 'Dhīraḥ' — the wise, the steady person — is not deluded (na muhyati) by this change.
Word by Word
| Word | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| देहिनः | dehinaḥ | of the embodied one (the soul in the body) |
| कौमारम् | kaumāram | childhood |
| यौवनम् | yauvanam | youth |
| जरा | jarā | old age |
| देहान्तरप्राप्तिः | dehāntara-prāptiḥ | attainment of another body / passing into another body |
| धीरः | dhīraḥ | the wise / the steady one |
| न मुह्यति | na muhyati | is not deluded / is not confused |
| अस्मिन् | asmin | in this (body) |
| यथा | yathā | just as / in the same way |
| देहे | dehe | in the body |
| तथा | tathā | similarly / so also |
| तत्र | tatra | therein / about that / in this |