Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 22

Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

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

Transliteration

vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro.aparāṇi .
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāni anyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī ॥

Meaning

Just as a person casts off worn-out garments and puts on others that are new, so the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters into others that are new.

Word meanings

वासांसि – garments
जीर्णानि – worn-out
यथा – just as
विहाय – casting off
नवानि – new
गृह्णाति – takes, puts on
नरः – a person
अपराणि – others
तथा – so
शरीराणि – bodies
विहाय – casting off
जीर्णानि – worn-out
अन्यानि – other
संयाति – enters, passes into
नवानि – new
देही – the embodied Self

Anvaya (word order)

यथा नरः जीर्णानि वासांसि विहाय अपराणि नवानि गृह्णाति, तथा देही जीर्णानि शरीराणि विहाय अन्यानि नवानि संयाति ।

Explanation

This is perhaps the most quoted image in the whole Gita. Krishna explains death and rebirth through a scene everyone witnesses daily: taking off old clothes and putting on new ones.

Several deep truths lie within this simple image. First, the garment changes, not the wearer. The person who wore old clothes yesterday is the same person in new clothes today. So too the body changes while the Self remains. Second, no one weeps when discarding worn and torn clothes; one is rather pleased with new ones. If death is a change of this kind, why such grief?

Commentators have reflected on the word ‘jirnani’, worn-out, since many die young. The answer is that a body becomes ‘worn out’ when the karma bound up with that body (prarabdha) has been exhausted, however many years it has lived. Ramanuja also notes that the new body is received according to one's own actions.

The parallel between ‘nara’ (the person) and ‘dehi’ (the embodied Self) is also important. Just as a person is distinct from his clothing, the Self is distinct from the body. We say ‘my shirt’ and likewise ‘my body’; the ‘I’ who says ‘my’ is different from the thing possessed.

The verse has remarkable power to soften the fear of death and the grief of losing loved ones. One who understands it lives with greater lightness and gratitude, and sees death not as an ending but as the start of a new journey.

Context

In 2.21 Krishna said the knower of the Self kills no one. Here He explains the passing from body to body through the image of changing clothes. In the next verse (2.23) He shows that no material element can harm the Self.

Life lesson

The body is like a garment, and you are its wearer. Seen in this light, life's changes and even death can be met with understanding and peace rather than fear.

Key terms

Vasamsi: garments, clothes
Jirna: worn-out; whose purpose is fulfilled
Dehi: the embodied Self