Chapter 2Verse 27 of 72

Bhagavad Gita 2.27

जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च । तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur dhruvaṃ janma mṛtasya ca | tasmād aparihārye 'rthe na tvaṃ śocitum arhasi ||

Translation

For one who is born, death is certain; and certain is birth for one who dies. Therefore over an unavoidable thing you should not grieve.

The everyday argument that lands harder than the metaphysics. Aparihārye. The unavoidable. What you cannot help, you do not grieve. A simple statement, and the simplest possible reason to put down the grief. Notice the symmetry of the first line. Birth implies death; death implies birth. Krishna is not pleading or comforting here. He is naming a structure. The hand stays on the work; the grief loses its purchase. This is the verse the tradition returns to at funerals.

Reflection

What have you been grieving that you could not have prevented in the first place?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Two

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