वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥
vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi |tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny anyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī ||
- वासांसि · vāsāṃsi
- garments, clothes
- जीर्णानि · jīrṇāni
- worn out
- यथा · yathā
- just as
- विहाय · vihāya
- having cast aside
- नवानि · navāni
- new
- गृह्णाति · gṛhṇāti
- takes, puts on
- नरः · naraḥ
- a person
- अपराणि · aparāṇi
- others
- तथा · tathā
- so
- शरीराणि · śarīrāṇi
- bodies
- विहाय · vihāya
- having cast aside
- जीर्णानि · jīrṇāni
- worn out
- अन्यानि · anyāni
- others
- संयाति · saṃyāti
- enters, passes into
- नवानि · navāni
- new
- देही · dehī
- the embodied one
“As a person casts aside worn-out garments and takes new ones, so the embodied one casts aside worn-out bodies and enters new ones.”
— Original plain-language translation
The Gita's most beloved image — death as a change of clothes. Its gentleness is the point: what Arjuna pictures as rupture, Krishna pictures as routine. Grief for a discarded garment would be misplaced; so, he argues, is grief for a discarded body.
— Reader's notes (original)