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The Bhagavad Gita1404
“Take unto thy inner mind, this truth, O Prince! Verily, the Real Man—the
Spirit of Man—is neither born, nor doth it die. Unborn, undying, ancient,
perpetual and eternal, it hath endured and will endure forever. The body
may die; be slain; be destroyed completely; but He that hath occupied it
remaineth unharmed.
“How can a man who knoweth the truth—that the Real Man is eternal,
indestructible, superior to time, change and accident, commit the folly of
thinking that he can either kill; cause to be killed; or be killed himself?
“As a man throweth away his old garments, replacing them with new and
brighter ones, even so the Dweller of the body, having quitted its old mortal
frame, entereth into others which are new and freshly prepared for it.
“Weapons pierce and cut not the Real Man, nor doth the fire burn him; the
water affecteth him not, nor doth the wind dry him nor blow him away. For
he is impregnable and impervious to these things of the world of change;
he is eternal, permanent, unchangeable and unalterable; He is Real.
“In his Essence he is immutable, unthinkable, inconceivable, unknowable;
therefore, why shouldst thou allow thyself to be made a weakling by childish
grief?
“Or if, perchance, thou believeth not these things, and liveth in the illusion
of belief in birth and death as realities—even so, asketh thee, why shouldst
thou lament and grieve? For, if this last be true, then as certain as it is that
all men have been born, so is it certain that all men must die; therefore why
grieve and fret thyself over the inevitable and unavoidable?
“To those who lack the Inner Wisdom, there is no knowledge of whence
we come, or whither we go; such know only what is at the moment. Why
should they, then disturb themselves regarding this thing or that—why
should they lament?
“Some wonder greatly regarding the soul, while others hear of and speak
of it with incredulity and lack of comprehension. And no one, by mortal mind,
really understandeth the mystery, nor knoweth it in its true and essential
nature, in spite of all that has been said, taught and thought, concerning it.