Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 13

देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा । तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino'sminyathā dehe kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā | tathā dehāntaraprāptirdhīrastatra na muhyati

Translation

Just as in this body the embodied (Self) passes into childhood and youth and old age, so does He pass into another body. There the wise man is not distressed.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

dehinaḥ

of the embodied

asmin

in this

yathā

as

dehe

in body

kaumāram

childhood

yauvanam

youth

jarā

old age

tathā

so

dehāntaraprāptiḥ

of another body, the obtaining

dhīraḥ

the firm

tatra

there

na

not

muhyati

grieves

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

We see how the embodied Self passes unchanged in the present body through three stages (avasthās) — childhood, youth (or the middle age), and old age (the age of decay) — each distinct from the others. At the close of the first the Self is not dead, nor is He born again at the commencement of the second; on the contrary we see Him passing unchanged into each in turn. Just so does He pass unchanged into another body. Such being the case, the wise man (dhīraḥ) is not troubled in mind about it.