Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 22

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

vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro'parāṇi | tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇā- nyanyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī

Translation

Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on others which are new, so the embodied (Self) casts off worn-out bodies and enters others which are new.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

vāsāṃsi

garments

jīrṇāni

worn-out

yathā

as

vihāya

having cast away

navāni

new

gṛhṇāti

takes

naraḥ

a man

aparāṇi

others

tathā

so

śarīrāṇi

bodies

vihāya

having cast away

jīrṇāni

worn-out

anyāni

to others

saṃyāti

goes

navāni

(to) new

dehī

the embodied (one)

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

As a man, having cast off worn-out clothes, puts on others which are new, so the embodied Self, the indweller (dehī), having cast off worn-out bodies, enters into others which are new. As the man is not altered by the change of clothing, so is the Self not altered by the change of bodies. The illustration shows the unconcern of the Self with the perishing of any particular body — for of His own nature He is unchanging.