7-verse reading plan
Bhagavad Gita on the death of a loved one: 7 verses for grief
For the weeks after a loss, to read slowly whenever you can.
- 7 verses
- Gita, then the Ramayana
- About 14 min to read
- Sanskrit, English, audio
The Gita begins with grief. Arjuna sits down in his chariot, unable to face losing the people he loves, and Krishna's first teaching (2.11 to 2.30) is about death: what ends and what does not. These verses stay with that teaching. You can keep grieving while you read them. They give the grief a wider frame: the self that was never born and does not die, worn clothes set aside, the unseen before and after. The last is Bharata in the Ramayana, coming home too late.
The seven verses
- Verse 1See itWhat was never born doesn't dieGita 2.20
- Verse 2SteadyWorn clothes, set asideGita 2.22
- Verse 3SteadyChildhood, youth, age, and onGita 2.13
- Verse 4SteadyNothing can touch itGita 2.23
- Verse 5SteadyWe only see the middleGita 2.28
- Verse 6DoA leaf, a flower, a little waterGita 9.26
- Verse 7A storyComing home too lateValmiki Ramayana
What was never born doesn't die
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणोन हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
The self was never born and never dies. It is not killed when the body is.
Bhagavad Gita 2.20 · Krishna
Full translation
It is never born and never dies. It did not come into being, and it will not cease. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient, it is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
यह शरीरी न कभी जन्मता है और न मरता है तथा यह उत्पन्न होकर फिर होनेवाला नहीं है । यह जन्मरहित, नित्यनिरन्तर रहनेवाला, शाश्वत और पुराण अनादि है । शरीरके मारे जानेपर भी यह नहीं मारा जाता ॥
What it means for you
Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit. Krishna's first comfort is about the person you love. What made them who they were, the self, was never born and does not die when the body does. Take in as much of it as you can today, and let it sit beside the grief.
Try this
Say their name out loud today, in a sentence that starts with 'I remember'.
Mourn fully. This verse is comfort about what remains.
Worn clothes, set aside
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥
As we drop worn-out clothes and put on new ones, the self leaves a worn body for a new one.
Bhagavad Gita 2.22 · Krishna
Full translation
As a person discards worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, the embodied being discards worn-out bodies and enters new ones.
मनुष्य जैसे पुराने कपड़ोंको छोड़कर दूसरे नये कपड़े धारण कर लेता है, ऐसे ही देही पुराने शरीरोंको छोड़कर दूसरे नये शरीरोंमें चला जाता है ॥
What it means for you
This is the Gita's best-known picture of death: as we set aside worn clothes for new ones, the self leaves a worn-out body. Krishna offers it to the one grieving. Hold it for yourself, and be careful offering it to someone else in fresh pain.
Try this
If you have something of theirs, hold it for a minute. Let yourself feel whatever comes.
Childhood, youth, age, and on
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥
Childhood, youth, old age: the body keeps changing. The wise stay steady through the next change too.
Bhagavad Gita 2.13 · Krishna
Full translation
Just as the embodied one passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so too it passes into another body. The wise are not deluded by this.
देहधारीके इस मनुष्यशरीरमें जैसे बालकपन, जवानी और वृद्धावस्था होती है, ऐसे ही देहान्तरकी प्राप्ति होती है । उस विषयमें धीर मनुष्य मोहित नहीं होता ॥
What it means for you
You already watched the person you love change, from a younger self to the one you last knew. Krishna asks you to see death as one more change the self passes through. He says the wise are not bewildered by it. In the first weeks, being bewildered is allowed.
Try this
Look at one old photo of them at a different age. Notice that it's still them.
Nothing can touch it
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥
No weapon cuts it, no fire burns it, no water wets it, no wind dries it.
Bhagavad Gita 2.23 · Krishna
Full translation
Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it.
शस्त्र इस शरीरीको काट नहीं सकते, अग्नि इसको जला नहीं सकती, जल इसको गीला नहीं कर सकता और वायु इसको सुखा नहीं सकती ॥
What it means for you
Nainaṃ chindanti śastrāṇi. No weapon cuts the self, no fire burns it, no water wets it, no wind dries it. Whatever happened to the body at the end, through illness, accident or age, did not reach who they were.
Try this
If the last days were hard to watch, read this verse slowly, twice.
We only see the middle
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥
We come from the unseen and return to it; only the middle is visible.
Bhagavad Gita 2.28 · Krishna
Full translation
All beings are unmanifest before birth and unmanifest after death; they are manifest only in between. Why grieve over that?
हे भारत सभी प्राणी जन्मसे पहले अप्रकट थे और मरनेके बाद अप्रकट हो जायँगे, केवल बीचमें ही प्रकट दीखते हैं । अतः इसमें शोक करनेकी बात ही क्या है ॥
What it means for you
Before birth we can't see one another, after death we can't, and only the middle is visible. Krishna widens the frame. Arjuna weeps through this teaching and Krishna keeps teaching him, tears and all. The verse gives the loss something larger to rest in.
Try this
Write down one thing about them that you saw in 'the middle' and want to keep.
Grief is natural, and tears are part of it. The verse widens the frame.
A leaf, a flower, a little water
तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः ॥
A leaf, a flower, a fruit, a little water: whatever is offered with love, I accept.
Bhagavad Gita 9.26 · Krishna
Full translation
Whoever offers me a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water with devotion, I accept that devoted offering from the pure-hearted.
जो भक्त पत्र, पुष्प, फल, जल आदि यथासाध्य प्राप्त वस्तु को भक्तिपूर्वक मेरे अर्पण करता है, उस मेरेमें तल्लीन हुए अन्तःकरणवाले भक्तके द्वारा भक्तिपूर्वक दिये हुए उपहारभेंट को मैं खा लेता हूँ ॥
What it means for you
Krishna says that whatever is offered with love, even a leaf, a flower or a little water, is accepted. Many families remember their dead with exactly these things: water, flowers, a lamp. Love needs somewhere to go, and a small offering gives it a place.
Try this
Make one small offering in their memory today: a lamp, a flower, some water, or a kindness done in their name.
Coming home too late
धन्या रामादयः सर्वे यैः पिता संस्कृतः स्वयम् ॥
He died while I was away. Blessed are those who were there to say goodbye.
Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda
Bharata returns to Ayodhya
Bharata was far away at his grandfather's home when his father, King Dasharatha, died. Messengers called him back without telling him why. He rode into an Ayodhya that had gone quiet, went looking for his father, and learned he was gone. He fell to the ground and wept. When he could stand again, the family priest Vasishtha gently told him it was time to perform the last rites, and he did them, grieving as he went.
Missing the goodbye is its own grief. Let yourself feel it, then do what love asks next.
What it means for you
If you weren't there at the end, because of distance, work or a hospital's rules, Bharata's grief is yours. The Ramayana lets him fall and weep, and then gives him something to do for his father.
Try this
If something is left undone for them, a call, a letter, a rite, choose one and do it this week.
That's all seven.
Come back to the one that stayed with you, or let Wisdom pick seven verses for your own situation.
Your situation is your own
Seven verses picked for your grief & losing someone.
Everyone gets the same seven on this page. Tell Wisdom what you're facing in a sentence or two, and it picks verses for you.
Week 1 is free. A few questions, about two minutes.
On iPhone, Wisdom gives you one verse each morning, read aloud. Get the app →
Common questions
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about the death of a loved one?
Which Gita verse is read for someone who has passed away?
Does the Gita say it is wrong to grieve?
Should I read one verse a day or all seven at once?
More Gita verses on grief & losing someone
- Bhagavad Gita 2.11Krishna’s first words of teaching, spoken to a man overwhelmed by grief.
- Bhagavad Gita 2.27Death is certain for the born. Grief for what cannot be avoided is met with understanding.
