2.11-2.30: counters first argument – compassion – by Jnana

So after discussing the eternality of the individuals in the next verse, Sri Krishna will talk about the spirituality of the individuals.

BG 2.1 to 2.10 deals with Arjuna’s 5th reason—the indecision to fight

2.11 – 2:30 onwards Krishna starts speaking sankhya yoga; wherein Krishna is saying to Arjuna, the soul is indestructible, therefore fight. This is starkly in contrast to Arjuna’s objection, that if I fight, then my relatives will be killed. And I don’t want them to die. So Krishna tells, don’t live in the ignorant bodily conception, rise to the enlightened spiritual conception, and know that performance of dharma never causes harm to anyone. It brings ultimate good to everyone. And in bringing the ultimate good, if it involves some surgical cleansing that needs to be done.

BG 2.13

dehino ‘smin yatha dehe

kaumaram yauvanam jara

tatha dehantara-praptir

dhiras tatra na muhyati

SYNONYMS

dehinah — of the embodied; asmin — in this; yatha — as; dehe — in the body; kaumaram — boyhood; yauvanam — youth; jara — old age; tatha — similarly; deha-antara — of transference of the body; praptih — achievement; dhirah — the sober; tatra — thereupon; na — never; muhyati — is deluded.

TRANSLATION

As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.

So dehino asmin yatha dehe, inside the body is the owner of the body. Although the body is changing, the owner remains unchanging.

kaumaram yauvanam jara, so boyhood, youth and old age are the stages through which the body go’s through. But dehe, the person who is situated inside the body remains unchanging. Similarly tatha dehantara-praptir when the person dies, at that time the person gets another body dehantara-praptir, a wise person na muhyati, does not get bewildered.

Now Srila Prabhupada translated Dhira as a sober person. Sober is used in the context of alcohol; either not affected or given up alcohol. dhiras tatra na muhyati the body conception is like intoxication, and becoming free from that intoxication is the goal of life. And that goal of life is promoted by practice of devotional service by which we will be free from bodily conception

BG doesn’t give all the messages at once, it builds up the message. It didn’t gave all the messages instantly. Here devotional service is not mentioned directly—it is mentioned to become Dhira—such things will not trouble an intelligent person. The indirect meaning is, if somebody is troubled by this, then that person needs to become intelligent, then the trouble will not be there anymore.

Krishna is giving instruction here indirectly, For example when we see a boy after some time, we will say, hey you have grown so much. So you were small and now you are big, that is what we say. So there is unchanging dimension that is addressed by “You” and there is a changing dimension which is addressed “You were like this and now You are like this”

We have two dimensions: changing dimension and unchanging one.

Aging people who do a facelift to look younger; likewise, overweight people who choose to undergo fat loss treatment to appear slimmer. But whatever they do, as individuals, they remain the same person from the inside. So that means something has changed, and something stays the same. Somebody will say, “No, I have changed completely. I am not the same person,” so even if someone says like this, the reference “I” is the same person. So there is someone which remains the same.

A person is grown up, is he the same person or different? There are some biological changes that have happened, although the heart and arm look the same, but the cell which makes the heart and arm keep changing. So if a thing is nothing but its component, then the essential point is, if all the components are changed is the thing the same or different?

If all the components of a laptop are changed, people will say this laptop is as good as new one. That implies, there is something that is old which is continuing, but there is something new. On the other hand, if I take an entirely new laptop, then that’s new. So in the first case, there is a gradual change; whereas in the second case, I take a new laptop that is an instant change.

So there are two types of re-incarnation here:

Incarnation derives from the root word “carna” which means flesh, re-incarnation indicates to again come in flesh. If the body is continuously changing, then we can say there is internal-incarnation. So Krishna is saying, don’t get so worked up by change, whatever change has happened within this life, the same change will happen in the next life. When a child grows up or an adult becomes a senior citizen, all that means is there is some change, but there is something which continues also. Continuity that persists, despite the change. What causes that continuity?

In case of computer “I” the user is the same. Some parts of the computer have changed but the user is the same. Body changes gradually or suddenly doesn’t make much difference, as “I” or the user is the same.

So “Dehi” although the soul is embodied in the physical body, it doesn’t change. Like in the previous verse, Krishna says everyone will remain; so how is that since, some people will die on the battlefield? So the answer is, there is something within the body which will stay alive. Although the body will change, but we should not get worked up seeing the apparent change, as “Dehi” remains the same.

We are not disturbed by the changing of body from boyhood to adulthood. Similarly, we should not be worried too much when the soul leaves an old body and goes on to take up a new body.